Rapporteur proposes food vouchers in cash; restaurants see risk

The rapporteur of the MP (Provisional Measure) that changes the rules of food aid, deputy Paulinho da Força (Solidariedade-SP), proposed that the benefit can be paid in cash to the worker.

The project, which should be voted on this week by the Chamber, was already the target of a clash between companies, governments and startups. With the changes suggested by the deputy, the dispute gained new contours.

Abrasel (Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants) says that part of the sector could collapse, putting jobs at risk.

According to the entity, about 20% of revenue from bars and restaurants comes from food and meal vouchers. In the case of establishments close to large companies, this share can reach 80%.

The rapporteur said that the change in the form of payment of food aid depends on agreement with the union. “So it depends on collective bargaining,” he said. This Thursday (28), the union centrals supported, in a note, the change.

In addition, according to the deputy, the proposal will allow the worker to use the value of the voucher in any restaurant, market, fair or commerce, which configures a more rational use of the resource.

Abrasel says that, “with free use and without supervision, the benefit tends to distort”.

The version presented by Paulinho will also face resistance from the lobby of food ticket card operators.

The group is represented by ABBT (Brazilian Association of Employee Benefits Companies).

“The public policy is called the Worker’s Food Program. If there is a food program and it is specific, how do I define it as money? It is no longer a program, it becomes a salary increase”, said Alaor Aguirre, president of the ABBT.

For him, the risk with the method is going back to the time when the worker presented invoices from restaurants to prove spending on food.

Before the deputy’s proposal, the entity had a similar position to Abrase in criticizing two points of the measure: the portability of the card to the open arrangement.

The first allows the worker to change cards at will, without being obliged to keep the one provided by the company. The second changes the restaurant chain’s accreditation logic, transferring responsibility to the card brands.

The new competitors in the sector, the best known of which is Ifood, defended the original text by pointing out that it would allow more competition for the sector and more benefits for the worker. The company did not comment on the proposed payment of food aid in cash.

Sector wants to end the so-called ‘rebate’

Unanimity among all market participants is at the end of the rebate. This common practice in the food ticket market is a way that companies have found to win customers.

The card operator offers a discount to the company that signs a contract with it. If the company needs to credit R$ 1,000 on a food stamp card, the facilitator accepts the transfer of a smaller percentage, covering the remaining amount.

The problem is that this becomes a cost for the facilitator, who passes it on to bars and restaurants through the fee charged for the transaction. The commercial establishment also does not take the damage and it ends up on the worker’s plate.

Everyone’s expectation is that with the end of the rebate there will be a decrease in the price of meals outside the home.

The original version of the MP, presented by the Ministry of Labor and Welfare, already proposed an end to the granting of discounts in the hiring of companies providing food aid. The government’s argument is that the practice causes harm to the worker.

Paulinho is leader of Força Sindical and was chosen rapporteur of the MP because of the proximity he has with the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

The deputy made changes in relation to the original text proposed by the government so that, in the new version, unions are strengthened.

Amendment to the text also aims to strengthen unions

One of Paulinho’s proposals provides for the end of the dispute over the remaining balance of union contributions, which can reach R$ 600 million, in values ​​adjusted for inflation.

The money refers to leftovers from the mandatory contribution, which has been extinguished since the labor reform came into force, in November 2017. The entities claim to be entitled to these resources.

During the administration of former president Michel Temer (MDB), the Palácio do Planalto, the economic team and the AGU (General Advocacy of the Union) even opened a negotiation table with the union centrals, but the impasse remains to this day.

The Provisional Measure also provides rules for teleworking in the country. The rapporteur made few changes in this part of the text, but began to provide that agreements for this type of work be signed in collective bargaining.

“Almost all amendments [sugestões de alterações ao projeto] were in the sense of not allowing individual negotiation [direto entre o patrão e o empregado]. Who understands these matters is each sector, each category. So it has to be negotiated with the unions,” said the deputy.