CUT warns Temer: cooking gas and fuel prices have increased three times more than inflation.

247 - The Unified Workers' Central (CUT) criticized the high prices of cooking gas and fuel.

"Since the coup that ousted President Dilma Rousseff, democratically elected with more than 54 million votes, in May 2016, the coup-installed and illegitimate government of Michel Temer (MDB-SP) has been constantly adjusting fuel and cooking gas prices, directly impacting the pockets of all Brazilians," says the organization. on your site.

According to the Consumer Price Index (IPCA) measured by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), inflation from June 2016 to June 2018 reached 8%. However, cooking gas, during the same period, saw a price increase of 25,9%; regular gasoline rose 24,4%; ethanol 20,9%; and diesel fuel 14,2%.

Data from the Unified Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) shows that, in the first 90 days after July 2017, when Petrobras changed its pricing policy and the coup government increased PIS/Cofins tax rates by 30%, there were 58 adjustments in fuel prices. The price of gasoline rose 50,04% and diesel 52,15%, an increase 25 times higher than the inflation rate for the period.

In addition to the direct impact on the economy and the cost of living for Brazilians, the current policy of adjusting prices above inflation has caused even greater damage: an increase in the number of people burned while using firewood or alcohol instead of cooking gas because the prices have become inaccessible to the poorest population. 

This was the case of unemployed 24-year-old Jéssica Maria da Costa, in a conversation with the CUT Portal last December. Jéssica, who lives with her unemployed husband and two-year-old daughter in the Casa Amarela neighborhood on the outskirts of Recife, Pernambuco, decided to cook pasta for her family in two pea cans filled with alcohol. She placed a pot of water on top and then went to get a biscuit for her daughter. Inadvertently, she kicked one of the cans and the flames spread across her body.

According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), released in April, the percentage of households that switched to using charcoal or firewood instead of gas rose from 16,1% to 17,6%; more than 1,2 million Brazilians stopped using cooking gas last year alone.

Just like Jessica's story, other serious cases have occurred in Recife. According to Dr. Marcos Barreto, head of the burns unit at the Hospital da Restauração, in an interview with the local press, about 40 patients who arrived with first or second-degree burns during this period used illegal gas, alcohol, or ethanol. These incidents already account for 62% of the total number of burn victims.

According to a survey published by DatafolhaLast December, two-thirds of the population considered that the rise in cooking gas prices significantly impacted their family budget.

Enough is Enough Day – August 10th

And to put an end to the abuses of Temer's illegitimate government and the exorbitant increases in the prices of cooking gas and fuel, CUT and other labor unions will hold the "Enough is Enough Day" on August 10th, with strikes, work delays, and demonstrations in workplaces and public squares with high traffic throughout the country.

On that day, in addition to demanding an end to the policies that have plunged thousands of Brazilians into poverty, leaving them without food and without hope because there are no jobs for more than 27 million underemployed workers, the CUT will also demand an end to the bias of a segment of the Judiciary that is persecuting Lula and trying to prevent the candidate best prepared to pull Brazil out of the crisis from being elected in the next elections.  

Each state and city will have its own local schedule. In São Paulo, the event will take place at Avenida Paulista nº 1313, in front of Fiesp, starting at 10 am.

*With information from CUT