Explaining Brazil #181: Bolsonaro picks a dangerous fight

By Gustavo Ribeiro

Federal civil servants are an influential group in Brazil. 

But President Jair Bolsonaro has managed to alienate this sector of around 1 million workers, with many of them threatening to hold a general strike at the end of January. If government employees stop working, that could lead to a shutdown — bad news for any president at any moment, but catastrophic during an election year.

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Guest:

• Euan Marshall is is an editor at The Brazilian Report and also hosts the Explaining Brazil podcast in the absence of Gustavo Ribeiro.
• André Pagliarini is an assistant professor of history at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He used to teach Latin American history and is currently preparing a book manuscript on the politics of nationalism in 20th-century Brazil.

This episode used music from Uppbeat. License codes: FCYDEFMW7AVTYNVO.

Background reading:

• A potential civil servant rebellion puts the Bolsonaro administration on alert, as a strike could cause a government shutdown just nine months before the presidential election.
• The government will not be allowed to raise the wages of civil servants without obliterating the federal spending cap, which could cause a major trust crisis. Especially since it has already poked several holes in spending rules.
• Public service in Brazil is probably not what you think it is. In 2019, we broke down the true situation of government workers.
• Last year, Mr. Bolsonaro presented his plan to reform Brazil’s civil service. Despite leaving much to be desired, the proposal could be highly consequential. We prepared a series on the reform:
  • Part 1: Dissecting Jair Bolsonaro’s plan
  • Part 2: Brazil’s billion-dollar public service industry
  • Part 3: Brazil’s bizarre — and flat-out bullshit — public jobs
  • Part 4: The reform’s challenges in Congress
• Fuel importers fear shortages amid the civil servant rebellion, as customs clearances get stalled.

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