Brazilian Bankers To Go On ‘Indefinite Strike’ Following Labour Dispute: Report
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Banking sector employees all across Brazil will go on strike next week to demand for higher pay, adjusted to the nation’s inflation rate, reported Reuters on Thursday, in the latest spree of labour disputes that have affected Latin America’s largest economy since the beginning of this year.
On Wednesday night, talks between banks and the industry union Contraf collapsed after workers rejected an offer to increase pay by 6 percent.
Banking sector employees all across Brazil will go on strike next week to demand for higher pay, adjusted to the nation’s inflation rate, reported Reuters on Thursday, in the latest spree of labour disputes that have affected Latin America’s largest economy since the beginning of this year.
On Wednesday night, talks between banks and the industry union Contraf collapsed after workers rejected an offer to increase pay by 6 percent.
According to Contraf, the sum was “insufficient” as the pay raise would effectively be just 0.58 percent, when taking into account the nation’s inflation rate. Contraf added that they were seeking at least a 10.25 percent pay rise for employees this year, with “almost all wage talks in other sectors in which workers obtained average wage increases about 5 percent above inflation.”
Earlier this week, Brazil’s central bank chief Alexandre Tombini had to reassure the public that inflation was now under control, after the nation posted its fastest inflation rate in fice years last month.
Brazil’s benchmark IPCA consumer price index had risen by 0.41 percent in August, the sharpest monthly price rise since 2007, boosting annual inflation to 5.24 percent from 5.20 percent in the 12 months through July.
On Tuesday however, President Dilma Rousseff signed new measures that would cut electricity cost between 16 to 28 percent, which the government believes can slow down inflation by between 0.5 and 1.0 percentage points.
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[quote]”This measure guarantees inflation of under 5 percent next year,” said a finance ministry official to a separate Reuters report. “With the measures we’re taking, it’s possible to visualize growth of between 4 and 5 percent next year.”[/quote]Still, the country has been plagued by labour strikes all year round, with public sector workers demanding nearly $45.3 billion in pay raises late July.
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Apart from a pay rise, Contraf is also demanding a $1,200-a-month minimum wage for the industry, along with a minimum three-month bonus incentive, plus a fixed downpayment of $2,500 and higher food, transport and family benefits.
The industry union says that it will go on strike for an indefinite period of time, with the timing of the strike coinciding with a report of a surge in loan-related losses for banks.
Contraf president Carlos Cordeiro however said that the report of losses was “just an accounting trick to…help reduce workers’ share in the industry’s profit,” and promised that the strike would proceed on September 18 as planned.
