Court grants pay increase to São Paulo IT workers

The Regional Labor Court of São Paulo ruled that some of the demands from IT workers union Sindpd around increase in pay and benefits for technology professionals will be met following months of wrangling with IT employers association Seprosp.

The key determinations by the court mean that IT staff working in the state of São Paulo will get  a 7.5% pay rise, plus participation in company profits, daily meal allowances of R$10 for eight-hour shifts and R$8 in meal vouchers for staff working six hours a day.

The negotiations between Sindpd and Seprosp started back in January, with the former demanding an 11.9% linear salary increase, the development of a plan for participation in profit sharing, and a daily meal allowance of R$15 ($8.94).

Seprosp initially offered 6.47% and refuted all other demands. The employers association later raised the offer to 7.5% in a out-of-court attempt to resolve the matter; the offer was then rejected by the workers union and the case went to court in late March.

The workers went on strike and were protected by a court ruling that guaranteed job stability while the decisions were being made.

Seprosp released a note highlighting that, in terms of salaries, the final decision was exactly what it had offered previously and that the other decisions would be discussed in the associations next extraordinary meeting. The association did not return calls for comment.

Meanwhile, Sindpd’s president Antonio Neto was keen to stress that he will be looking to ensure that the rulings are enforced.

“[Employers] know that their resistance can create a horrendous snowball and the relationship between companies and workers is rather strained due to their intolerance. We expect at least a bit of commonsense,” said Neto.

>> Further reading: IT Decisions’ full coverage of the IT worker strike  in São Paulo

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid licensed under Creative Commons