To ally the workload fight with the salaries campaign

The trade union movement has to keep the unit to achieve still this year the 40 hours workload, with the manteinance of the salaries and to get better the income distribution, by the realization of collective agreements with real gains superior to the obtained in 2009.

The conclusions are part of the 4th National Journey of Debates happened on the 23rd of March in São Paulo and promoted by the trade union centrals and Dieese. In a certain way, the trade union leaders believe that in the year of 2010 would be an advantage to workers at the salary campaigns.

Don’t postpone the vote
The workload reduction, without cut in the salary, will only pass at the Parliament, in case workers intensify the pressure over the politicians and the bosses and increase the mobilization and organization of the basis. On the contrary, the deputies will let the PEC 231/95 (workload reduction) to next year.

João Carlos Gonçalves,
Juruna, General-Secretary
of Força Sindical

“We have to lead the fight of the workload and the collective negotiations in a conjunct way, pointing that the diminution of the worked hours is related to life quality”, says thegeneral-secretary of Força Sindical, João Carlos Gonçalves, Juruna.

To win the lobby
According to him, Dieese have already shown that the arguments of the bosses according to which the workload reduction damages the companies are not true. “The 40 hours week, associated to the limitation of the extra-hours and the end of the bank of hours are able to gerate about 2,5 million jobs”, highlights Juruna.

“But, to put the PEC in vote, we have to win the lobby of the businessmen who sponsor the campaigns and, with this, have the deputies on their trust. To win this barrier without the support of Lula is practically impossible. Only with the president at our side we will be able to win the lobby of the businessmen at the House of the Representatives”, claims the president of Força-PR, Sérgio Butka.

Cost Brazil
“The cost of work in Brazil is very low if compared with other countries and the impact of the measure over the total costs of the industry would be inferior to 2%”, observes the president of Força-SP, Danilo Pereira da Silva, adding that the perspectives to the salary campaigns of 2010 are positive.

According to the president of the Central-MA, Márfio Lima da Silva, it all indicates that this year workers will make collective agreements better than in 2009. Despite the PIB is negative in 0,2% last year, 80% of the salary negotiations had real gain.

Economy growth
“As the expectative is of economy growth between 5% and 7% in 2010, the tendency is to get better substantially the production, the sales, the jobs, the salary and the income distribution”, he says.

“The expansion will also reach the job market, with the elevation of gains and formalization. We believe that in 2010 all the sectors will have a good performance”, explained the president of the People in Commerce Trade Union of Great ABC, Minervino Ferreira.

Beyond the specific fights, workers will have a great job this year which is to increase their representativeness at the Parliament because the businessmen have already started to move on. They want to elect the maximum of representatives to enlarge their lobby at the House.

Paulo Pereira da Silva, Paulinho, President of Força Sindical

Ideal year to
reduce the workload

The ellectoral year is the ideal moment to the vote of the PEC 231/95, of the workload reduction to 40 hours without salary reduction, because it will make clear for the people which parliamentarians defend workers and which ones represent the interests of the businessmen.

But it is not enough we get limited to discuss the reality, the objective and subjective conditions, It’s necessary that the trade unions lead the discussion of the smaller week to the basis, debating the benefits of the proposal with workers and society.

To fight to diminute the time of work is to practice the solidarity with companions male and female who are unemployed. We’ll call the workers to the streets. We’ll make big massive manifestations, marches and strikes.

The moment is ideal to intensify the fight. Recent research of CNI, for example, have detected that the fear of losing their job have diminuted among workers. It means that Brazilians are more optmistic in relation to the perspectives of the job market. It’s because all the predictions to the evolution of economy for this year point for a growth of the PIB of 6% to 7%, which means, beyond more jobs, income increase of the employed. There’s a general perception that the crisis belongs to a distant past.

In paralel, we can’t forget that the fight of the workload is mixed with the fight of good collective agreements. In 2009, despite the crisis, 80% of the negotations between bosses and employees have resulted real salary gains. This year, we can improve this index and contribute to the income distribution at the country.

Aires Ribeiro, President of the Federation of the Trade Unions of the District Public Servers of the State of São Paulo

The valorization of the minimum salary, the slowness of inflation and the economy growth benefited the salary negotations made between workers trade unions and businessmen in 2009. According to Dieese, 80% of the salary negotiations made by 692 categories of Brazilian workers achieved real salary increase.

Other 88 agreements (almost 13% of the total) assured, at the minimum, the reposition of inflation with basis in the INPC-IBGE. Because of that, Dieese believes that the salary readjusts were few affected by the international financial crisis started in the last months of 2008.

Taking as basis the Dieese research, the president of Força Sindical-MS, Idelmar da Mota Lima, considered that the politic of valorization of the minimum adopted by government Lula, were also positively impacted at the salary campaigns of categories with salaries a little superior to the minimum.

According to the research, increased the presence of collective agreements with more than 4% of real gain. This evolution is related to the politic of valorization of the minimum salary, because the salary basis of these categories are very next to the national minimum.

“This scene is a consequence of the organization and ability to fight of workers, of the trade union pressure and of the unit of the trade union centrals”, considers Lima.

Trade union organization

“The trade unions are more organized and got the worker trust, what have possibilitated conditions to close good agreements with the bosses”, insists the trade union leader.

José Silvestre, coordinator of trade union relations at Dieese, says that the positive tendency to the salary negotiations may be repeated this year, in case inflation is in a level next to 2009.

Fight of the public servers against the anti-trade union actions

High interest disturbs the economy growth
The decision of keeping the Selic rate in 8,75% will damage the economical growth, the job offer and the income increase of the salaried because it tends to be because it tends to break the businessmen impetus to invest in production. When reducing the investments, the economy will grow less than expected and the same will happen with the opening of new job posts. Despite the bad scene to the productive sector, the bankers have been aplauded the politc of high interests which increases their gains, what may interfere negatively in the economy expansion to 2010.

With economy warm, all the sectors hire           
The accelerated rhythm of the taken back of the economy at the beggining of  the year have made that the balance of new formal jobs at the country come to February with 209.425 new vacancies, the best result of History to the second month of the year. For the first time, all the sectors of economy have hired more than have fired. And industry, commerce and services also beat the record for the period. With the necessity of restore the stocks in time to keep up with the internal consumption expansion and beggining of the exportations recuperation, the transformation industry was responsible for the opening of 63.024 new formal job posts.

Job don’t overcome the vacancies closed with the crisis
Even this way, the 290.170 jobs created at the sector since April, 2009 still are far away to overcome the 501.390 vacancies closed at the top of the crisis. The industry will have the best year of History. There is a recuperation in all the productive chain and the external sales have started to respond, mainly at the textile and shoes industry, assess the Work Secretary. In February there were the biggest number of admissions of the series of Caged, with 1,526 million vacancies filled. But the number of dismissions is 1,316 million at the month.