Brazil Post meets union again, with trial date set
Brazil Post is meeting with union groups again today with hopes of agreeing a labour deal to bring the country’s partial postal strike to a halt. A conciliation hearing is being held with the umbrella group for Brazil’s regional postal unions, Fentect, this afternoon at the Superior Labour Court (TST) in Brasilia.
But in the event that no agreement is reached, the Court has now scheduled the matter to come to trial on Thursday afternoon (27 September).
Brazil’s regional postal unions have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement since July, but with a wide gap between their pay demands and the 5.2% increase offered by Brazil Post, groups representing 23 regions of the country called for strike action last week.
A court order currently requires national union umbrella group Fentect to ensure at least 40% of postal workers report to work in any unit of Brazil Post.
Brazil Post said yesterday that it believes about 91% of its 120,000 workers are continuing to work normally at the moment, with about 10,891 people on strike according to electronic monitoring systems.
Contingency
The company said in a statement that during the weekend, its contingency plans went into effect, with a national task force working on Saturday and Sunday to process and deliver letters and parcels from the backlog built up last week.
The task force involved about 25,000 workers – 22,000 delivery staff and 2,800 administrative staff – sorting and delivering about 23.7m letters and parcels, said Brazil Post.
The postal operator said its branch network is currently operating normally, including Postal Bank services. Express delivery services through the SEDEX brand are available, but in certain areas – including the capital and Sao Paulo – Brazil Post has suspended its time-definite express services.
Brazil Post said it was making “every effort” to meet the demands of the Brazilian population.
Fentect said union members from various states came together yesterday to protest outside the Brazil Post headquarters in Brasilia, calling for a better offer for a labour deal.
Edson Dorta, the Fentect secretary general, said: “We deserve much more than this misery that the company is offering us.”
