INSS: debate on minimum wage excludes retirees – 04/14/2023 – Market

Entities representing INSS (National Social Security Institute) retirees and pensioners have been left out of discussions on the new model for readjusting the minimum wage and, consequently, the amount that will be paid.

The minimum wage, currently at 1,302, must be readjusted to R$ 1,320 as of May 1st, in line with the campaign commitment of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signed with unions, including those of retirees.

A new readjustment formula is under debate at the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Meetings are being held with union centrals and other ministries, but, so far, according to representatives of INSS retirees and pensioners, the category has not yet participated in face-to-face debates.

João Inocentini, president of Sindnapi (National Union of Retirees, Pensioners and the Elderly), says that he was even invited to one of the meetings, held last week, but that the invitation arrived after the end of the working day on a Friday, with meeting scheduled for Monday morning, without the unionists managing to organize themselves to go to Brasília.

The confusion provoked dissidence between Sindnapi and Força Sindical, the central to which the union was affiliated. This Tuesday (11), a board meeting voted for the temporary disconnection between the entity and Força, and for the suspension of monthly transfers.

For Inocentini, retirees and pensioners are a significant public that receives the minimum wage and need to be heard. Data from Sindnapi are that between 26 and 27 million of the almost 37 million beneficiaries of Social Security today earn the national floor.

“Half of the public that receives the minimum wage in the country is retired”, he says. According to him, the union also has a study to present to the Ministry of Labor. Inocentini claims that he should participate in the meeting to be held next week, and is awaiting an invitation from the ministry in advance.

“We want to recover the minimum wage. The best times in our country were when the minimum wage was better: in 45 and 46, in the 60s, 80s and in the Lula and Dilma governments. It generated income, helped municipalities, it was money circulating. The money has to be in the hands of the people, who buy and move the economy”, he says.

Warley Martins, president of Cobap (Brazilian Confederation of Pensioners and Elderly Retirees), also says he was not invited to the debates. “They didn’t invite us, we only know about it through the press”, he says.

In addition to studies on the minimum wage, Inocentini intends to take a survey to Brasília on the cost of medication, which has burdened retirees. Since March 31, medicines are 5.6% more expensive in the country.

Miguel Torres, president of Força Sindical, denies the lack of participation of retirees. “They are in the group. They have to participate, it’s very important”, he says. The unionist says that last week’s meeting advanced in two important points: everyone agrees that the minimum is outdated and that there should be a new readjustment formula.

There was, however, disagreement as to the value. The centrals want R$ 1,381 to replace the losses left by the Bolsonaro government. The formula defended today is the resumption of the model that was applied in the Lula and Dilma governments, which ran from 2007 to 2019, and considers the previous year’s inflation plus the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth of two years before.

However, the category wants to replace 5.8% more, which would be the losses, in installments until 2026. “What we are justifying is that, since when the minimum wage was created, in 1940, the purchasing power is less than 50 % of what it was at the time.”

The new formula would be in effect for 30 years. Under the proposal, over the next three years, the minimum wage would be readjusted by another 2.4% per year, in addition to the period’s inflation measured by the INPC (National Consumer Price Index) and the GDP variation (Bruno Domestic Product).

Applied as the result of an agreement between the centrals and the Lula government in 2007, this rule was converted into law in 2015, effective until 2019. In 2020, the Bolsonaro government began to correct the minimum wage for inflation, as stated in the Constitution.