President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) made a new gesture this Monday (21) to the Federal Highway Police, which is awaiting readjustment this year, and asked for understanding from other sectors of the civil service.
“Some categories, or rather, all categories deserve to be valued. And what we try to do: whoever we can save up front, we save”, he said, in the midst of a speech about the corporation.
“I hope the understanding of the other categories, of the servers in Brazil”, he added.
Bolsonaro’s statement took place during the launch ceremony of the Agenda Brasil Para Todos program, by the Secretary of Government and the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights.
The president was surrounded by PRF agents. The superintendents met at the corporation this Monday, went to the Planalto Palace accompanied by Minister Anderson Torres (Justice and Public Security) and had an audience with Bolsonaro before the ceremony began, behind closed doors.
In his speech, Bolsonaro asked the corporation’s representatives to stand in front of the pulpit, where he was speaking, and listed apprehensions and other PRF accomplishments.
“[A PRF] It is a serious institution, like others we have in Brazil, but it really does exceptional work for our society. And we have to value these professionals. I hope that society understands that this must be done,” Bolsonaro said.
The Chief Executive’s gesture occurs in the midst of a series of comings and goings regarding the readjustment to the police categories.
The government has been studying this possibility since last year, as shown by the sheet. In the vote on the 2022 budget in Congress, this forecast was almost left out of the final text and only went through the articulation of Bolsonaro himself.
It is unusual for the president to be directly involved in these negotiations. Police officers are considered from Bolsonaro’s electoral base, which is in second place in polls of voting intentions.
The federal government has set aside R$ 1.7 billion in this year’s Budget to grant increases for federal police, federal highway workers and penitentiary agents.
The measure, however, was widely criticized by the rest of the civil service, most of whom have not received a raise since 2017.
This month, Bolsonaro had already said that the readjustment for police officers could be left for 2023, if there is no understanding with the other servers.
“If there is an understanding on the part of the other civil servants, some threaten to strike, etc., we intend to grant this recomposition to the federal police, federal highways and prison officers. If there is no understanding, we regret it and leave it for next year” , said Bolsonaro, in an interview with TV Brasil.
The president acknowledged that there was a “controversy” about the increase, and said that there was a “general outcry”.
Government members began to take it for granted that there will be no readjustment this year for any category. Although the benefit was for a considerable portion of the president’s electorate, he was advised by allies to put aside the measure, given the potential to become a “shot in the foot”.
Recently, Bolsonaro had said that the salary readjustment only for federal police officers, federal highway workers and penitentiary agents could be guaranteed this year, and that of the other servers would be for next year.
“We can do justice with three categories. It won’t do justice with the others, I know that. There’s that old question for everyone: are we going to save three categories or will everyone suffer this year?”, he told Jovem Pan.
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