2024-01-17 17:00:49
The current value will allow the purchase of 1.83 basic baskets. In 2013 it reached the equivalent of 2.1 baskets and gradually fell.
By: CSP-Conlutas, Brazil
The new national minimum wage, of R$ 1,412, came into effect on Monday (January 1) and will be incorporated from the beginning of February.
The readjustment index of 6.85% is the sum of inflation measured by the INPC [Índice nacional de precios al Consumidor] until last November (3.85%), as established by the Constitution, and the real growth rate of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the two previous years (3.0%). ). The increase in the GDP index is the result of a provisional measure issued by President Lula in April of last year and approved by the National Congress in August.
The readjustment extends to the benefits linked to this value, including unemployment insurance, the BPC (Continuous Benefit Benefit), the PIS/Pasep salary bonus [Programa de Integración Social (PIS-de empresas privadas, Pasep (para trabajadores del sector público)]defense insurance and amounts paid for intermittent work.
Insufficient value
The current value will allow the purchase of 1.83 basic baskets. In 2013 it was equivalent to 2.1 baskets and was gradually falling. In the governments of Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro, the increase in the minimum wage was readjusted only for inflation, without real gain.
And you don’t just live off a basic food basket, right? According to Dieese [Departamento Intersindical de Estadísitica y Estudios Socioeconómicos], in July of last year, the ideal minimum wage for a family should be R$ 6,528.93. That is, in addition to a basic food basket, having the right to decent housing, access to health and education, culture and leisure activities.
Of the 37 million beneficiaries who receive monthly through the INSS [Instituto Nacional de Seguro Social], around 70% receive a minimum wage, which is equivalent to almost 25 million people. The value also determines salaries of formal and informal workers in the country.
The Lula government implements a project to gradually increase the minimum wage, but the devaluation is so great that to maintain the value equivalent to the creation of the minimum wage (SM) in 1940, the amount should be around 2,500 reais.
Towards the Dieese minimum
The researcher at Ilaese (Latin American Institute of Socioeconomic Studies), Ana Paula Santana, highlights that to face the emergency problems of the majority of the population (such as hunger and shortage) and to solve structural problems (such as unemployment, lack of housing, health, education, culture, etc.), it is necessary to attack the profits and properties of large companies and the super-rich. “It is about recovering part of what is already ours, that is, the wealth produced by workers, to guarantee minimum living conditions,” she said.
The Brazilian government paid R$ 3.8 billion in debts with international organizations in 2023. A CPI survey [Comisión Parlamentaria de Invetigación] of Social Security in 2017 revealed that private companies owed more than R$ 450,000 million to Social Security. That is, it has the resources to pay international funds, to allow large companies to evade, but not to effectively increase the minimum wage (SM).
The CSP-Conlutas considers that it is urgent to guarantee real increases in the minimum wage, being possible a real increase in the wage so that its value can at least double until the end of the Lula government, with the aim of reaching the necessary minimum floor. calculated by Dieese in the medium term.
But, to achieve this, it is necessary to put the country’s Budget, in fact, at the service of meeting the needs of the working class, especially the poorest, and not continue allocating the country’s resources to paying interest on the Public Debt. that only serves bankers and speculators.
Article published in www.opiniaosocialista.com.br4/1/2024.-
Translation: Natalia Estrada.
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