SP: Metrô does not present proposal and hearing ends without agreement

Conciliation hearing at the Regional Labor Court (TRT) of São Paulo between Companhia do Metropolitano (Metrô) and the Union of Subway Workers ended again without agreement. The session ended at around 7 pm. At the hearing, a proposal prepared by the Public Ministry of Labor (MPT), which included the payment of bonuses in the amount of R$ 2,500, per year, from 2020 to 2022, to each subway employee, was rejected by the company. The company reaffirmed that it would only open negotiations if the employees, on strike since the morning of this Thursday (23), returned to work. Without a new proposal, the workers’ union stated that employees would hardly lift the strike. With the impasse, Judge Eliane Aparecida da Silva Pedroso, rapporteur of the process, said that she will present a decision later tonight. Yesterday (22), the magistrate accepted the release of turnstiles, a method proposed by the workers’ union to rule out the possibility of damage to the population. The union agrees to suspend the strike if the company stops charging for tickets. Today, however, in a writ of mandamus requested by the Metrô, the judge on duty Ricardo Apostolico Silva revoked the judge’s decision that allowed the release of the turnstiles and stipulated the operation of 80% of the service of the subway staff at peak hours (between 6am and 10am and between 4pm and 8pm) and 60% at other times, during the entire period of stoppage. Judge Eliane Pedroso informed that the decision that she will present later today will define whether the writ of mandamus supersedes her initial decision. “If Judge Ricardo’s injunction is maintained, the subway will work without a leg, with 60% or 80% [de sua capacidade]. If I maintain my decision, there will be two decisions, and the union will choose the one that is convenient for it”, explained the judge, at the end of the conciliation hearing. Earlier in the evening, the Metro reported that, through its contingency plan, it had reopened in the afternoon the following stretches of Lines 1-Blue, 2-Green and 3-Red, which would run until 8 pm: Line 1-Blue: from Ana Rosa station to Luz; Line 2-Green: from Alto do Ipiranga station to Clínicas; Line 3-Red: from Santa Cecília station to Bresser-Mooca. Line 15-Silver remains closed.

Agência Brasil