Transition prepares ministerial reform without expanding positions, but plans to readjust civil servants

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) transition team was instructed to plan the ministerial reform and outline public policy plans without increasing spending on commissioned positions and maintaining the current staff of public servants.

There is, according to PT members, no project to expand the number of current staff, which is 568.4 thousand statutory servants.

In the case of commissioned positions, the final amount may vary because some folders and structures will have to be recreated to fulfill Lula’s plans. But the intention is to combine positions with lower salaries to meet the needs of positions with higher salaries, in order to keep overall expenditure stable.

The preliminary design of the Esplanada dos Ministérios foresees at least 34 members at the top level, apart from secretariats and legal advisors that will need to be foreseen. Today, the Executive has 9,100 management and senior advisory positions.

“We are not in favor of a minimal State. We think that we need to have a machine of the necessary size to develop public policies,” he said to Sheet Miriam Belchior, former Minister of Planning.

Belchior is part of the group responsible for the infrastructure area and also works as a special advisor for the transition – a position linked to the office of the coordinator, the vice-president-elect, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB).

The request not to have a forecast increase in servers was also confirmed by members of other transition groups.

Despite signs of stability in the staff, the PT intends to resume a permanent negotiating table with public servants – who had frozen salaries during the management of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

In addition to salary increases, this instance worked during PT governments as a way of resolving conflicts and discussing labor relations in civil service.

Even in times of fiscal tightening, the PT negotiated wage readjustments staggered over a few years.

“That [aumentos salariais] depends on the fiscal, budgetary condition of the government. What is guaranteed is to have a permanent negotiation table”, said Belchior.

The PT’s previous administrations are criticized by economists because of the strong expansion in personnel expenses –both due to the swelling in the hiring of civil servants and salary increases.

The negotiating table, made up of representatives of the government and unions, should return to work in 2023, according to the former minister and members of the transition group responsible for the Planning area.

However, this negotiation will not necessarily mean a salary increase greater than that already estimated for next year.

The 2023 Budget proposal reserved an amount of BRL 11.6 billion for these increases in the Executive Branch, enough for an adjustment of approximately 4.85% starting in January —if applied in the middle of the year, the percentage could be bigger.

The general rapporteur for the 2023 Budget, senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), signaled that he will seek to increase the expected readjustment for public servants of the Executive.

The Judiciary sent a proposal for an adjustment of 18% in two years, which should serve as a reference for the demand of the Legislative servants.

“The civil servants of the Legislative and Judiciary earn a higher salary. Will they have a greater readjustment than those who traditionally earn less? What is foreseen [para servidores do] Executive is only half of what is foreseen for the Judiciary. Is that right? I think not. How to make? We’re going to have to study and equate to see what can be done”, said the rapporteur to Sheet in early November.

If the Executive’s readjustment is applied from the middle of next year, however, the same amount foreseen in the 2023 Budget would be enough to pay for a readjustment greater than 4.85%. The most significant impact would only come in 2024.

Members of the transition, however, consider “excessive” a possible adjustment of the Executive adjustment to that requested by the Judiciary. In a different posture from the party’s previous administrations, the PT must defend greater control in personnel expenses in the face of budgetary difficulties, as indicated by Lula’s allies.

The plans for the PT’s third term also provide for a detailed analysis of each request for the opening of a public tender and the replacement of retired civil servants.

There are already demands, for example, on the Dnit (National Department of Transport Infrastructure) and also pressure from INSS (National Social Security Institute) servers.

“The reports themselves [das equipes de transição] will point out where servers may be needed. But this will all be analyzed during the government to assess which areas actually need additional hiring. It is not in the transition that we will be able to do this analysis”, said Belchior.

The indication is that there will not be an immediate replacement of all vacant posts after the retirement of public servants.

According to data from the Ministry of Economy, during the PT’s administrations, the number of hires exceeded the total vacancies released, which led to a growth of the machine. In 2014, during the Dilma Rousseff (PT) government, 168 civil servants were hired for every 100 vacancies released.

Under the management of Paulo Guedes (Economy), for every 100 civil servants who retire or leave their post, the government replaced much less – in 2020, there were only 26 vacancies.

As a result, the number of federal executive servants dropped from 630,000 before Bolsonaro took office to just under 602,000 in 2020. Now, there are 568,000.

If, on the one hand, there are areas with a shortage of personnel, in others, the digitalization of services is seen as a factor that exempts the government, to a certain extent, from replacing personnel. The question, according to members of the transition, is how to make an accurate diagnosis of the needs of each area.