Itapemirim leaves an employee without a salary, a distressed customer and a sad porter at the Tietê bus station

José (not his real name), 69, works as a baggage handler at the Tietê Bus Terminal, in the north of São Paulo, the largest in the country. For more than a decade, it has been following the collapse of Viação Itapemirim, controlled by the group of the same name.

“They dominated the Northeast, all the stopping points were theirs, it was a monopoly. I made this stretch myself, from São Paulo to the Northeast and from there to here, I know what it was like. it’s called ‘loader 134’.

“But about 15 years ago, a family problem started, the sale of assets. Old employees started to leave and then things went awry. Kaissara’ or ‘at the service of Itapemirim’. It wasn’t like that before. But it could also be: sometimes the driver arrives all dressed up, driving an old bus. We are sad, since the company is expected to stop on the 27th.”

From the height of his 31 years at Tietê bus station, ‘carrier 134’ manages to summarize the crisis faced by the transport group created in 1953 by the Cola family. When the founder, Camilo Cola, who died in May 2021, decided to become a federal deputy in 2007 for the MDB, whoever succeeded him was the youngest, his namesake. But, according to sources, Camilo Cola Filho had no talent for business and the accounts began to be in the red. There was also an inheritance dispute with her older sister in 2008 when her mother, Inês, died.

The company was sold to businessman Sidnei Piva in 2017, a year after entering judicial recovery. Piva also stayed with Viação Kaissara, another company belonging to the Cola family. Today, Itapemirim has almost R$2 billion in tax debts.

Piva was accused of embezzling money from the judicial recovery to create ITA – Itapemirim Transportes Aéreos, which suspended operations on Christmas Eve and left thousands of passengers without flying.

The finances of the Itapemirim group under the Piva administration became even more precarious, to the point that the MP-SP (Public Ministry of São Paulo) asked, on the 29th, that the businessman’s assets be blocked, as anticipated by the leaf. The request to the judge of the 1st Court of Bankruptcy and Reorganization of the capital of São Paulo also includes the inclusion of ITA in the judicial reorganization process, the conversion of the judicial reorganization into bankruptcy and the suspension of all auctions for the sale of Itapemirim assets. In recess, the Court has not yet ruled on the matter.

On the 30th, the company asked ANTT (National Land Transport Agency) to stop serving 73 cities, with 16 lines, which should happen from the next 27th.

One of the most critical problems is the lack of payment of employees. Workers at the newly created ITA had already reported salary delays. Now those facing the perrengue are the workers of Viação Itapemirim and Viação Kaissara.

A leaf spoke with an employee of Itapemirim who has been with the company for four years. Carla (not her real name), 33, confirmed back pay since last month. Part of the team has used a certificate not to go to work. According to her, the airline held a meeting with the team on Wednesday (5) to say that it will make the payment, but did not inform dates.

Another employee, Paula (not her real name), from Kaissara, has been with the group for 26 years. Also with her salary delayed, she says that the Kaissara team did not have a meeting with the boss to talk about payments. According to Paula, when they find out that Kaissara belongs to the same group as Itapemirim, customers get worried and want to know if everything is ok with the buses. “But most of the buses that the company uses today are chartered,” he said.

In Fortaleza, delays in the payment of wages, meal vouchers and the second installment of the 13th, in addition to long hours, caused Itapemirim workers to stop activities for two days this week, for a few hours. The report spoke with drivers on condition of anonymity.

According to one of the workers, those who do not have another extra function are very afraid of becoming unemployed. In the team, there are drivers aged 15 or over from Itapemirim.

According to Sinteti, the union of road transport workers in Ceará, during an assembly this Tuesday (4), employees did not accept the company’s proposal to split the 13th in four installments, pay only one of the five months of vouchers. overdue meal, and settle the vacation due in October in installments.

The threat of stoppage of the Itapemirim buses generated a climate of apprehension and uncertainty among those arriving at the Engenheiro João Tomé bus station. [3], I learned that they had paralyzed everything. Out of fear, I came earlier,” said Aparecida dos Santos, 55, who was due to travel to São Paulo that morning.

In São Paulo, this Wednesday (5), Jader Jacomini Ferreira Júnior, 44, was waiting for a bus from Itapemirim to Bom Jesus do Norte (ES), which arrived two hours late. “I bought the ticket long before this whole Itapemirim thing came out, if I had known, I wouldn’t have bought it. We get scared, right? A delay like that is not normal.”

With his teenage daughter, Ferreira Júnior could have faced the long wait in the VIP room at Itapemirim in Tietê, inaugurated with pomp in 2019. But the room is closed. A notice at the entrance says the reason is the Covid-19 pandemic. Passengers from other vehicles, however, such as Expresso do Sul, Cometa and Rapido Federal, have the respective companies’ lounges, which maintain security protocols.

Sought to comment on information about bus charter and back wages, the group did not respond to the report until the publication of this text.