Eduardo Paes tours Porto do Açu and faces education union criticism

Pre‑candidate for Rio de Janeiro's governorship Eduardo Paes visited the Porto do Açu complex in São João da Barra on 23 June. The deep‑water port‑industrial hub, the largest of its kind in Latin America, handles 40 % of Brazil’s oil exports, 50 % of imported natural gas and moves 89 million tonnes of cargo annually, supporting about 7 000 direct jobs and generating roughly 30 000 indirect positions. During the visit Paes met local mayors and state deputy Carla Machado, received the honorary citizenship of São João da Barra, and urged state authorities to improve road access and streamline licensing to sustain the region’s growth.

Separately, the Rio State Teachers’ Union (SEPE) condemned a video in which Paes addressed the state education crisis, saying his proposals ignored the need to enforce the national teaching salary floor and to compensate accumulated wage losses. The union highlighted past policies under Paes’s municipal administration such as the “Minutagem” system that raised teachers’ workloads without pay, the lack of public service exams for the state network, and the increase in precarious contracts. SEPE called on interim governor Ricardo Couto to complete salary recomposition in August and to restore stable employment conditions for educators.