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After 21 days’ strike, nearly all Brazilian bank workers’ meetings, held by over 100 local unions throughout the country, approved the proposal presented by the employers’ organization Fenaban (National Federation of Banks). In the largest public banks (Banco do Brasil and Caixa Econômica Federal), which negotiate parallel additional clauses to the agreement, workers also approved the proposal. However, the strike continues in a few public banks such as Banco da Amazônia, where there were no significant additional clauses addressing workers’ demands.



Thus, the huge majority of bank workers ended the strike on Monday and is back to work. The strike, the strongest in 20 years, closed more than 9,200 workplaces in all 26 Brazilian states and in the Federal District.



“The approval of the proposal is the crowning achievement of another successful campaign in which bank workers faced an adverse economic and political context. With our national unity, mobilization and bargaining power it was possible to obtain important gains for workers like pay raise over inflation rates for the eighth year in a row, wage floors raise, better profit sharing, more safety and better working conditions, with no external intermediation of labour courts”, concludes Carlos Cordeiro, president of Contraf/CUT and UNI Americas Finance, who has also coordinated the National Committee of Bank Workers in this campaign.



“It was also an important political victory for the Brazilian working class because the outcomes of this campaign will be a reference for workers from other sectors. We defeated the paradigm that higher wages increase inflation. We reinforced our strategy of empowering labour as a way of strengthening economic development with income distribution”, points Cordeiro.





Economic and social gains



The approved proposal includes a pay raise of 1.5% (the first proposal was 0.56%), improvement of the wage floor in 4.3% and a better profit sharing (the fixed amount will increase in 27.2%; and the additional amount will be 16.7% higher’s than last year’s participation). The proposal also restricts money transportation by bank workers, which represents more safety for employees, and it determines the end of individual rankings, addressing the issue of pressure over workers’ sales of financial products and moral harassment. Wage floor increase in some public banks was even higher



The days of strike won’t be deducted from workers’ pay checks. Like previous years, they should be paid in working hours until 15 December. After that, there will be no more hours to be paid and the remaining days/hours will be forgiven.



The additional proposal for the main public Banks (Banco do Brasil and Caixa Economica Federal) also represent gains for workers. “Besides better profit sharing plans, we negotiated a job creation clause through which Caixa will hire 5,000 new employees and Banco do Brail will improve its career plan”, highlights Carlos Cordeiro.

International Solidarity

UNI Global Union, its regional representation, UNI Americas, and union organisations of almost 20 different countries have expressed their support for the strike sending letters to the employers’ organization Fenaban demanding them to resume negotiations. UNI affiliates from all continents sent their messages expressing their support to the movement and their concern about the employers’ silence. Besides a letter signed by UNI general secretary Phillip Jennings, there were letters from Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, France, UK, Spain, Swiss, Austria, Finland, Hungary, Paquistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Japan and New Zealand.

The American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), from the United States, also expressed its support sending a remarkable letter to the Brazilian banks calling their responsibility not only with the bargaining table but also with a fair economy, “Now, echoing what we’ve heard in the United States and throughout the world, unions in Brazil say they are not fighting only for a contract, but also for a fair economy for all workers. The AFL-CIO stands in solidarity with Contraf-CUT, with the workers’ national strike in Brazil, and with the broader movement to hold big banks accountable, whether on Wall Street or in Sao Paulo”, signed Richard Trumka, president of AFL-CIO.

"We deeply thank this support we’ve had from UNI, these sister organizations, and the AFL-CIO because these initiatives were very important for strengthening our struggle and for giving an international dimension to our fight. We also support the Occupy Wall Street movement because it in tune with our struggle in Brazil for a stricter regulation of the financial sector”, points Carlos Cordeiro. For him “ the solidarity is key in the process of financial globalization and it proves that workers’ struggles have no borders and that we should fight together for better working conditions in all countries and for a financial system that contributes to economic and social development of all peoples”. “We are the 99%. Together we find strength. We find commonality in our diversity. We stand together. We will advance together. And we will occupy together.” he echoed.

Source: Contraf/CUT