Trade unions from various regions of Brazil met on 12 June 2017 to evaluate the actions of the National Front of Workers of the Construction Sector and discuss what the next steps for the promotion of employment in the sector. The meeting was organized by the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) together of unions members of different confederations.
The Front has its origin in the Meeting of Brazilian Trade Unions Affiliated to BWI organized in early February 2017. From this first meeting, which deliberated a campaign for the promotion of employment in the country, affiliated unions and BWI mobilized to organize a second meeting with other organizations in the sector. In this meeting, held on May 11th, 2017, the National Front of Workers of the Construction Sector was launched.
In the second meeting of the Front, a report on the progress of the pension and labor reforms in National Congress and the perspectives for unions’ work was done by Federal Deputy and President of SINTEPAV BA, Bebeto Galvão. Then, there was a presentation on the works under the responsibility of the federal government that are paralyzed due to economic/political crisis and finally the demonstration in Brasília was evaluated by the participants that also give their inputs for new strategies.
Among the proposals approved there are: meetings with local authorities to map paralyzed works under their responsibility, dialogue with communities that would benefit from these works - mostly schools, health facilities and sanitation works - and meetings with Association of Employers on the resumption of the growth of the sector. A new front meeting is being planned for August 2017.