Economy Minister says that if he were president of Petrobras, he would fire strikers. For Guedes, paralyzing activities to get benefits is “reckless”.

This Monday, November 25, the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, said that if he were the president of Petrobras and the company was private, he would dismiss the employees who went on strike this week. The strike was announced last week and involves 12 of the 13 FUP-affiliated unions.

According to Guedes, it is "reckless" that employees use the strike mechanism to benefit from a company like Petrobras, and that people should have avoided and protested against the corruption scheme that destroyed the oil company.

— All (economic) signs improving and strike at Petrobras. Just because it got better, they want a strike? Is it a public or private company? It's State and Stock Exchange. A major strike, fire people and hire other people who want to work. I'm surprised. If I were president of a company… there are things I don't want to talk about.

— Do you have excellent salaries (at the state-owned company), good benefits, you have almost job stability and you try to use political power to try to extract salary increases at a time when there is mass unemployment? If it were a private company and I were the president of a private company, I know what I would do.

The minister then stated that the government is not considering dismissals or the privatization of Petrobras and that he was giving his opinion as an economist.

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“I am saying what I would do, but I have nothing to do with Petrobras. Am I saying that, if I am (in the presidency) of a company that is on the Stock Exchange, it is private, it was destroyed and, now that it is starting to improve, they go on strike to extract gains just because of the pressure? In a country that has millions of unemployed people, you have a company with almost job security, I would fire you”, said Guedes.

“I don't know what happened to their wages (in recent years), but I do know that Petrobras was destroyed. They were working there, they should have prevented the destruction of Petrobras.” he adds, “If you're a good employee, you fight for the right things. Why wasn't there a strike to stop the robbery?

Despite an injunction against carrying out a strike, oil workers from bases linked to the Single Federation of Petroleum Workers (FUP) stopped this Monday in protest against dismissals and transfers of employees. The mobilization led the minister of the TST (Superior Labor Court) to fine and block trade union accounts.

The entity alleges that Petrobras breaches the collective bargaining agreement by promoting incentive dismissal programs and transferring employees in prior negotiation with the unions.