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Brazil's Diplomatic Staff Threatens to Strike

Consulate, embassy workers hired abroad, including in America, are fighting the lack of labor protections. A strike could mean delays in many services, including leaving and entering Brazil.

Services at the Brazilian Consultant in Boston are slow, and services could get worse if staff members go ahead with a threatened strike.

Framingham hosts the largest Brazilian community in Massachusetts. Framingham's large Brazilian community is the reason the Brazilian consulate of Boston announced it would offer itinerary services in town starting in August. Staff protests and a threatened strike could affect that.

Yesterday and today, July 15, consulate and embassy workers hired abroad started a new type of protest against working conditions.

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Called “Operation Turtle,” staff are wearing black and performing their duties slower than they normally would.

“Staff of Brazilian diplomatic missions in the United States will begin a protest tomorrow, leading to a strike. The strike would affect business and leisure travelers as well as major companies with close ties with Brazil,” Boston workers said in a press release distributed today.

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This new protest is part of a quiet revolution that has been taking place at several Brazilian diplomatic posts in 9 countries, including all of Brazil's 13 consulates in the United States.

Empowered by a vicious exchange of emails, staff members hired in foreign countries complain they are not protected by either Brazilian labor laws, or by the other nations’ laws. They are threatening to go on strike if the Brazilian government does not solve at least three labor issues: recognize them as public servants of Brazil, create a clear wage policy and set up reliable conditions for retirement.

“The movement to close Brazilian missions in the United States and eventually around the world will also impact the country’s (Brazil's) ability to process the increasing number of visa requests from travelers looking to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics,” they added.

Embassy and consulate staff launched the labor movement “Operation Awaken” mailing a letter to to Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff on May 5.

In the letter, signed signed by more than 200 workers, they claim they have been living under “very poor conditions” due to stagnant wages. Anyone hired for an entry level position at Boston’s consulate of Brazil, for instance, get $2,200 of monthly wages – or $1,800 take-home-pay after taxes.

Services at the Boston Consulate are slow and problematic, due in part to understaffing and now in part to "Operation Turtle". 

“My mother-in-law is visiting my home and needed to get twopower-of-attorney letters. I instructed her to seek service at the Hartford (CT) consulate. There’s no way we can wait months to get service for an issue we need to solve in the next few days,” said Luciana Bennedetti, a Framingham resident.

President Rousseff hasn’t responded directly to the workers' letter.

On July 4, Brazlilian Senator Paulo Paim of the Workers Party was willing to hold a public meeting to discuss the necessary labor changes, but due to the death of former President Itamar Franco, the meeting became a group discussion.

According to people present in the meeting, Brazilian officials claimed they are operating under its federal law. They also admitted there is an 80-year-old staff member in the U.S., who went back to work because he wasn't allowed to retire.

There are also benefit issues. For example, in Brazil a staffer receives 120 days of maternity leave, but in the U.S the benefit is about four to six weeks, as American law is applied. Yet, some Ambassadors let some employees get the maternity leave according to Brazilian laws and some don't.

With a fear of losing their jobs, workers created a collective mail account to fight virtually. At such a hierarchical environment, no one confronts their bosses.

Workers from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany have all joined "Operation Awaken.”

Many were losing hope, like Antonio Rodrigues Falcão de Oliveira. He worked for the Embassy of Brazil in London for 27 years. When he requested his retirement, he was informed that he couldn’t retire because his retiring contributions were simply not available.

“Due to this situation, I was forced to go back to work, and fell into deep depression,” said Oliveira in video posted on You Tube.

Last Friday, there was another meeting at Itamaraty, Brazil’s Diplomatic arm, to debate the crisis.  

In a positive sign, officials said they would look into the other complaints and “work on a plan to extend labor benefits to everyone working international posts in the name of Brazil.” But warned that they can’t offer a salary raise because of the federal government's newly applied pay freeze.  

Ironically on the same day leaders were negotiating a solution in Brazil’s capital, Brasília, Itamaraty launched new efforts to hire 1,237 new staff.

A new meeting at Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Relations will be set up for August, but no specific date have been announced.

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