Government and civil servants meet again to discuss salary adjustment.
The Secretary of Labor Relations of the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, Sérgio Mendonça, is trying to negotiate a government proposal for a 21,3% salary increase, divided into four installments until 2019; the workers are asking for a 27,3% increase for next year to compensate for salary losses since 2010; they are also requesting that the increase be negotiated annually.
Mariana Tokarnia - Reporter for Agência Brasil
The government and federal civil servants will meet again today (7) to negotiate salary adjustments. At the last meeting, on June 25, the government presented a proposal for adjustments and the civil servants must respond this Tuesday whether they accept it or not. Several entities have already expressed their opposition to the proposal. The meeting is scheduled for 14 pm and will be with the Secretary of Labor Relations of the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, Sérgio Mendonça.
The National Forum of Federal Public Servants, which represents 95% of public servants, decided to reject the proposal. "We held a national plenary meeting and analyzed the government's proposal. There was a complete rejection, and the response that public servants are giving is to go on strike," says Paulo Barela, representative of the National Executive of the Central Union and Popular (CSP-Conlutas). The central union is part of the Forum, along with two other central unions and 28 other entities.
The government's proposal is a 21,3% salary increase, divided into four installments until 2019. Workers are requesting a 27,3% increase for next year to compensate for wage losses since 2010. They are also asking that the increase be negotiated annually.
According to Barela, the strikes are expected to expand. The work stoppages are already affecting university professors, technical and administrative staff at federal higher education institutions, and federal judiciary employees.
Today, public employees are organizing for a day of mobilization. Before the meeting, at 9 am, they will participate in the National Caravan in Defense of Public Education, on the Esplanade of Ministries, in the central area of Brasília. The caravan is organized by teachers, technicians, and students from various parts of Brazil. The march will be against budget cuts and for more public investment in public education. The employees will also hold a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Planning (MP) during the meeting between representatives of the categories and the government.
The Public Prosecutor's Office says the government will only take a position after meeting with the civil servants. At the end of the last meeting, Mendonça recalled that the ministry's intention is to reach a consensus by the end of July. The federal government has until August 21st to send the draft laws resulting from the agreements to the National Congress. The last agreement, according to the ministry, was signed in 2012, when the categories received a 15,8% readjustment distributed over the years 2013, 2014, and 2015.