Strong strike contrasts with silence of Brazilian Banks
“Bankers missed one more opportunity to resume negotiations and present a new proposal, ignoring the presence of the National Leadership of Bank Workers Unions in São Paulo on Friday, same place where the employers’ organisation (Fenaban) has its headquarters. This intransigence raises the indignation of workers and will intensify the nationwide strike” alerted Carlos Cordeiro, president of Contraf-CUT, the National Condederation of Financial Sector Workers, at the end of the meeting of the Leadership held on Friday to assess the industrial action and further moves on the coming days.
The strike grows day after day. On Friday, fourth day of action, 9,092 bank branches and administrative offices were closed in 26 states and in the Federal District, according to Contraf, based on the information of 137 local unions and 10 regional federations that are part of the National Leadership.
On Tuesday 18, first day of strike, 5,132 workplaces were closed, jumping to 7,324 on the second day and 8,527 on Thurday 20. Compared with last year’s strike, 7,865 were close on the fourth day of action.
On the meeting, the National Leadership came to the conclusion that the growth of the strike is consistent across the country, mainly in private banks, and advised unions to intensify mobilisation in order to force Fenaban to break silence and resume negotiations.
The banks presented only one proposal of 0.58 of real increase against the bank workers’ demand of 6%. On September 5, Contraf-CUT sent a letter to Fenaban to inform about the mobilisation schedule and to reaffirm that the unions were open to resume negotiations and demanded the submission of a new proposal, but so far, there was no response.
“Banks were wrong to bet on the failure of the strike. Workers responded accordingly with a strike stronger than previous years”, concluded Carlos Cordeiro
The main demands of bank workers:
● Wage increase of 10.25% (real increase of 5%).
● Increase in the floor wage for R$ 2,416.38.
● Three extra wages as profit share plus bonus of R $ 4,961.25.
● Career Plan for all bank workers.
● increase of 10.25% in all benefits
● More hirings, protection against unjustified dismissal and end of high turnover rates.
● End of abusive sales targets and moral harassement
● More Safety
● Equal opportunities.
Source: Contraf-CUT