The president of the General Union of Workers (UGT), Ricardo Patah, said today (1st) that the union movement wants the renegotiation of some labor issues, but does not defend the repeal of the labor reform, nor the return of the union tax, along the lines of that was charged. Patah and representatives of 21 trade union centrals met in Brasília with the elected president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
According to Patah, issues such as approval of dismissals, collective bargaining, intermittent work and agreements between businessmen and workers without the participation of unions need to be reviewed and debated by the National Congress.
“In Brazil, we have a reform that has not created jobs, as expected, and which has a series of legal insecurities still created. We want legal certainty, entrepreneurs have to be calm, we want strong companies that make a profit, but that distribute this through PLR [Participação nos Lucros e Resultados] or participation, and that generates jobs”, he said.
For the president of UGT, Parliament will be fundamental for the construction of a new trade union or labor reform suited to the new world [em] we are living, the fourth industrial revolution, digital platforms, high technology and decent work”, he said, as he left the meeting.
According to Patah, it is unanimity and consensus among union members that there is no return of the mandatory union tax, but it is necessary to build a way of funding the entities, in addition to the monthly fees paid by unionized workers. For him, this can be decided freely in workers’ assemblies based on the achievements of the unions.
Ricardo Patah said that the meeting was organized so that Lula would listen to the sector’s demands. “It is a very important role, listening to the world of work, the unions in their most diverse categories, about what demands are necessary to start the government with successful policies. Many of them will be built in Parliament and there are some that may, at the beginning of the year, be announced, such as the income distribution policy through the minimum wage.”
According to Patah, the president-elect reaffirmed his campaign commitment to restore the purchasing power of the population, through real salary increases.
