IBGE staff schedule national strike starting August 5

The Assibge‑SN union representing employees of Brazil’s Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) approved a mobilisation plan that could lead to a nationwide strike on 5 August. Assemblies to vote on the strike are set for 15‑24 July, with at least three Rio de Janeiro cores already in a state of strike.

Union leaders say the action is “inevitable” because of a series of “precarising measures” and what they describe as an “authoritarian posture” by the institute’s presidency. Key grievances include the suspension of the Programa de Gestão e Desempenho (PGD) for probationary staff, cuts to field indemnities, arbitrary transfers, frozen temporary‑worker salaries and the cancellation of career‑advancement agreements.

IBGE’s management, led by President Márcio Pochmann and Executive Director Flávia Vinhaes, has declined to reopen dialogue, prompting the union to seek meetings with the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services (MGI) and the Ministry of Planning and Budget (MPO). The dispute threatens the institute’s ability to carry out censuses and other statistical programmes nationwide.