Not even the DEM party buys into Bolsonaro's reform, which is devastating for workers.
Jair Bolsonaro's proposed pension reform, which in practice removes retirement benefits from millions of Brazilians, is receiving criticism from the government's largest allied party; "Bureaucrats don't know what it means for a woman to work more than a man in the fields, waking up at 4 am to carry a can of water on her head to cook for her children and then picking up a hoe to work. These people need to be treated differently," stated the leader of the DEM party in the Chamber of Deputies, Elmar Nascimento (BA); he also criticized the changes to the BPC (Continuous Benefit Program); "Without protecting the poorest, there's no point in talking about privileges."
BRASILIA (Reuters) - The leader of the DEM party in the Chamber of Deputies, Representative Elmar Nascimento (BA), stated this Thursday that the party's caucus in the House views the pension reform with "concern," warns of the lack of debate, and says he sees "many problems" in the tightening of rural retirement rules.
According to the leader, who is part of the Northeast caucus, a region possibly most affected by the changes in rural retirement and also in the granting of welfare benefits, the legislation needs to protect the less fortunate, which is why parliamentarians should promote changes to the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) personally delivered to Congress by President Jair Bolsonaro the day before.
"I think that those who are technical, bureaucratic, don't know what it means for a woman to work more than a man in the fields, to wake up at 4 am to fetch a can of water on her head to cook for her children and then pick up a hoe to work. These people need to be treated differently," the leader assessed, adding that the caucus received the text sent the day before by the government with "great concern, because there was no debate."
"Our obligation is to evaluate and improve the text, always in order to protect the most vulnerable."
Elmar believes there was a lack of debate, even though he is in favor of removing the bill from the Constitution—many of the points will be addressed through a supplementary bill later.
"Another important issue is the retirement of rural workers and the BPC (Continuous Benefit Payment), which affects the most vulnerable part of our society, and we need to create legislation that protects the poorest and most vulnerable. Without that, it makes no sense to talk about privileges," he argued.
On Wednesday, the governor of Piauí, Wellington Dias (PT), said, at a forum of governors attended by the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, that "the first step... is to remove the poor from this equation, rural workers, disabled people, etc."
"Is this the old theory of putting the goat in the room and then taking it out?", Dias asked.
The government's main economic initiative, the pension reform, equalizes the minimum retirement ages for rural workers, both men and women, at 60 years old, and increases the minimum contribution period to 20 years. Currently, female rural workers can retire at 55, and the contribution period is 15 years.
In the case of the Continuous Benefit Payment (BPC), aimed at the elderly and people with disabilities, the proposed amendment establishes that it will only continue to be 1 minimum wage for disabled people and for elderly people in conditions of extreme poverty from the age of 65. For others, the monthly income will increase with age: from the age of 60, the benefit will be 400 reais, rising to 1 minimum wage at the age of 70.