Brazil: economic crisis hinders collective negotiation

Bad news for Brazil’s workers. Economic crisis and rising inflation (+9.8% over a year) have seriously compromised unions’ collective bargaining powers. According to the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studies (Dieese), only 70% of collective agreements signed in the first six months of 2015 included a real wage rise. This trend is expected to continue for the rest of 2015 making for the worst performance by the unions since 2008.
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The Dieese has already recorded 111 agreements that have included a reduction in nominal wages, half of which were agreed in the São Paulo State, the home of the automobile industry. Overall, on average, collective agreements have resulted in real wage rises of 0.51% as compared with 1.39% in 2014.

Difficult conditions. The industrial sector has been particularly affected by Brazil’s economic slowdown with 427,000 job losses over the last twelve months. Several businesses have turned to temporar

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