Centrals debate plan to regulate unions and create public labor agency – 02/14/2023 – Panel

Union centrals elaborated a ten-year plan to implement changes in labor relations in Brazil.

The first version of the document, obtained by the Panel, calls for the creation of a public agency for self-regulation of labor relations, reinforcement of collective bargaining mechanisms and definition of a cut-off line for minimum representation and limits on union mandates.

The centrals established a script according to which, after debates with the different categories involved and the Ministry of Labor, the text will be presented as a bill in Congress until April 2023. Those involved say that this first version is still a draft that it will still undergo several modifications based on the contributions of the discussions.

According to Ricardo Patah, president of UGT, the text is a reaction to the processes of fragmentation and fragmentation of union representation, promoted in recent years in Brazil. The document has received criticism from part of the union movement, which accuses the main centers of trying to concentrate power from the proposed changes.

One of the main proposals is the creation of the Council for Self-Regulation of Labor Relations (Cart), an autonomous public agency whose mission would be to help organize the union system and manage labor relations.

The understanding is that this entity could act in the mediation of conflicts, reducing the costs with the Justice and giving more agility to the resolution of impasses.

In addition, it would be responsible for monitoring the operation of the union system, which should have democratic and representative entities, regulate union funding and implement programs to strengthen collective bargaining.

The Cart would be made up of three Chambers, one for workers, another for entrepreneurs and a common one, in addition to a technical board. It would be financed by contributions from union members and the so-called “negotiated rate”, which is the proposal evaluated by the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government to replace the union tax.

The project intends to discourage unions with low representation, that is, that have few affiliates in relation to the total number of workers in their base, and bar leaders who perpetuate themselves in union commands in consecutive elections and without transparency.

For the first case, it offers tools for unions without representation to cease to exist, such as mergers, incorporations and consortia of entities. There would also be mechanisms to avoid spraying, such as the prohibition of further fragmentation of unions that have joined together.

The text generated resistance in part of the union movement, which says that the three main union centrals, CUT, UGT and Força Sindical, try to become hegemonized by establishing in the document that the presidency of the Chamber of Workers of Cart will be occupied by them, in rotation.

According to critics of the text, the attribution of measuring the unions’ representativeness to the council could also be used by these centrals to penalize more combative entities.

Finally, they claim that the proposal would suppress the role of confederations and federations in national negotiations, transferring it to the centrals.

At this point, union leaders who participated in the elaboration of the text affirm that there is no intention of proposing changes in the performance of these entities, which would continue with the same function after the implementation of the proposals.

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