The week-old Brazilian postal strike that has hit deliveries of mail and parcels in the country isset to continue indefinitely after unions yesterday rejected an improved pay offer from the
government. A heavy backlog is now building up in Brazilian sorting centres and distributionfacilities.Thousands of staff of the country’s postal operator Empresa Brasileira de Correios eTelégrafos (ECT) went on strike on September 13 in a pay dispute. This has heavily disrupteddeliveries of letters and parcels, although the company and postal union have issuedwidely-diverging statements on the number of staff on strike and the extent of the impact.According to the Globo newspaper, there is now a backlog of 18 million letters and parcels.
Correios initially offered a 3.74% increase and a one-off payment of BRL 400 (EUR 151), whilethe postal union Fentect is demanding a rise of 47.7% to compensate for losses due to inflationsince 1994. A new offer by the government of a slightly higher amount was yesterday rejected by theunion as “insignificant”.
“We will continue on strike until the company returns to the negotiating table and thegovernment presents a proposal that takes our demands into account,” a Fentect spokesman toldBrazilian media. Correios is reportedly seeking an intervention from the country’s supreme labourtribunal to halt the dispute.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian communications minister Hélio Costa has suggested a partialprivatisation of Correios in order to generate capital to develop the postal group in thefast-growing logistics sector.
Correios, which last year made a profit of BRL 396 million (EUR 147.6 million) on revenues ofBRL 8.5 billion (EUR 3.17 billion), is currently seeking government approval for a restructuringplan under which it would axe over 500 management jobs to reduce costs and speed updecision-making. It also plans to set up its own small cargo airline for mail and parceldistribution instead of relying on commercial airlines.
