Brazil Post fails court bid to prevent regional strikes

Brazil Post lost a court bid to prevent a postal strike in two regions of the country on Friday. The Superior Labour Court (TST) rejected the national postal operator’s request for an injunction against the industrial action in the regions of Minas Gerais and Pará until a labour deal can be hammered out.

Strike action has been underway for just under a week, with negotiations with the Brazilian regional postal unions, over a new labour deal, stuck in stalemate at the moment.

On Friday the vice president of the TST, Maria Cristina Peduzzi said it was “premature” for the court to consider a request for an injunction on a strike before Brazil Post could offer any information on the extent of the strike action.

“A simple generic news piece about the outbreak of a partial and limited strike does not permit, at least at the moment, the award of an injunction,” she said.

Brazil Post had wanted the court to declare that workers already on strike would have their strike days docked from their time off, but Cristina Peduzzi was unhappy at how the Post had estimated how long the strike had been underway.

During the hearing, the judge set up a conciliation hearing between Brazil Post and Fentect, the national umbrella group of regional communications union groups, on Wednesday (19th September).

“Immeasurable distance”

Brazil Post filed its lawsuit with the TST last Thursday, stating that negotiations begun back in July with the unions had proved unsuccessful, and asking for strike action to be declared illegal.

The Post’s lawsuit stated that there was “immeasurable distance” between the unions and its offer of a 5.2% pay rise for around 120,000 workers, and that strike action was not legitimate because the company was not informed 72 hours in advance.

Brazil Post said on Friday that Wednesday’s meeting would see the TST hearing its request to mediate negotiations with Fentect.

The TST was called in 11 months ago by Brazil Post to resolve the last work stoppage over a failed attempt to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, which lasted nearly a month.

On Friday, Brazil Post said it was now asking that in view that the current attempts for a fresh labour deal were now exhausted, the TST should extend the conditions of the work contract it ordered last year for a further four years.