Brazil: Education workers protest during Luiz Inácio’s visit
We publish an unofficial translation of an article by A Nova Democracia.
On Friday 6th of September education workers protested during an official visit of Luiz Inácio (PT) to inaugurate a section of the Transport’s Net works in Goiânia. The protesters held up a banner that showed the paychecks with starvation wages of municipal employees and demanded the approval of the Law Project that establishes a national salary floor for basic education workers who perform functions other than teaching. During the protest, the workers addressed the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, drawing his attention to the situation.
The protesters denounced that education administrators in the municipality receive the lowest salary in their category across the country. Many of them receive an average of 600 reais after deducting social security and other deductions, such as IMAS, the municipal health plan that is charged to employees even without guaranteeing service for months. The protesters reported the case of a school employee who became ill and received ten reais in her July paycheck, after deducting the expenses for her treatment.
The mayor of Goiânia, Rogério Cruz (Solidariedade), was not present at the electoral event as he was running for re-election in the ongoing electoral farce.
Basic education workers have mobilized nationally to demand the approval of the national salary floor for technical, administrative, support and operational staff in schools. The right to a minimum wage and career plans are present in the federal constitution, in the article 206, and the funding to put them into practice has been established by FUNDEB since 2020. But only with the mobilization of the workers of the category, the PL 2531/21 (law project) began to be processed at the national congress.
In recent months, deputies from different groups have trafficked with the legitimate interests of workers, while Luís Inácio government cuts essential areas for the people to comply with its “fiscal framework”: a month ago, before the recent announcement of the “new PAC ”, the federal government made billion-dollar cuts in education and other areas.
For projects that result in numbers of works and GDP growth (which is not synonymous of improving the lives of the people), what was taken away from basic rights, such as education, health and social programs, is invested. The bulk of investments go in the other direction, as Luiz Inácio made a point of emphasizing before leaving Goiás. In an interview with Difusora radio, Luiz Inácio recalled that there is no lack of financial support for “agribusiness” and that “for decades, landless people have not invade productive lands, but agribusiness maintains a stance of rejection [and that] both the MST and agribusiness are fundamental for Brazil”.
