Labor unions in Rio Grande do Sul are demanding a salary increase.

Government of RS - Governor Tarso Genro received, this Wednesday (23), at Palácio Piratini, representatives of trade union centers for an audience on readjustment and creation of two new bands in the regional minimum wage. This was the third meeting between the government and representatives of the various professional categories. The readjustment requested by the centers for the regional minimum wage is 16,81%, to take effect from January 2014. 

"This unity achieved by the labor unions is a smart policy that strengthens the demands and really makes the government pay more attention. If there were only one union here, the political power would be less; with two unions, it grows, but when they are all here, and the working class shows itself unified around a demand, it has a different impact on society and on government decisions," said the governor.

Tarso said that it is a source of pride for him, as governor, to see hundreds of workers gathered at the Piratini Palace. "Democracy can be compared to a large table. Before President Lula, people had benches of different heights, and some couldn't see what was on the table. When Lula began receiving union leaders, homeless people, rural organizations, and all kinds of representatives, the chairs started to become the same height. When people can see what's on the table, they know what they're fighting for," added the governor, highlighting the beginning of a real democratization of the country. 

"The negotiating environment is not equal, and in most negotiations, the business sector has more power, which is why we need a public policy to distribute income in the country. Negotiations under this government have gone very well, and we hope they continue this way in the coming years," said Ricardo Franzoi, technical supervisor of the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese) of Rio Grande do Sul. According to him, the universe of workers who depend on the regional minimum wage is 1,2 million in the formal market. 

The president of the Unified Workers' Central (CUT), Claudir Nespolo, said that a large part of the productivity of the Rio Grande do Sul industry is linked to the policies that the Government was able to discuss and implement, strengthening the state's production chains, thus generating more respect and employment. "What we question is the distribution of the gains, since the business sector has gained a lot from the government's development policy, the advent of the increase in the national minimum wage and the resumption of the increase in the regional minimum wage; that is, never before have so many jobs been created in Brazil," he said. 

"We don't believe that wage increases are an isolated determining factor; rather, they are a combined factor with previous initiatives from society. That's why we have no problem putting the 16,81% increase on the agenda, considering the progress that even the business sector has made," added Nespolo, who also emphasized that the current government is restoring the standard of a state that promotes development. 

The labor unions delivered a document to the governor with the following requests: 

- Total adjustment of 16,81% for January 2014; 

- inclusion of new categories, not yet covered by the creation of new tiers; 
- changes to category ranges that are outdated in the current context; 

- Inclusion of the minimum wage in the State Constitution, establishing a general readjustment criterion, taking into account the growth of the national and state economy, plus inflation; 

- Include in the legislation a guarantee of the minimum wage for state public employees. 

The meeting was attended by state secretaries, and, in addition to CUT, the Central Workers' Union of Brazil (CTB), the General Union of Workers (UGT), the New Central Union of Workers (NCST), Força Sindical, Dieese, and state deputies.