The two-day strike of Brazil’s Central Bank employees ended, Thursday, August 25, but will be resumed next Tuesday, August 30. The decision was made at a general assembly held late yesterday afternoon, and the strike is set to last three days, through Thursday (September 1st).
The regional president of the National Union of Central Bank Employees (Sinal), Paulo Tasso Calovi, informed that the strike is a response to the “intransigence” of the bank’s board of directors, who refuse to return to the negotiating table to discuss employees’ salaries and ways to strengthen the institution.
According to Calovi, nearly all routine activities ground to a halt at the bank’s headquarters in Brasília and in the nine regional offices during the two-day work stoppage.
He estimates that over 75% of the 4,600 employees of the bank adhered to the strike throughout the country. At the bank’s headquarters, less than 15% of the 2,200 member staff showed up for work.
The union leader also informed that the decision to resume the strike, “a demonstration that the employees remain mobilized for real,” was influenced in part by the attitude of the bank’s board of directors, who threatened to dock employees’ pay “instead of responding to the workers’ call to reopen the sectorial negotiating table on salaries and adopt measures on behalf of strengthening the institution.” He calculates that the purchasing power of salaries has fallen 57% since 1998.
Agência Brasil