Street-sweepers' strike and racism in Brazil

One of the most relevant news in this year's Carnival was the street-sweepers strike in Rio de Janeiro. Even after the union of street-sweepers reached a deal with the city hall in the middle of the celebration, part of the workers disagreed and refused to clean the streets, as millions danced samba and produced tons of garbage.

The dissident workers said the union leaders were not looking for their peers best interest and decided to continue with the strike. After eight days, they conquered a 37% increase in their salary on a meeting with the city government on saturday (March 8th), a much better result than the 9% the
union agreed on monday (March 3rd).

The episode shows two sides of the Brazil's social inequality. First, the vulnerable representation such workers have. The difference between the salary raise the union leaders agreed upon (9%) and the final result after the dissidents protests (37%) shows how union leaders and politicians worked in collusion against the street-sweepers best interest.

On top, doctors (mostly white) protest
against the government last yer.
Below: street-sweepers (mostly black)
on strike in Rio

The second aspect relates to the racial inequalities in the country. The street-sweepers strike showed clearly a vast majority of  black workers. This contrasts with the predominance of white doctors that protested last year against the government, against the program that import physicians from Cuba and other foreign countries. The striking difference of the images was shared this past week in social media, reminding one of the hidden faces of the Brazilian racism, that is usually hidden under social inequalities.

Next week I'll come back to the business, financial and political commentaries. For the time being, it worths saying in this matter that Dilma Rousseff is dealing with a rebellion from her allies. The biggest party that composes the situation coalition, PMDB, is threatening to retreat its support after the Rui Falcão, president of the Workers' Party (PT, Dilma's party), said during the Carnival that all that PMDB's members want are more ministries and government positions. The real reasons for PMDB moves are abundant and for sure are not related solely to Falcão's declaration -- hopefully I'll be able to address some of them here next week. For now, both parties are now trying to mend the alliance that will be crucial in this election year.