The union representing Central Bank workers announced preparations to increase pressure on the government as they seek higher wages. Bank workers will escalate go-slow operations that started two months ago, amid perceptions that the government is ‘unwilling’ to negotiate.
In a statement, the union says this mobilization by aggrieved staff will delay the Central Bank’s schedule to launch new ways to wire money through PIX, Brazil’s instant payments system.
“Without a complete career restructuring, Central Bank workers’ representatives foresee an inevitable dismantling of the specialist career — a situation that has worsened over the past decade with raises below inflation and growing disparities compared to similar careers,” the union said on Monday.
The demands of the Central Bank workers include the creation of a productivity bonus for specialists, in line with other government sectors; the requirement of a college degree for technician positions at the bank; and the changing of the ‘analyst’ job title to ‘auditor.’ The union complains that José Lopez Feijóo, the Management Ministry’s labor relations secretary, declined to provide a date for presenting a counterproposal to the workers.
The union statement says an intensification of the work-to-rule operation within the organization will characterize the next phase of the ongoing protest. By doing so, workers aim to cause delays in the implementation of new Pix features and setbacks in the Drex Projects. “This could disrupt the intended progress in the modernization of financial services,” says the union.
Staff at the Central Bank began a go-slow operation two months ago, with 70 percent participation. The impact of the resulting slowdown included delays in the publication of indicators such as the economic activity index (considered a reliable predictor of official GDP data), the cancellation of meetings with financial institutions, backlogs in processes for changes and creation of financial institutions, and various other interruptions and non-deliveries.
Workers’ representatives aim at “sending a message to the leadership of the Central Bank and the authorities regarding the discontentment of the category with the government’s paralysis.”
Last year, during the former Jair Bolsonaro administration, employees of the bank staged a strike from April 1 to July 5, demanding a salary adjustment corrected for inflation over the past years (approximately 27 percent) and the restructuring of the category, the same request as in the recent statement.
The government refused to meet either demand. Mr. Bolsonaro ruled out a salary increase for federal employees in 2022 due to budgetary constraints.
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