Lula’s new union tax may be three times higher than the one extinct in 2017

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) intends to resume the collection of the mandatory union tax which, according to the draft of the project to be sent to Congress by September, will have a limit three and a half times greater than the one extinct in 2017, according to economists.

The proposal is still being studied by the Ministry of Labor and Employment, but had already been defended by Minister Luiz Marinho since the beginning of the new government. According to the proposal, the fee would be linked to wage readjustment agreements intermediated by unions and limited to up to 1% of the worker’s annual income, to be deducted directly from the salary.

Since the entry into force of the labor reform in November 2017, the union contribution has become optional, replacing the old union tax that was deducted annually and corresponded to one day of work. A study carried out by the Department of Inter-Union Statistics (Dieese) points out that union collections fell by 98% in the period, from R$ 3.6 billion to R$ 68 million in 2023.

However, after the new government took office, a working group was set up in mid-April with representatives from the ministry, labor unions and employers’ confederations. For the proposal under discussion, the one that the newspaper The globe had access, two-thirds of the amount collected would be allocated to unions, and the remainder distributed among labor confederations.

The minister claims that the proposed new model is different from the previous union tax. Marinho argues that whoever does not want to pay will need to go to the workers’ assembly and vote against it.

“What is up for debate is creating a negotiable contribution. If the union is providing a service, enabling a wage increase, it is fair for the non-union worker to pay the contribution. If he does not agree to pay the fee, just go to the assembly and vote against it”, he said in an interview with the newspaper. The globe published this Monday (21).

Luiz Marinho states that the proposal has not yet reached the Civil House, but that it has the support of Lula – who also always defended union forces and has already publicly expressed support for a new contribution model. The project must be presented to him by the end of August.

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The union centrals clarify that, during the labor negotiations, the union contribution will be one of the points discussed, along with issues such as wage increases and benefits. The ideal amount for financing unions will still be debated, along with benefits such as meal vouchers and other rights.

“The assembly will decide whether or not to approve the union contribution. If the opposition is a majority, the process returns and the negotiation starts again”, explains Miguel Torres, president of Força Sindical, also to the newspaper The globe.

If all agenda items are approved except the contribution amount, the agreement will be rejected and negotiations will resume. This means that salary adjustments will only be effective when the value of the union contribution for that round of negotiations is accepted and defined. The two questions are intertwined.

A new meeting between the participants of the working group set up by the government should be held this week. One of the impasses still without consensus is the amount of the fee to be charged from workers, considered too high by employers.