BRASÍLIA: The long-standing and damaging series of strikes and slowdowns by customs officers in Brazil has ended, according to officials in the capital Brasilia and the port of Santos.
The dispute over pay, pensions, and working conditions began in July 2016 and has done serious damage to shippers’ bottom lines and the Brazilian economy. The port of Santos alone has incurred losses of approximately 1 billion reais ($309.9 million), according to estimates of the Santos and Sao Paulo Association of Shipping Agents, or Sindamar. Nationwide taking into account delays at airports and border crossings total losses could be double that figure.
Signs of a resolution began to emerge the week before Christmas when officials in the customs officers union Sindifisco Nacional told JOC.com that the Brazilian government was making serious moves to end the crippling strikes via a special provisional measure in Brazil whereby a measure immediately has the power of a law even before it is passed by Congress.
Brazilian President Michel Temer at the start of 2017 signed such a provision granting the customs union nearly all of its demands including a 20 percent pay raise.
“The provisional measure passed by Brasilia has ended the strike,” said a source close to Sindifisco in the Brazilian capital. “It is important to note, however, that this bill needs to be approved by the Congress and that could cause problems if the members decide to change the text. It is unusual, but it could happen.
“Sindifisco hasn’t issued any official statement, but the overall feeling is that the bill [if kept the way intended by the government] is good for the customs officers and fiscal auditors and corresponded to most of what was agreed back in March with the former administration of Dilma Rousseff.”
Sindifisco claims that in the three months leading up to Christmas some 25,000 containers had been delayed owing to its weekly strike actions. Initially, Temer’s government refused to rubber stamp Rousseff’s promises for fear other public service employees would seek similar raises, but in the end, the financial losses caused him to give in. Others in the know in Santos also said the strike had ended.
“The customs officers strike is now completely finished. A deal has been made and they are all working normally now here in Santos,” Marcio Calves, head of the Commercial Association of Santos told JOC.com. “Everything is finally back to normal.”
