Government evaluates readjustment only to police, Revenue, BC and AGU

The Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government has three options on the table for negotiating readjustments with servers to try to placate the movement of strikes and strikes, which has gained support in recent weeks.

The alternatives involve an increase of R$ 400 in food allowance, a salary readjustment of 4% to 5% for all careers, or even an increase concentrated in categories with greater power of pressure, such as police officers, tax auditors from the Federal Revenue Service. and civil servants of the Central Bank and AGU (Advocacy-General of the Union).

According to a member of the economic team, these four categories were articulated to try to settle between them the division of the R$ 1.7 billion reserved in the Budget for the granting of readjustments this year.

According to the source, a readjustment for the Central Bank would cost around R$ 250 million, while that for the Revenue, around R$ 300 million. The AGU would have R$ 30 million.

The remaining amount would go towards increasing the police categories, which include the Federal Police, Federal Highway Police, Depen (Department of Penitentiary) and Ministry of Justice employees.

According to this interlocutor, these categories “are trying to fill a van and leave it in front of everyone”. In the government’s assessment, however, nothing prevents other careers from remaining dissatisfied.

The option preferred by the Ministry of Economy is a BRL 400 increase in food allowance, as it fits into the BRL 1.7 billion budget, without the need for additional cuts in other areas.

In addition, the technicians understand that the measure would be more progressive, that is, it would mean a proportionally greater gain for servers who have low salaries. Another advantage is that the adjustment would only apply to active employees, since retirees and pensioners are not entitled to the benefit.

The Executive currently pays a monthly meal allowance of R$458 to all active civil servants, except for those who are on leave for long-term training or assignment to international organizations.

The pre-school allowance, paid to active employees with children up to six years old, has a value of up to R$321 per month.

The values ​​had the last adjustment in 2016 and are well below what is paid by the other Powers.

In the Chamber of Deputies, civil servants receive BRL 982.29 in food allowance and BRL 798.42 in pre-school allowance, according to data from December 2021. In the Judiciary, these amounts are BRL 910.08 and BRL $719.62 respectively.

Another alternative analyzed by the government is the granting of a linear adjustment of 4% to 5% to all civil servants, regardless of career or salary range. If applied, the correction would take effect from July 1st.

According to the source of the economic team, this measure would have a cost of R$ 5 billion to R$ 6 billion this year, when it would be in force for only six months. In a full year (from 2023 onwards), the increase would generate additional expenses between R$10 billion and R$12 billion.

An obstacle to this option is the need to seek more space within the spending ceiling, the government’s fiscal anchor that limits expenditure growth to the variation of inflation.

In March, the economic team already had to cut R$ 1.7 billion in the expenses of the rapporteur’s amendments (an instrument used by allies in Congress to irrigate their electoral strongholds) to prevent the ceiling from bursting.

Therefore, any definition of readjustments will depend on the discussion between ministers and the final word of President Jair Bolsonaro.

Legally, the linear adjustment is considered viable. The electoral law prohibits, in the 180 days prior to the election, a general review that exceeds the recomposition of purchasing power — that is, official inflation.

According to the technicians, the 4% or 5% would be below the Boletim Focus forecast for the 2022 IPCA, which is close to 7%.

With a readjustment below inflation, the only restriction to be observed would be the LRF (Fiscal Responsibility Law), which prohibits salary increases in the last 180 days of the mandate. Hence the gap to apply the readjustment only at the beginning of July.

Members of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) have already warned the government about the legal risk of granting salary readjustments only to police officers, as the president came to signal – triggering the demonstrations of other careers.

In informal consultations carried out by Bolsonaro’s assistants, court ministers warned that approving increases for a single category could trigger a flurry of actions in the Judiciary, leading the STF to decide to extend the measure to all servers.