Solicitor General calls for end to “illegal” environment workers’ strike

The office of Brazil’s Solicitor General filed a legal action in the Superior Court of Justice (Brazil’s second-highest judicial body) on Tuesday calling for the immediate return to work of public servants from environmental protection agency Ibama and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), currently on strike.

According to news website Poder360, the lawsuit calls the work stoppages “illegal” and “abusive,” arguing that environmental inspection and licensing work are essential activities that cannot be brought to a halt.

On Monday, the strike of Ibama and ICMBio workers for better pay expanded to public servants in 25 of Brazil’s 27 states. Workers had already halted activities in the field earlier this year, and have now stopped completely.

The strike means that critical post-fire cleanup operations are not being carried out, and fines are not being issued as usual, which can encourage destruction. The protest movement occurs as the Pantanal wetlands and the Amazon rainforest experience a record number of fires.

Labor unions representing environmental workers say deforestation over the first four months of 2024 hurt an area 17 times larger than during the same span last year, and that this was largely due to their unmet wage demands.

The full stoppage came after the Management Ministry announced an end to negotiations, claiming it had “reached the limit” of what the government could offer. On Tuesday however, Management Minister Esther Dweck promised that talks would reopen.

Unions ask for a pay increase of 10.34 percent per year, in three installments, between 2024 and 2026. With the accumulation of interest during this period, the full increase would be around 34.32 percent.

The government’s February counterproposal included a 9 percent wage hike in two installments: the first in May 2025 and the second in May 2026. The Management Ministry also claims to have offered almost double in meal bonuses, a 51 percent increase in health aid, and an increase in daycare allowances for parents.

The employees, however, argue that the government’s proposal would only cover inflation from past years, adding that their last wage increase above inflation came in 2016.

Early in June, the government declared it would no longer negotiate with the disgruntled workers. On Tuesday, however, Management Minister Esther Dweck backpedaled on her threats and said negotiations would resume.

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