You can’t just listen to Faria Lima, say unions to Haddad – 03/03/2023 – Market

Leaders of social movements and trade union centrals met this Friday (3rd) with Minister Fernando Haddad, of Finance, in São Paulo. On the agenda of both meetings was the economic agenda of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government and the participation of these entities in defining policies.

“You can’t just listen to Faria Lima, you also have to listen to the union movement, the workers”, said Sérgio Nobre, president of CUT (Central Única dos Trabalhadores), at the end of the meeting.

The union centrals defended in the meeting that the unions become part of the Carf (Tax Resources Administration Council) and the Copom (Monetary Policy Committee). “We want to participate in forums such as Carf, which cannot only have representatives of businessmen”, stated the president of the CUT.

According to Nobre, the trade union centrals expressed to the minister their assessment that the current interest rate, at 13.75%, “is a crime for the country’s growth”. The centrals closed for March 21 a series of demonstrations in front of the headquarters of the Central Bank across the country.

The chosen date coincides with the first day of the next Copom meeting, when the economy’s basic interest rates, the Selic rate, will be discussed.

Antonio Neto, president of the CSB (Central dos Sindicatos do Brasil), cited the defense of an “anti-usury law”. “The Selic cannot be at 13.75% and the credit card [com juros] by 400%. Large department stores, in fact, are not department stores, they are financial stores. These things need to be addressed.”

Updating the Income Tax table and taxation rules were also discussed.

Antonio Neto said that the unions and movements defended the minister’s taxation of the “super rich”. An example presented by the trade unionist of what they consider to be a reflection of an unfair system was that the PLR ​​(Profit Sharing) is a taxable income, while the entrepreneur’s profit is exempt.

According to Nobre, Haddad stated that he respects the workers’ agenda and that the ministry is open to hearing all proposals. He also signaled the possibility of discussing in a working group proposals such as the one that deals with what the unions consider to be parity in the composition of the Carf.

Luka Franca, representative of the MNU (Unified Black Movement) at the meeting, defended that the Treasury should consider the urgency of public policies. “We know that the time of politics is different.”

In Franca’s assessment, the government is sensitive to the situation. “He said that there is precisely the concern to weigh both the demands of the market and the concrete reality of the situation.”

The value of the minimum wage did not have much space in this Friday’s meeting, according to the participants. The centrals calculate that if the policy of valuing the minimum wage had been maintained, the national floor would now be R$ 1,382.

This issue will be addressed directly at the negotiating table created by the government to define a new policy for the floor.

Haddad’s agenda in São Paulo this Friday included two meetings, both with unions and union movements. In the first, there were Ivone Silva, president of the Union of Bank Workers of São Paulo, Osasco and Region, Juvandia Moreira, of Contraf (National Confederation of Workers in the Financial Sector) and Aroaldo Oliveira da Silva, executive director of the Union of Metallurgists of ABC.

In the second were, besides Nobre, Antonio Neto and Luka Franca, Miguel Torres, president of Força Sindical, Ricardo Patah, president of UGT (General Union of Workers), Rodrigo Rafael, of MTST (Movement of Homeless Workers), Bruna Brelaz , from UNE (National Union of Students), Gilmar Mauro, from MST (Movement of Landless Rural Workers), Raimundo Bonfim, from CMP (Committee of Popular Movements), Dão Real Pereira, from the Institute of Fiscal Justice, and Fausto Junior, of Dieese (Inter-union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies).

In addition to Haddad, the advisor for Social Participation and Diversity at the Ministry of Finance, Juliana Santos, participated in the meeting, who will be responsible for mediating conversations between Haddad and the movements and for creating the working group.