Brazil On Strike

Going on strike is a common occurence in Brazil; every week, you're bound to see headlines of one group or another declaring a strike and organizing a protest march. Sometimes, though, like this week, strikes sweep across the country.

In greater São Paulo, train workers went on strike, demanding higher salaries and food benefits, and leaving 2 million passengers without transportation for two days. In Paraná, Volkswagen workers and the metal workers union of greater Curitiba marked 34 days on strike yesterday, causing the company an estimated loss of R$806 million. Education and health workers went on strike in Osasco, greater São Paulo on Monday. In Mato Grosso, civil police in the state capital went on strike this week, demanding salary increases.

Meanwhile, there's a nationwide university administrators strike, in certain public federal universities in Acre, Amazonas, Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, the Federal District and São Paulo. Due to the strike at affected institutions, certain services are unavailable, like the libraries, cafeterias, and labs. In Bahia, public university professors maintained a strike this week that first began in April, leaving 60,000 college students without classes. In Fortaleza, despite a salary increase granted by local officials yesterday, public school teachers maintained a strike that began over a month ago, leaving 230,000 students in 420 schools without classes since the beginning of the school year. And just yesterday, public school educators at state-run schools in Rio announced a strike of their own.

But the strike that's making headlines is the Rio de Janeiro firefighters strike.

 

Firefighters are not legally allowed to strike in Brazil, but over the weekend, 2,000 firefighters and their families, including wives and children, marched in protest and then broke into and occupied the main firefighters headquarters. After a twelve hour standoff, the state government sent in BOPE (Rio's SWAT team) with tear gas, and 439 firefighters were arrested. Along with responding to fires and car accidents, the Rio firefighting service includes the city's lifeguards, which meant besides limited first response to fires, the strike also left the city beaches without lifeguards for a day. Now, the government is trying to negotiate as more protests have broken out, as firefighters are protesting the treatment of those arrested and injured during the BOPE sweep. Plus, they're still fighting for a salary increase, since Rio firefighter salaries start at R$950 a month, or around US$600. Meanwhile, those who were arrested could be sentenced to up to ten years in prison.

As I've written about before, there's more to Brazil's economic "miracle" than meets the eye, at least if you're paying attention. And now, with more prosperity to be had, people are continually demanding their fair share. There are more strikes to come, which will unfortunately leave more citizens at the behest of strikers and negotiators.

Comments

[AdrianLesher]

I don't think it's unfortunate that Brazil has an active labor movement. The ever-widening gap between rich and poor in the the United States has been aided by the erosion of the labor movement in the US. Hopefully Brazil can avoid this sort of regression.

By helping to elect former labor leader Lula, the Brazilian labor unions greatly aided in the further democritization of Brazil and in the growth of the Brazilian middle class.

[Rio Gringa]

Hi Adrian,

I think a healthy labor movement is good too, especially when it comes to increasing salaries for groups of people that really deserve more. What's not so great is when the strikes go on for weeks or months; it's especially unfortunate for schoolkids and college students, or for patients when health workers strike.

Also, with the erosion of the US labor movement, I think we can get a little romantic when it comes to seeing strong labor movements in other countries. It's harder to deal with when it's your train or your school or your health clinic that gets shut down for days or weeks.

[Born Again Brazilian]

Having moved from New York City to Sao Paulo about 11 months ago, your post dragged forth a frightening reality. Though you might see a fire extinguisher in every car on the street, I see no fire hydrants anywhere. How on earth would they put out a fire? But regarding the issue, I've noticed that the difference in the U.S. vs. Brazil is that fire fighters in America have always been regarded as heros, and have received the social benefits that accompany this title. Here, they might as well be washing the sidewalks. Or parking cars.

[Adam]

I was passing the Câmara Municipal, next to the Barcas, in the centro yesterday and there was a huge crowd, everyone wearing red and a 'trio eletrico' with a woman on top speaking to the crowd.

Prender bombeiros é foda