Lula criticizes interest rates, highlights minimum readjustment in May 1 act

In a unified act of the trade union centrals this Monday (1st), Labor Day, in the Anhangabaú valley in the central region of the capital of São Paulo, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) criticized the level of interest rates in Brazil, promised exemption of the Income Tax on Profit Sharing (PLR) and highlighted the recently announced measures to increase the minimum wage and the expansion of the Income Tax exemption range, saying that it is starting to make changes in the economy.
According to Lula, the exemption on the workers’ PLR was a request from the union centrals that should be studied by the Treasury. The president once again criticized Brazil’s current interest rate of 13.75% per year. “We can no longer live in a country where the interest rate does not control inflation. It controls, in fact, unemployment in this country, because it is responsible for part of the situation we live in today.”
Although timid, charges against the new government appeared in the act of the union centrals. The president of the Union of Metro Workers in the state, Camila Lisboa, spoke of not being satisfied with the minimum wage of R$ 1,320.00. “It is necessary to advance soon to reach R$ 5,000.00.” To this end, according to Lisboa, the strategy is to tax the richest.
In addition to São Paulo, other capitals across the country also hosted events this Monday due to the 1st of May. The demand for the reduction of interest rates gained space in banners carried by demonstrators. Union leaders also took turns in speeches in defense of the policy of valuing the minimum wage and other labor rights.
The public present at the acts carried flags, caps and T-shirts from organizations such as the Single Workers Central (CUT) and the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST). In Belo Horizonte, trade union centrals took a walk through the streets during the morning. There were also records of demonstrations in capitals such as Fortaleza, Maceió, Recife and Teresina. Shows by artists and speeches by union leaders were scheduled for the afternoon in municipalities such as Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Salvador.
The president also reinforced the attraction of foreign investment as a way to generate jobs. “Another thing that we are going to bring back is the generation of jobs. You saw that I have already been to the United States, China, Argentina, Uruguay and I am going to England now. We are inviting foreign businessmen to invest in Brazil, we are showing them the big projects that we’re going to present in the third PAC. It’s going to be the biggest infrastructure project in this country, so we’re going to generate jobs again.”
Inequality between men and women in the labor market was the theme chosen to open the speech. “We sent a bill to Congress on March 8. For the first time, we are going to guarantee that the woman earns the same as the man if she has an equal function to his. It is not possible that after so many millennia of humanity, the his wife treated as if she were an inferior being. The bill is extremely urgent.”
This is the fifth year that CUT, Força Sindical, UGT, CTB, NCST, CSB Intersindical Central da Classe Trabalhadore Publica perform the May 1st act in a unified way. The meeting of all centrals, which previously held events separately, began after Lula’s arrest in 2018, with an act in Curitiba (PR).
The president also spoke about the increase in the income tax exemption limit. “We increased the limit to R$ 2,640.00, no one will pay a penny more in Income Tax. I have a commitment with you that we will have exemption of up to R$ 5 thousand until the end of my mandate.”
The readjustment of the minimum wage – which is also the minimum wage for pensions from the National Social Security Institute (INSS) – was announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in a speech on TV on Sunday.