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According to the National Confederation of Finance Sector Workers (Contraf/CUT) the strike is growing stronger in all the 26 states and in the Federal District. “Bank workers are very angry with the employers’ silence and hypocrisy. On the one hand, they do not respond to our call for negotiations. On the other hand, they lie to society stating that they are engaged in negotiations and that they are open to dialogue”, declares Carlos Cordeiro, president of Contraf/CUT and UNI Americas Finance.

“Besides spending more and more with their executives, the banks have been ignoring our demands and making use of anti-union measures to break our movement with all sorts of pressure and intimidation over bank workers. Even helicopters have been used to transport staff to their head offices”, states Juvandia Moreira, president of the Bank Workers’ Union of Sao Paulo and vice-president of UNI Finance. “Nevertheless, the strike has reached even the call centers and we are taking judicial measures against these illegal moves”, she adds.

International Solidarity

UNI Global Union and union organisations of 14 different countries have already 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. Up to last Friday, besides a letter signed by UNI general secretary Phillip Jennings, there were letters from Argentina, Chile, France, UK, Spain, Swiss, Austria, Finland, Hungary, Paquistan, Malaysia and New Zealand.

"We deeply thank this support we’ve had from UNI and these sister organisations because this is very important for strengthening our struggle and they are instrumental to push even more the employers in order to resume negotiations and make them present a decent proposal. Their intransigence led workers to the strike and to the impasse which exposes negatively the banks image even in international level”, 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”.



Source: Contraf/CUT