After almost a decade of wage gap, employees of Portuguese consulates and embassies in Brazil will have a 48.96% readjustment. The ordinance, which has retroactive effect to January 2022, was published in the Diário da República (the Portuguese Official Gazette) on Thursday night (7).
The decision was classified as historic by the STCDE (Union of Consular Workers, Diplomatic Missions and Central Services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), representative of the category. According to the entity, the update corrects a situation of “intolerable impoverishment of workers”.
Since 2013, consular staff compensation has been paid in reais using a euro conversion rate of R$2.60. The fixed amount represents less than half of the R$ 5.50 of the current exchange rate, which reached more than R$ 6.50 at the end of 2021.
In other words, in practice, the artificially low exchange rate meant that workers received less than half the real value of wages in euros. In recent years, some even sued the Portuguese State, in addition to seeking, in conjunction with the union, a resolution for the delay.
The STCDE even sent a strike notice in September, scheduled to coincide with a visit to Brazil by the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The stoppage, however, ended up canceled after progress in the negotiations.
“Fortunately, the negotiations have now reached a successful conclusion. It can be said that it was good for everyone, says the deputy general secretary of the union, Alexandre Lopes Vieira.
“Employees will already receive this month the readjustments of 48.96% retroactive to January. It will give them to start breathing. Everyone was suffering a lot, over time, with this situation [de defasagem cambial]🇧🇷
In an interview with Sheet in august Valdeir Carvalho, an employee at the consulate in Rio de Janeiro, reported a series of difficulties caused by the wage gap. “I had a house and paid about R$ 2,000 in installments for it, but I was forced to sell it and live on rent”, he said, stating that he also had to cancel his health plan and transfer his children from private schools to public.
In addition to affecting workers who already perform duties at the consulates and embassies, the lagged remuneration made it difficult for new hires to be hired at the offices and affected diplomatic offices in other countries. In recent years, reports of delays in scheduling services, especially issuing passports and other documents, are increasingly common.
Lopes Vieira, from the category’s union, says that the entity is now negotiating with the Portuguese government a broad review of the employees’ remuneration table.
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