Brazil's postal strike continues, as union rejects latest offer

Brazil’s postal strike is set to continue, after unions rejected a fresh attempt by the Post and Telegraph Company (ECT) to restart negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement. Around a third of the work force at ECT has been on strike since the middle of last week.

Yesterday, ECT’s management board, which insisted the strike was now only affecting 19% of its workers, reissued its previous proposals for a labour deal.

The Post wants a suspension of strike activity before negotiations begin, and is offering the same terms as it presented prior to the start of strike activity.

ECT is offering a 6.87% salary increase, plus a one-off R$800 ($436 USD) bonus and benefits it says amounts to a 13% increase for two thirds of its work force.

“With a suspension of the strike, we can immediately ensure the delivery of items resumes with speed and service quality,” said ECT in a statement yesterday.

The National Federation of Postal Workers (Fentect) countered the offer with its own offer, in which salaries would see a R$200 ($109 USD) per month increase on top of an inflation-linked 7.16% increase. This would effectively see currently monthly salaries of R$807 ($440 USD) rise to R$1,635 ($892 USD).

ECT said the latest offer from the unions was little different from the offer tabled at the start of the 60-day negotiation process.

Yesterday, Fentect said the strike would continue as it lambasted the latest contract offer from ECT with the claim that ECT was paying the lowest salaries among government agencies, for both entry-level positions and higher positions.

It said it was “always willing to negotiate”, but said ECT was not paying respect to its members in its latest offer.

“In this light, the position of Fentect right now is the continuation and strengthening of our strike, in the understanding that it is our greatest bargaining power,” said the union’s secretary general, Jose da Silva Rivaldo.