The Caixa Strike Is Not About Pay. Brazil’s Bank Workers Already Won That Last Week.
BRAZIL · LABOUR
Caixa strike — day 14
The walkout has reached day 14 with no new offer on the table, and workers are voting on a proposal that could end it. Latest: Day 14 with no new offer · Workers vote on offer to end the strike · Banco do Brasil settled — Caixa stayed out. The report below remains the background.
Key Facts
- —The bank Caixa Econômica Federal, a state-owned bank that pays Brazil’s social benefits and runs its mortgages.
- —The strike National and open-ended since Thursday. Branches are shut across the country.
- —Not about pay The national wage deal was signed on 9 September, before either strike began.
- —What it is about The staff health plan. The bank wants employees to pay more towards it.
- —The other bank Banco do Brasil staff struck too, voted on Friday, and mostly went back.
- —The catch On Sunday Caixa withdrew the cuts and reopened talks. The strike continued anyway.
Brazilian banking has a national pay deal covering everyone. The two state banks negotiate everything else on their own.
Brazilian bank workers bargain once a year, all of them together, against the whole private banking sector. That deal was signed on 9 September, five days before the Caixa strike began.
It gives everyone inflation in full plus 0.60% in real terms this year and again next. Five days later, two of Brazil’s largest banks were on strike anyway.
Why the National Deal Did Not End It
Caixa Econômica Federal and Banco do Brasil are state-owned. They are covered by the national agreement, and then they negotiate a second one covering their own staff.
That second agreement is where the fights happen. Both lapsed on 31 August, and both banks were struck from Thursday 10 September.
Banco do Brasil settled quickly. Assemblies ran from Thursday evening to Friday midday and approved the offer in the vast majority of union branches.
Not all of them. Around eighteen voted against, and Espírito Santo rejected before accepting two days later.
The Caixa strike is the one still running. It is national, open-ended, and on Monday it entered its fifth day.
What Banco do Brasil’s Staff Got
The offer came after eleven rounds of negotiation. Its centrepiece is a bonus of 3,000 reais, about US$582, for roughly 71,500 employees.
It is payable in February 2027 and depends on targets the bank puts at 85% likely to be met. Profit sharing lands within 72 hours of signing.
Paternity leave rises from 20 days to 35. The bank advances 360m reais, about US$70m, to keep the staff health fund solvent until November.
Call centre salaries rise from 4,795 reais to 6,302 reais, about US$937 to US$1,231, from January 2027. The general pay rise comes from the national deal rather than from the bank.
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The Health Plan That Stopped Everything
Saúde Caixa is the staff health scheme, and it is the entire dispute. The bank proposes lifting its own contribution ceiling from 6.5% to 8% of payroll.
That sounds generous until you read the other half. Employees would pay a percentage of their base salary, plus a fee for each dependant.
Accounts of the exact numbers differ between outlets, so only the ceiling change is stated here as common ground. The unions want the health plan pulled out of the main agreement and negotiated on its own.
Caixa’s final offer was presented on 10 September and rejected the following night. A 68% rejection figure in circulation belongs to the São Paulo and Osasco union, not to a national vote.
The Sunday Retreat
When the agreement lapsed, Caixa had signalled it would impose changes to staff rights by administrative order. On Sunday it said it would not.
It would reopen negotiations and suspend those measures, keeping conditions exactly as they stood before 31 August. The commitment was described as exceptional and precarious, holding only while talks continue.
Reported in shorthand, that became the bank suspending benefits. It suspended the cuts, which is the opposite thing.
No date had been set for the new session when the announcement was made. The Caixa strike continued on Monday regardless, with a demonstration on Avenida Paulista.
How Many Branches Are Actually Shut
One figure has travelled further than it should. A count of 245 closed branches is being reported as a São Paulo state total.
It is 245 out of 283 branches, about 87%, inside the territory of a single union around São Paulo and Osasco. It is that union’s own count.
It is also a first-day figure from 10 September, and no updated count exists. Reporters who asked both banks how many branches were affected received no answer.
Caixa’s only public formulation has been that it maintains open dialogue with employee representatives. For a bank that pays out much of Brazil’s welfare system, five days of shut branches is not a small thing.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Caixa strike still on?
Yes. It continued on Monday 14 September 2026, its fifth day, despite the bank reopening negotiations the previous day.
Did Caixa cut employee benefits?
No, and the shorthand in circulation inverts it. The bank withdrew the administrative measures that would have changed staff rights, keeping conditions as they stood before 31 August.
What is the strike about?
Saúde Caixa, the staff health plan. The bank wants to raise its own spending ceiling from 6.5% to 8% while employees contribute more, and unions want the plan negotiated separately.
Is this about pay?
No. Brazil’s national banking wage agreement was signed on 9 September, before either strike began. It gives full inflation plus 0.60% in real terms in 2026 and again in 2027.
Have Banco do Brasil staff returned?
In the vast majority of union branches, after votes on 11 September. Around eighteen branches rejected the offer.
Sources: Agência Brasil, the São Paulo and Osasco bank workers’ union, Fetec-PR, Fetec-SP, Sindibancários-ES, Metrópoles, ND Mais and Gazeta do Povo.
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This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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