On 10 and 11 August 2017 a meeting of the National Front of Workers of the Construction Sector was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, including numerous BWI affiliates from across the country. The main objective of the meeting was to define actions the Front will carry out in the framework of the Campaign for the Resumption of Employment and Development, and present the agenda of resumption of employment for the employers association: SINICON.
The participating trade unions discussed the serious situation that the construction sector has been suffering because of stoppages of public works in the context of the economic crisis and the corruption scandals that are affecting major Brazilian companies in the sector. This discussion was supported by the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (DIEESE), which drew attention to the reduction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and rising unemployment in the sector, which has already lost 1 million jobs in the past year. The meeting was also attended by a representative of SINTEPAV and the Federal Deputy for the State of Bahia, Bebeto Galvão, who presented the main points of the new labor law and its possible impacts for workers in the construction sector.
During the second day a demonstration was held in front of the paralyzed work of the subway of Rio de Janeiro and the Front presented its agenda for SINICON. In this meeting, representatives of SINICON presented the reality of the sector from the perspective of companies, pointing out the high number of bankruptcies resulting from the shutdowns of public works. The unions of workers and companies came to the understanding that the construction sector is key to resuming economic growth because of its capacity to generate jobs and increase income very quickly.
The main resolutions of the meeting were: organization of meetings with mayors and governors, and a mission in Brasília to demand, also from the Federal Government, the immediate resumption of works paralyzed to generate employment, income and take out Brazil form the crisis.