Economy Minister, Pushing Administrative Reform, Likens Civil Servants to ‘Parasites’

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Friday, February 7th, the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, compared civil servants to “parasites” when commenting on the administrative reforms championed by the federal government. According to him, proposals on the topic will be submitted to Congress next week.

Guedes criticized the yearly salary readjustment of civil servants who, according to him, already enjoy job stability and “generous retirement”. The minister argued that the public machine, in all three spheres of government, is not financially sustained because of fiscal issues and, therefore, civil servants’ career paths need to be revised.

The statement was made by the minister in a lecture at the Brazilian School of Economics and Finance of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV EPGE) at the closing of a seminar on the so-called Federative Pact.

According to the minister, his criticism is shared by Brazilians. “The population doesn’t want this [automatic readjustment of civil service salaries]. A total of 88 percent of the Brazilian population is in favor of even firing a civil servant,” he said.

Paulo Guedes referred to a Datafolha survey, released in January, which showed that for 88 percent of respondents, a civil servant who is not doing a good job should be fired.

Guedes said the administrative reform text will be submitted next week to the Chamber of Deputies. According to him, the government expects a fast process.

“The atmosphere in Congress is extremely favorable [to the administrative reform], unlike last year when we introduced the Social Welfare Reform,” he said.

The tax reform, which is still being designed by the executive, “is a little more complex,” the minister said. He stressed that it should be introduced to a joint committee, comprising members of both the Chamber and Senate.

Civil servants complain

In a statement, the National Association of Fiscal Auditors of the Federal Revenue (UNAFISCO) said it disapproved of the minister’s statements, stating that auditors exercise their duties “with pride and fairness”.

“The institutional harassment that has been practiced by Mr. Paulo Guedes in relation to civil servants exceeds the legal limits and merits a suitable reaction,” says the body.

The statement also prompted a reaction from the Permanent National Forum of Typical State Careers (FONACATE), which intends to sue in court for what it considered harassment of civil servants.

“It is a gratuitous and disproportionate assault on the country’s 12 million civil servants. We can’t allow such a vile level of insult from someone who should look after the civil service,” said FONACATE president Rudinei Marques.

In a note, the Ministry of Economy states that Minister Paulo Guedes acknowledges the quality of civil servants and that the administrative reform is intended to “correct distortions”.

“The Ministry of Economy clarifies that, after acknowledging the high standard of civil servants, Minister Paulo Guedes analyzed specific situations of states and municipalities that have their budgets committed to payroll,” the note says.

“The minister argued that the country may no longer pursue old policies of automatic (salary) readjustments. This causes taxpayers’ resources to be used to sustain the public machine instead of serving the population: the main reason for the existence of public service. The minister advocated an administrative reform that would correct distortions while maintaining the constitutional rights of current employees”.

Source: G1