02/01/2024 – 21:48
More than 1,700 employees of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) signed a letter addressed to the organization's presidency informing that they will suspend all environmental inspection activities, focusing only on internal and bureaucratic activities. The letter informs that the decision would be put into practice from this Monday (1st).
The measure is a response to the progress of negotiations between civil servants and the government regarding salary adjustments and the proposed career restructuring. According to the employees who signed the document, this “is a direct response to the lack of action and effective support for employees and the critical missions we perform”. Employees complain about the lack of response from the Ministry of Management and Innovation (MGI) regarding the proposal to restructure the career of an environmental specialist.
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The document states that the body's final activities may be harmed until negotiations are resumed, “which includes environmental inspection operations in the Amazon and in indigenous lands, such as the Yanomami, inspections of environmental licensing processes, authorization processes, prevention and fighting forest fires, responding to environmental emergencies, among others”.
The text highlights that the suspension of activities should cause “significant impacts on the preservation of the environment and we attribute this to the ten years of total abandonment of the career of the public servant who suffered the most harassment and persecution during the previous government”. The document ultimately calls for the resumption of negotiations with the National Association of Environmental Specialist Career Servers (Ascema Nacional).
In a statement, Ibama reported that, despite the letter, no interruption in inspection activities has yet been recorded. “As of 2:30 pm this Tuesday, 1,729 signatures had been recorded. It is worth noting that there has been no strike to date. The employees continue to work in the institution’s activities”, says the note.
Ibama employees and their representative entities have been demanding the government asking for improvements in working conditions and remuneration.
Readjustment and dialogue
On August 16th, the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) instituted a negotiation table with environmental agencies and government to facilitate dialogue with employees in the area.
When contacted by the report, the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services reported that it is open to dialogue with Ibama employees and other bodies, and recalled the reinstallation, at the beginning of last year, of the Permanent Negotiation Table with public servants, which had been discontinued under Jair Bolsonaro's government. The ministry also highlighted that there was linear adjustment of 9% for all federal public servants in the Executive Branch, in addition to the 43.6% increase in food assistance.
“In the second half of 2023, the debate on readjustment for the year 2024 began. As part of this process, 21 specific tables were opened to deal with some careers. Within the scope of specific tables alone, seven agreements for career restructuring have already been signed. The recomposition of the workforce in the Federal Public Administration, to recover the government's capacity to act to implement public policies, is a priority agenda of the Ministry of Management, which has been acting within the possible and budgetary limits to meet the demands of the bodies and entities of the Federal Executive”, informed the ministry.
*Pedro Rafael Vilela collaborated
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