BRAZIL · LABOUR
Updated 2 times · Latest: 30 September 2026
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 struck from 10 September over who pays for their health plan, whose 2025 costs exceeded its income.
- What happened The top labour court ended the strike on 29 September, and unions told staff to return on Wednesday 30 September.
- The terms Judges granted a 4.6% pay rise, kept the health plan’s old rules and let staff make up strike days.
- What it means for you Caixa says branches fully reopen on Wednesday, but delayed mortgages and prize claims will take time to clear.
- Still open The written ruling is unpublished, and how members pay the health plan’s deficit is still to be agreed.
The Caixa strike at Brazil’s state savings bank is over, and staff are due back at work on Wednesday 30 September. Unions told members on Tuesday that the 20-day walkout had ended, hours after the country’s top labour court ordered them back.
Caixa Econômica Federal said its branches would fully reopen on Wednesday, Estadão’s news agency reported. The court kept the rules of Saúde Caixa, the staff health plan behind the dispute, and granted a 4.6% pay rise.
How the Caixa strike ended
Contraf-CUT, the national bank workers’ confederation, said on Tuesday that the strike was over and staff would return on Wednesday 30 September. Contec, a second confederation, warned that staying out would breach the ruling and could have legal consequences.
Fenae, the national federation of Caixa staff associations, said staff must resume normal work from Wednesday. On Tuesday at 6pm Brasília time, the São Paulo bank workers’ union explained the ruling to Caixa staff in an online meeting.
Staff will not vote, because workers cannot accept or reject a court-imposed ruling, said the union’s general secretary, Lucimara Malaquias. “We will have no forum to decide on the ruling, which we can only comply with,” she told the meeting.
Caixa said in a statement that in-person service at its branches would resume on Wednesday, O Globo reported. It also said it respected the staff’s representative bodies and would comply with court orders, Estadão’s news agency reported.
What the labour court decided
The collective-disputes section of the TST, Brazil’s highest labour court, ruled on Tuesday afternoon in Brasília. Its judges unanimously backed the ruling drafted by the rapporteur, Judge Maurício Godinho Delgado, Folha and Estadão’s news agency reported.
“The request to declare the strike abusive is unfounded,” Godinho Delgado said, according to G1. He still ordered staff back “immediately after this session or, at the most, tomorrow”, Folha reported.
The court refused to fine the unions R$100,000 (US$19,200) for allegedly defying earlier orders, G1 and Folha reported. It also refused Caixa’s request for the top court to police the strike, leaving that to the bank and local courts.
Caixa had filed the case on Thursday 24 September, a day after a mediation session at the court ended without a deal. Without a settlement, the court issued what Brazilian law calls a normative ruling, which binds both sides like a contract.
Pay rise, strike days and how long the terms last
Staff get a pay rise equal to INPC consumer-price inflation plus 0.6%, backdated to 1 September, G1 reported. Folha and Estadão’s news agency put the total at 4.6%, which also applies to meal, food and childcare allowances.
Godinho Delgado first proposed deducting the 14 working days lost to the Caixa strike in three monthly instalments, G1 and Poder360 reported. A lawful strike still suspends the work contract, he said, so days off are not automatically paid.
In the session, judges put a union request for make-up time to Caixa, and the bank agreed, Contraf-CUT reported. Staff will make up lost days within 180 days instead of losing pay, Poder360 and Agência Brasil reported.
On 24 September the same court section also found a strike at Correios, the state postal service, not abusive, Agência Brasil reported. Godinho Delgado noted that Caixa, unlike the postal service, made a profit in 2025, Folha reported.
The new terms last two years, to 31 August 2028, in line with the national bank workers’ deal, Poder360 reported. Agência Brasil, CartaCapital and Gazeta do Povo reported two years, while G1 and O Globo reported one year, to 31 August 2027.
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.
Since 2017, Caixa’s statutes have capped its share at 6.5% of payroll, Fenae says. Unions had asked for the cap to go and for Caixa to pay 70% of costs, 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 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. Staff had rejected the third offer on 21 September, when 102 union districts voted against it and 30 in favour, Poder360 reported.
What the ruling does to the health plan
The judges kept the plan’s rules from the 2024–2026 staff agreement, G1 and Agência Brasil reported. Members keep paying 3.5% of base pay, with a family’s total fees capped at 7% of it, Folha and Fenae reported.
Fixed amounts in the plan, such as dependants’ fees, rise by the same 4.6% as pay, Agência Brasil reported. The percentage rates do not change, Fenae said, and co-payment rules stay as they were.
Caixa’s own share stays capped at 6.5% of payroll, or 70% of costs if that is lower, Contraf-CUT reported. The 9% cap that Caixa offered during talks is not part of the ruling, a São Paulo union lawyer said.
Under those rules, a year-end deficit is covered first from the plan’s reserves, Fenae said. Any shortfall is then split among plan holders in proportion to their monthly fees, after talks with the unions.
This year’s deficit is projected at about R$740 million (US$142 million), according to Contraf-CUT. Caixa offered in court to cover it only if unions accepted its whole rejected offer, and no deal was reached.
What each side says
“It is not possible to grant either Caixa’s whole claim or the workers’ whole claim,” Godinho Delgado said, Folha reported. Both sides must tackle the plan’s costs “with maturity” as Brazilians live longer, he added, Estadão’s news agency reported.
Caixa’s lawyer, Pedro Jorge Santana Pereira, said the bank did not see the case as having winners and losers, Folha reported. Contec’s lawyer, Carlúcio Campos Rodrigues Coelho, said Caixa’s R$120.6 billion (US$23.2 billion) net profit since 2018 could cover the deficit.
The court also kept the profit-sharing rules of earlier agreements, saying it should not replace collective bargaining on that point, G1 reported. Unions had warned that Caixa’s plan would cut profit-sharing by up to 54%, a figure that could not be independently confirmed.
Union leaders said the old staff agreement let the judges keep existing rights, such as profit-sharing. “It was the collective agreement that really saved this judgment,” Contraf-CUT president Juvandia Moreira said, according to Fenae.
The São Paulo union called the health-plan outcome a step back, saying the offer rejected in talks had been better for staff. Luiza Hansen, who leads the Caixa staff bargaining committee, told Contraf-CUT the deficit could end up with employees, retirees and pensioners.
What it means for customers and builders
Apps, cash machines, lottery shops and Caixa Aqui agents in local stores kept working through the Caixa strike, according to the bank. Foreign residents who bank with Caixa, or buy property with its loans, met the same delays at branches as Brazilians.
Caixa had 3,120 branches and 84,394 staff at the end of 2025, Fenae reported from the bank’s accounts. On 24 September, the bank told the court that more than 80% of its branches were closed, Folha’s news agency reported.
An interim order of 25 September then required 60% of staff at each branch to keep working. Branches return to normal across the country from Wednesday, G1 reported, so counter services such as mortgage signings should resume.
“September is lost,” João Victor Ribeiro, head of Fenapc, a federation of small builders, told Diário de Goiás on 23 September. O Sul, a Porto Alegre daily, quoted him saying the backlog would take a month to clear even in the best case.
Homebuilder Tenda’s shares closed 4.2% lower on Tuesday after it flagged the Caixa strike and the bank’s tighter lending, Exame reported. The company said a quick end should leave its yearly cash flow intact, but delays could lead to some cancelled sales.
What comes next
Staff are due back on Wednesday 30 September and have up to 180 days to make up the days they missed. Pay can be cut only if staff cannot make up the time, São Paulo union lawyer Maximiliano Garcez said.
Unions expect the court’s written judgment in the coming days and say some details will be clear only then. Garcez said neither side can appeal, a point that could not be independently confirmed.
The Caixa strike ended five days before Sunday’s election, in which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seeks another term. Contraf-CUT belongs to CUT, the largest union federation, long 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 ruling does not close the health plan’s deficit, which Caixa and the unions still have to discuss. Nor does the end of the Caixa strike clear every delayed mortgage or prize claim at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Caixa strike over?
Yes. Unions told staff to return to work on Wednesday 30 September after Brazil’s top labour court ordered the strike to end, and Caixa said its branches would fully reopen that day.
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. The app, cash machines, lottery shops and Caixa Aqui agents kept working during the strike, and branches fully reopen from Wednesday 30 September. Gross lottery prizes above R$2,428.80 (US$466) must be claimed at a branch within 90 days of the draw.
What did the court decide about the health plan?
It kept the rules of the 2024–2026 staff agreement, with members paying 3.5% of base pay and family fees capped at 7%. Caixa’s share stays capped at 6.5% of payroll, and fixed amounts in the plan rise by 4.6%, the same as pay.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. The Rio Times also runs Ask Rio Times, which answers from 100,000+ of our own articles, the daily Latin America Power Map, and prediction-market odds on elections and markets.. How we use AI · Report an error
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