Brazil’s Caixa Strike Goes to Court as State Bank Asks Judges to Set Terms
BRAZIL · LABOUR
Key Facts
- —The country Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, elects its president on Sunday 4 October, and the federal government fully owns Caixa.
- —Why it matters Caixa had 157 million customers at end-2025, pays welfare benefits and funds about two-thirds of Brazil’s home loans.
- —The dispute Staff have struck since 10 September over who pays for their health plan, whose 2025 costs exceeded its income.
- —What happened Caixa asked Brazil’s top labour court to impose terms, and its judges hear the case on Tuesday 29 September.
- —What it means for you Apps, cash machines and lottery shops work, but mortgage signings, large lottery prizes and branch paperwork are delayed.
- —Still open The judges’ decision on the health plan’s costs, and whether branches fully reopen before Sunday’s vote, are not yet known.
The Caixa strike at Brazil’s state savings bank reached day 20 on Tuesday, when the top labour court takes up the case. Judges are due to start hearing it at 2.30pm Brasília time on 29 September, 1.30pm in New York.
The walkout at Caixa Econômica Federal is about Saúde Caixa, the health plan for its staff, retirees and their families. The bank has asked the court to impose terms after employees rejected three offers.
What the labour court is deciding
The case sits with the collective-disputes section of the TST, Brazil’s highest labour court, in Brasília. Judge Maurício Godinho Delgado is the rapporteur, the judge who drafts the ruling for his colleagues.
Caixa filed the case on Thursday 24 September, a day after a mediation session at the court ended without a deal. It asked the judges to declare the strike abusive and to write the terms of a new staff agreement, Poder360 reported.
If the two sides do not settle first, the court issues what Brazilian law calls a normative ruling. It binds the bank and its unions much like a contract imposed by a judge.
The court’s president, Judge Luiz Philippe Vieira de Mello Filho, announced Tuesday’s date, the São Paulo bank workers’ union reported. Background: Caixa Strike Reaches Day 14 in Brazil as Staff at the State Bank Reject a Third Offer on Their Health Plan.
What the court has already ordered
Godinho Delgado’s interim order, reported on Friday 25 September, requires 60% of staff per branch to work, in person or remotely. Unions that ignore the order face fines of R$100,000 (US$19,200) a day, Gazeta do Povo and Poder360 reported.
Caixa had asked for 80%, citing welfare payments and bank clearing as essential services. The judge said 60% was enough to meet the community’s urgent needs while protecting the constitutional right to strike.
He turned down Caixa’s request to ban protests that hinder access to branches, the legal news site Conjur reported. The law already requires strikes to be peaceful, he said, and he saw no sign of excesses.
The 2024–2026 staff agreement expired on 31 August but stays in force until the final ruling. Talks on its 2026–2028 successor broke down mainly over how to fund the health plan, Conjur reported.
Contraf-CUT, the national bank workers’ confederation, argues that banking, apart from bank clearing, is not an essential service under Brazil’s strike law. It told the court the walkout came only after 13 rounds of talks, Poder360 reported.
Why a health plan stopped a bank
Saúde Caixa covered 273,462 people at the end of 2025, according to the plan’s annual management report. That total includes 127,475 members and 145,987 dependants, the Caixa staff association Apcef/SP reported.
Spending rose over 22% in 2025 to R$4.39 billion (US$843 million), while income reached R$3.76 billion (US$722 million). That left an operating deficit of R$627.8 million (US$121 million), at 5.21 reais to the US dollar on 29 September.
Caixa’s share of the cost is capped at 6.5% of its payroll under the bank’s statutes. The unions want the cap scrapped and the bank to pay 70% of costs, members 30%, Gazeta do Povo reported.
In talks, Caixa offered a 9% cap from 2027, with staff paying 3.7% of base pay instead of 3.5%. Fenae, the national federation of Caixa staff associations, says the higher cap would add about R$1 billion (US$192 million) a year.
Caixa’s court filing kept the 6.5% cap, and the bank later said it never firmly promised a rise, Fenae reported. Unions say a simulation on 2025 figures shows profit-sharing falling by up to 54%, which could not be independently confirmed.
What each side says
Caixa told Folha de S.Paulo’s news agency that it had kept up permanent dialogue with staff, seeking a balanced solution. The bank said it went to court to gain legal certainty and predictability, Revista Oeste and Folha’s news agency reported.
Caixa also declined the judge’s offer of a last conciliation session on Saturday 26 September, which the unions had accepted. Midiamax, a news site in Mato Grosso do Sul, reported that the hearing was then cancelled.
“What we are seeing is a demonstration of incompetence in dialogue and in management,” said Sergio Takemoto, president of Fenae. He said responsible managers would not push onto the courts a responsibility that is, above all, the company’s own.
Luiza Hansen, the staff negotiators’ coordinator, said in a statement carried by Agência Brasil that negotiation is always the best way forward. On 21 September, 102 union districts rejected the bank’s third offer and 30 accepted it, Poder360 and Folha’s news agency reported.
Who else is paying for the Caixa strike
Builders who depend on Caixa loans say much of their work has stalled. João Victor Ribeiro, who heads Fenapc, a federation of small builders, told Diário de Goiás on 23 September that “September is lost”.
Ribeiro said Caixa holds 68% of Brazil’s home-loan market, close to the 69% share a union report gave for 2023. O Sul, a Porto Alegre daily, quoted him saying the backlog would take a month to clear even in the best case.
In its 24 September filing, Caixa told the court that more than 80% of its branches were closed, Folha’s news agency reported. At the end of 2025 Caixa had 3,120 branches and 84,394 staff, Fenae reported from the bank’s accounts.
A strike in election week
The hearing comes five days before Brazil’s general election, in which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is seeking another term. Contraf-CUT belongs to CUT, the country’s largest union federation, which has long been close to Lula’s Workers’ Party.
Flavio Pereira argued in an O Sul opinion column on 28 September that Lula’s camp blames Bolsonaro supporters for the strike. He named no source for the claim, which could not be independently confirmed, and argued that the strike was hurting Lula’s campaign.
The same court section ruled on 24 September that a strike at Correios, the state postal service, was not abusive. It ordered staff back the next day and let them make up the lost days rather than lose pay, Agência Brasil reported.
That postal dispute also turned on the cost of a staff health plan, Poder360 reported. Three of the judges, including Ives Gandra Martins Filho, voted to call the postal strike abusive, Agência Brasil reported.
What it means for customers and foreign residents
Apps, cash machines, lottery shops and Caixa Aqui agents in local stores have kept working, according to Caixa. The bank says welfare payments continue, and the app for FGTS, the workers’ severance fund it manages, still works.
The Caixa strike bites at the counter, where signatures, document checks and mortgage contracts are handled. It follows that foreign residents who bank with Caixa, or buy property with its loans, would meet the same delays as Brazilians.
Branches began to reopen partly on Monday 28 September under the court order, Folha’s news agency reported. The bank workers’ union in Porto Alegre has asked Caixa to show how many staff are actually at work, BPMoney reported.
Gross prizes above R$2,428.80 (US$466) can only be claimed at a Caixa branch, InfoMoney and Seu Dinheiro reported. Winners have 90 days from the draw, and in mid-September no exception had been announced for the strike.
What comes next
The judges can rule the strike abusive or not, order staff back and set the terms the two sides could not agree. In the postal case, they found the strike not abusive but still ordered a return to work within a day.
How the judges will split the health plan’s costs is not yet known, nor whether either side will challenge the ruling. It is also unclear whether every branch will reopen before Sunday’s vote.
A ruling would not close the health plan’s deficit by itself. Nor would the end of the Caixa strike clear every delayed mortgage or prize claim at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Caixa strike still on?
Yes, as of the morning of 29 September. Staff have been out since 10 September, and a court order made public on 25 September requires 60% of staff at each branch to work.
What is the TST?
The Tribunal Superior do Trabalho is Brazil’s highest labour court, based in Brasília. Its collective-disputes section can impose terms when unions and employers cannot agree.
Can I still use my Caixa account?
Yes, through the app, cash machines, lottery shops and Caixa Aqui agents. Branch services such as mortgage signings and large lottery prize claims are the ones delayed.
Why is a health plan causing a bank strike?
Saúde Caixa ran an operating deficit of R$627.8 million (US$121 million) in 2025, covered mainly by one-off payments from the bank linked to old court cases. Caixa and its staff disagree on who should pay more from now on.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
Read More from The Rio Times