The federal government's economic team indicated that the money to pay for the adjustments to servers comes from reduction in amendments by MPs.
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| President Jair Bolsonaro |
A 5 percent readjustment for all federal public personnel will be implemented beginning in July, according to President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The cost of providing this rise to all government workers in 2022, the year in which the president seeks re-election, is R$6.3 billion.
Bolsonaro met with Paulo Guedes, the Minister of Economy, in the Palácio do Planalto on Wednesday (13), according to reports. Alternatively, the economic team suggested that the money to compensate for the readjustment to servers comes from cuts in amendments by parliamentarians, known as benches, intended for various ministries, whose payment is not mandatory and which are therefore politically easier to "drink" than those in the secret budget
Because of the Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF), which prohibits wage hikes fewer than 180 days before the end of a presidential term, the administration is racing against the clock to announce the civil service readjustment and bring it into effect on the July payroll. Due to the fact that a general rise of 5 percent would be below the rate of inflation, there is no legal barrier to doing so from the standpoint of election law.
The rise demanded by federal employees needs not only the approval of the National Congress, but also amendments to the Budget Guidelines Law in order to become a reality, according to the National Congress (LDO). According to Civil House personnel, it was a complicated operation that had to be completed within the time limits set by the government.
Guedes was in Planalto on Tuesday afternoon (12) for a meeting with the Chief Minister of the Civil House, Ciro Nogueira, and the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, which was not on the official itinerary of the visit. Employees of the autarchy are putting pressure on the autarchy to make readjustments.
Campos Neto assured those in attendance that the PIX's operations will continue as usual, despite the strike that has already disrupted the distribution of the Focus bulletin, which includes inflation and exchange rate figures that are tracked by the stock market. If the government does not work exclusively with federal police officers in the campaign for the readjustment, the Central Bank civil servants union has already threatened to escalate the strike to the point where it will affect the PIX, a tool that will be used by the president's reelection campaign, as a result of the strike.
Bolsonaro pledged a reorganization of public security categories as part of his campaign promises. Other kinds of servers, in addition to BC servers, are being mobilized as well.
As a result of the president's decision to boost salaries solely for police categories, this elite of the civil service, with annual salaries ranging between BRL 341,100 (BC analyst) and BRL 380,380 (Revenue auditors), drew the line of political articulation of mobilization. Revenue auditors' regular operating procedure causes delays in the unloading of products, which may have an impact on the costs of soap powder and bread rolls.
The idea to provide a 5 percent readjustment to all government personnel was the favoured option in order to avoid dissatisfaction within any one group. A second suggestion was to use the R$ 1.7 billion in budgetary space available to consider just police jobs (federal, federal roads, and prison guards), as well as the needs of Federal Revenue and Central Bank personnel, who represent the civil service's upper echelon.
Employees of the Internal Revenue Service would receive an efficiency bonus based on regulated productivity targets, at a cost of approximately R$200 million this year, and employees of the Central Bank would receive an additional R$250 million for readjustments, for a total cost of approximately R$400 million this year.
a third suggestion, which was also rejected by the unions, was to increase solely the food stamps program with the R$ 1.7 billion that was allocated to it in this year's Budget. According to government authorities, the plan had the advantage of benefiting a wider number of public workers who earned less; nevertheless, the civil service unions have opposed this idea as unjustified and unworkable.