PT members accommodated in public positions have readjustment and salaries reach R$ 69 thousand

Defeated in the last election and accommodated in public power positions by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the presidents of Sebrae and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service, Sebrae, Décio Lima (PT-SC), and the Brazilian Agency of Export and Investment Promotion, Apex-Brasil, Jorge Viana (PT-AC), started receiving a salary of R$69,495.40 since July, not counting benefits.

The salaries of civil servants and directors of the two government bodies were adjusted by 6% and 8%, well above inflation and even the civil service adjustment, in a measure that could cost R$13.5 million more per year. Before adjustments, the remuneration of the presidents of Sebrae and Apex was R$65,536.97.

The salary is higher than that of President Lula, who receives R$41,650.92 and the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court, at the top of their careers, earn R$41,650.92. It is a difference of 66% for PT members, who, as a rule, are not subject to the ceiling.

The adjustment of Apex Brasil’s board of directors was approved on July 6th by the organization’s Deliberative Council, chaired by the Minister of Industry and vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB). An agency resolution equates the salary of the president and directors to that of Sebrae’s top brass.

In a note to state of S. Paulo, Sebrae stated that the adjustment was calculated based on inflation accumulated until April 2023, which was 3.8%, together with a real gain of 2.13% claimed by the Employees’ Association and that the last remuneration adjustment took place in May 2022. Apex Brasil did not comment. The agency’s last adjustment, also in May 2022, was 14%.

Defeated in election and welcomed by the government

Décio Lima, who was a federal deputy for Santa Catarina for three terms, ran for state government in the last election, but lost to Jorginho Mello (PL) in the second round. He was elected by the Sebrae Deliberative Council in April, but remains president of the PT of Santa Catarina, earning a salary of R$8,970.64.

Jorge Viana, in addition to his salary from Apex, receives R$23,800.52 from his senator’s pension. Viana tried to return to the position of governor of Acre in 2022, but Gladson Cameli (PP) was re-elected in the first round with 56.75% of the votes.

As president of the agency, according to a newspaper report The State of S. Paulo, Viana won two round-trip tickets to Acre, where he has official residence. He also owns a duplex penthouse in Brasília valued at R$4.2 million. In another internal articulation, he managed to get the entity’s Executive Board to join Apex Brasil’s private pension plan, previously restricted to employees.

Apex Council relaxed English proficiency requirements to accommodate PT members

Viana was appointed in January by President Lula and generated questions from opponents for not knowing how to speak English. The Apex statute, in its article 23, paragraph 4, required English as a “minimum requirement” to occupy the position.

At the time, the Federal Court even annulled Jorge Viana’s inauguration, claiming that it is up to the Presidency of the Republic to determine whether the nominees meet the requirements for the position.

But the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGU) appealed and the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1) suspended the removal. In March, three months after Viana took over the position, the Deliberative Council changed the rule and waived the criteria.

The Council did not express an intention to do the same in 2019, when Jair Bolsonaro’s nominee, Alexandro Pinho Carreiro, was dismissed from his position for the same reason. He refused to audition because he was not influential in the language. The press revealed the fact and he fell after eight days in office.