Brazil: Strike of Bankers Gets Record of Paralyzed Agencies

Brasilia, Sep 20 (Prensa Latina) The strike of bankers in Brazil today maintains a record with more than 13,000 paralyzed agencies throughout the country, the National Confederation of Workers of the Financial Sector (Contraf) announced.

In this fifteenth day of strikes, the adherence to the movement has been even stronger, the grouping indicated last night said on its website.

These numbers reflect the dissatisfaction of bank workers regarding the disrespect of the National Federation of Banks (Fenaban), which so far has not submitted a new proposal that meets the needs of the sector, it added.

The workers on strike are demanding a wage increase of about 15 percent to cover the inflation rate recorded in August (9, 62 percent) as well as an increase of about four percent of the real wage.

They also claim an additional payment of 3,300 reais (around 1,000 dollars), to put an end to abusive goals, the moral and sexual harassment, and the outsourcing of the sector.

Given the intransigence of the Fenaban, the strike will continue to grow, said the president of the Contraf, Roberto von der Osten, who insisted that the bankers act with total disregard trying to impose on workers a loss of 2.39 percent of their wages and refusing to address the other claims.

The benefits of the five largest banks in Brazil (Itaú, Bradesco, Banco do Brasil, Santander and Caixa) in the first half of this year exceeded the 29 billion reais (over 9,100 billion dollars). Nonethelesso, nearly 8,000 jobs were lost, union sources said.