Majority of Brazil’s postal unions postpone strike action

Brazil Post has said its services are operating as normal across the country as a majority of regional unions opted to defer plans for strike action after meetings on Monday and Tuesday night. Of 17 regional unions meeting on Monday, two decided against postponing protests against a proposed labour contract currently on the negotiating table.

The others will wait for further meetings before taking action regarding Brazil Post’s latest contract offer, based on a 5.2% pay rise for about 120,000 workers involved, are set to take place next week.

On Tuesday additional regional union groups held meetings, deciding not to take action for now.

Reports have suggested strike action is taking place in Minas Gerais and Pará, the regions whose unions did not vote to postpone action.

Brazil Post said on Wednesday (12th September) that postal services were running normally across Brazil, and 98% of services were as normal in the two states said to be affected by stoppages.

It said 24 out of 35 Brazilian regional union groups have now held meetings on the latest offer, with only the two signaling intent for industrial action.

“In the event that a stoppage should happen, the company has a contingency plan to ensure the provision of services for the population,” Brazil Post said in a statement to the media yesterday.

“Measures include relocation of employees from administrative divisions, hiring of temporary workers, use of overtime and implementation of joint efforts for sorting and delivery of letters and parcels at the weekend,” the company explained.

Brazil Post found its operations disrupted this time last year for nearly a month as around a third of its work force went on strike.

At the moment, following more than a month of negotiations, the company is offering a 5.2% hike in wages and benefits which it said fully adjusted for the effects of inflation. An initial offer was for a 3% rise.

Postal workers are also being offered benefits including transport vouchers as well as medical and dental insurance for themselves and dependents.

Brazil Post said in the last nine years its employees have seen salaries increase 138%, or 35% in real terms including inflation. The company said it is also improving working conditions by hiring thousands of new workers to replace those lost by attrition in the last few years. In the last 21 months, 10,000 new employees have been hired, with a further 9,904 to be recruited by 2013 under current plans.

Unions

Brazil’s postal unions are demanding a salary increase of 10% in real terms, and rejected Brazil Post’s 5.2% offer in their meetings this month, even while deciding to delay strike action.

Fentect, the national umbrella group for Brazil’s postal unions, said yesterday that the current stalemate in negotiations may require work stoppages to resolve.

It said the union groups in Minas Gerais and Pará who have decided to strike represent about 17,000 workers.

Fentect – the National Federation of Postal Employees in Postal and Telegraph Companies – said that as well as a bigger increase in salary, unions were demanding that Brazil Post hire 30,000 more workers immediately, end the practice of outsourcing work and guarantee better working conditions.

The union umbrella group said despite attempts at negotiation, Brazil Post was of the view that it could renew the collective bargaining agreement set by the courts at the end of the strike action in September-October 2011, based on a 6% pay rise.