Postal workers in Brazil yesterday rejected a 5.2 per cent pay offer but delayed a vote on anationwide strike by up to 120,000 employees until next week in the hope of winning a higher
increase.Staff of national postal operator Correios (ECT) rejected the company’s pay offer at regionalunion meetings across the country. New meetings will be held next Tuesday (September 18) and astrike could start the next day.
The postal workers federation Fentect is demanding a 43.7 per cent pay rise for the 120,000employees, which it justifies on the grounds that workers need to catch up for past years.
A union official told Brazilian newspapers that most of the regional unions were delaying astrike in the expectation that the company would improve its offer. The union will hold internalmeetings over the next few days to coordinate strike planning, he added.
Correios has said the 5.2 per cent pay offer will guarantee workers’ purchasing power as itcovers inflation and stressed that over the last nine years staff have seen their salaries rise by35 per cent in real terms.
The postal operator said yesterday that it is preparing contingency measures to guarantee itcan continue to offer services to the public should a strike take place. These include usingadministrative staff, temporary workers and overtime and weekend working to ensure mail and parcelsare sorted and delivered.
“Correios remains open to dialogue and believes it has offered a fair proposal to secure acollective agreement. However, if a stoppage should occur, the company will take reasonable stepsto ensure normal services are provided for the Brazilian population,” it emphasised.
Brazil suffered a damaging four-week strike last September – October in a dispute over payand working conditions. The strike was ended by a court ruling that ordered workers back to theirjobs and imposed a 6.87 per cent pay rise that the unions had previously rejected.
