Brazil’s police officers’ union threatens strike and rupture with the government

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) Feeling that they have been betrayed by president Jair Bolsonaro, members of the UPB (Union of Brazilian Police Officers) are threatening to strike and break with the current government.

The UPB comprises at least 24 institutions in the law enforcement area. The statements were made at a press conference on Wednesday, March 10th.

The spark for this crisis is the wording of the PEC (Proposed Constitutional Amendment) submitted to the Chamber of Deputies by the Senate. It was endorsed by the Planalto Palace, including the vote of senator Flávio Bolsonaro, and did not exclude police officers from the planned salary freeze for government employees.

If passed, the PEC establishes a trigger to freeze salaries and ban career progression and new hires when a state of calamity is decreed, or when the ratio between current expenses and current revenues reaches 95%.

“We are discussing a strike because we are debating whether or not we can strike, but we are not ruling it out. Essential services will always operate; we are looking at how to organize this so that the federal government will understand it. We are extremely dissatisfied,” said Edvandir Paiva, president of the ADPF (National Association of Federal Police Detectives).

The ADPF board of directors sent a letter to the Federal Police regional superintendents on Wednesday. The aim is that they may act as spokespersons along with the Federal Police director-general to convey the situation to President Bolsonaro. They claim that there is still a chance of reversing the situation.

According to the organizations, the government publicly pledges one thing and behind the scenes articulates itself differently. They allege that they have been betrayed at least three times since Bolsonaro’s inauguration, such as in the Social Welfare Reform.

According to Luis Antônio Boudens, president of FENAPEF (National Federation of Federal Police), the organizations are not against the PEC and the emergency aid, but rather the way it is being handled.

He says that public security is in the front line of the fight against the pandemic and has not stopped, and should be given respectful consideration by the federal government.

“We will be the target of these measures for the third time, designed by the Ministry of Economy and accepted by the president. We, who support the president, are being targeted. For police officers who haven’t woken up yet, wake up.”

Rafael Sampaio, president of ADPJ (National Association of Judiciary Police Detectives), said that public security workers are being discredited by the current government.

“We are being discredited by a government that was elected under the banner of security and valuing security. For instance, vaccination groups were recently published, and prisoners were given priority to the detriment of police officers, who present very high rates of contamination.”

Source: Folha