Bolsonaro and Congress doubled benefits for military personnel – 04/14/2023 – Politics

The government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) proposed and approved a law in Congress that doubled the financial benefit that military personnel have when going to the reserve. In practice, generals began to receive up to R$300,000 upon retirement —a value that previously reached R$150,000.

The change was approved as part of the military pension reform in December 2019.

The text, suggested by the Executive and accepted by parliamentarians, increased the extra retirement benefit from 4 to 8 times the salary of the last post that the military assumes on active duty.

The justification used in the negotiations at the time was that the military did not have access to the FGTS and, therefore, the payment of up to R$ 300,000 would be a form of compensation.

The fund was created so that formal workers would have a guarantee of resources in case of dismissal, as an alternative to job stability. Therefore, public servants under the statutory regime are not entitled to the FGTS.

The FGTS is funded with funds from the employer —in the military career, payroll deductions refer to income tax, military pension and health fund.

The military still claimed that the increase in the benefit would be a way to soften the impact of the decision of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government (PSDB), in 2001, to extinguish the special license to which the military were entitled.

The benefit was a 6-month break that the military had every 10 years worked. Many uniforms, however, stopped taking vacations to receive in cash, when going to the reserve, an amount equivalent to double what would be paid during the special leave.

Despite the end of the benefit, the generals who are currently in the High Command, who graduated from Aman (Military Academy of Agulhas Negras) in the early 1980s, accumulate the special licenses not taken and the increase in allowance when they retire from career.

At the time of discussions on the pension reform of the military, in the Chamber, the only deputy who questioned the increase in the benefit was Paulo Pimenta (PT-RS). Currently, he is Minister of Secom (Secretary of Social Communication) of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government.

In amendment, the then deputy suggested that the allowance that the military receives when he goes to the reserve be extinguished instead of increased.

“[É uma forma de] also reduce the inequality that causes the gap in remuneration between the ranks of the military, promoting a fair reduction of differences, especially considering that the lowest ranks face great difficulties in the exercise of their functions”, wrote Pimenta at the time.

At the time, ministers Fernando Azevedo (Defense) and Paulo Guedes (Economy) justified that the changes served to materialize the “need to maintain recognition of merit, commitment, exclusive dedication and permanent availability of the military”.

“The restructuring and enhancement of the military career, in a manner compatible with its State functions, is necessary in order to maintain an adequate degree of attractiveness and encourage the permanence of qualified professionals in its ranks”, said the ministers, in a message sent to Congress. .

Paulo Pimenta is a close interlocutor of associations representing Army soldiers. In March, he facilitated a meeting of a group of low-ranking retired military personnel with Lula.

The group claims updates in the pension reform of the military – such as reducing the difference in value that officers and squares receive when going to the reserve or reform.

Sought, Pimenta did not manifest whether he maintains the position contrary to the benefit given to the military. Fernando Azevedo also decided not to comment on the changes.

For the postdoctoral student in political science at Unicamp Ana Penido, a researcher on the Armed Forces, the pension reform for the military brought generalized benefits to the barracks, compared to civilian workers.

“There was a budget cut at the time, tougher rules for civilian retirement, and the military career ended with more benefits than losses with their pension reform,” he said.

Penido assesses, however, that the reform was even more beneficial for the military at the top of the career —especially due to the increase in the allowance paid when the officer goes into inactivity.

“At that time [da reforma] there was already dissatisfaction. The generals who were in government, who were ministers, promised that they would give the same earnings to the lowest ranks, but they did not achieve anything”, he reinforces.

The researcher also claims that the justification given by the military to receive the allowance as compensation for not contributing to the FGTS makes no sense.

“The career has many difficulties, that’s a fact, but they manage to guarantee the best of both working worlds. It has the typical stability of civil service and also has a kind of guarantee fund, which they don’t pay throughout their career, but receive even so.”

“They win both ways. I also make the comparison with military schools. They have budgets three times larger than other public schools and always want to compare themselves with private schools. But, when it comes to the entrance exam, students have the right to public school quotas.

Such as Sheet showed, generals use resources destined to help with the costs of moving or referring to going to the reserve to inflate their salaries, since the amounts passed on are calculated based on the remuneration of the military and are usually higher than the expenses with the changes.

The last deployment of military personnel took place at the end of March and was decided upon at a meeting of the Army High Command in mid-February. It was the first change at the top of the hierarchy carried out under the command of General Tomás Paiva.

The exchanges interspersed changes that were already foreseen in past administrations (Júlio César de Arruda and Freire Gomes) and new exchanges, tailor-made for Tomás’ objective of reinforcing the non-partisan role of the Force.

The changes affected 75 generals, including 11 of the 15 four-star generals (top of career). Of this total, 45 officers have already received stipends totaling R$4.3 million —an average of almost R$100,000 per general.

Chair dancing is a natural part of the military career and usually takes place every two years. There are, however, cases of generals who changed positions in less than a year and accumulated allowances.