Sindicato dos Bancários do Rio de Janeiro
Address: Avenida Presidente Vargas 502, 21 e 22 andar, Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Themes: Unions and Workers
Translated from the Portuguese by Alby Ferrer Recierdo
One of the fiercer sectors of the labor movement of the 1950s and 60s, the Bank Workers Union of Rio de Janeiro, was one of of the hundreds of labor organizations that were targets for repression soon after the military takeover in 1964. The reputation the union earned during the democratic period (1945-1964) made it a target of the repressive state apparatus installed after the overthrow of President João Goulart. The Bank Workers Syndicate’s first operation happened soon after the coup. On April 28, the Ministry of Labor appointed an inspector to describe the conditions at the headquarters. According to him, the facilities appeared to be “normal,” although there were “unlocked desk drawers and other open drawers, which revealed that they had been lightly tampered with” (Lima Filho, 2006, p. 102). One can note the inspector’s careful description of the conditions of the headquarters after the secret police raid in how he says there was a difference between “unlocked desks” and those that were “lightly tampered with.” The inspector also noted that “even though everything appeared to be in order, there was a clutter of different papers and documents,” adding that vaults had been opened by the Department of Political and Social Order (DOPS/GB).
Activist Ronald Santos Barata, a bank worker since 1957, directly participated in the coup on April 1, 1964. Affiliated with the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) [05], Barata was 25 years old when the military assumed power and was working in the Madureira chapter of the group’s grassroots organization, in the North Zone of Rio. When the coup broke out, Ronald and other workers went to Rio Branco avenue and made their way to Cinelândia [09], intending to wait for further instructions and for arms to fight, but the command to spring into action was never given. Left in charge of clearing out the PCB headquarters, Barata got rid of books, documents, and any other material the secret police could use as evidence. According to his testimony to the National Truth Commission (CNV) on August 25, 2014, a parliamentary inquiry was started to investigate the Syndicate’s activities and he and other labor activists were forbidden to enter the organization’s headquarters. For this reason they started meeting with the security guards working at the building, allowing the union to maintain its connection.
Since its founding on January 17, 1930, the Union achieved a number of successes, with the six-hour work day in 1933; the right to job security, achieved after the group’s first strike in 1934; and the founding of the Office of Retirement and Pensions of Bank Workers (IAPB) in the same year.
During the Estado Novo dictatorship (1937-1945), established by Getúlio Vargas, the bank workers decided to invest in their own headquarters using the funds they collected from union taxes. The Syndicate acquired two floors of a building still under construction, located at 502 Presidente Vargas Avenue, in the center of Rio de Janeiro. Since then, the headquarters of the Bank Workers’ Syndicate has remained at the same address.
After the end of the Estado Novo, the organized labor group moved forward in mobilizing bank workers, playing a central role in the organization of the syndicalist movement both regionally and nationally. In the early 1950s, the bank workers carried out the longest running strike at the time, which lasted 69 days. The strike was considered a turning point in Brazilian labor history. Also during this decade, one should note the leadership of Aluísio Palhano, elected president of the Syndicate in 1958 and re-elected in 1961. In 1963 and 1964 he was president of the National Confederation of Credit Company Workers (CGT). Palhano was one of the hundreds of people who disappeared under the post-1964 military regime. He was tortured and killed by the Department of Information Operations – Center for Internal Defense Operations (DOI-CODI/SP) in São Paulo in 1971. In October 1961, the year President Jânio Quadros stepped down from office, the bank workers of Rio de Janeiro participated in a national strike, achieving various workers’ rights, such as a professional salary and bonus pay. In 1962, the bank workers gained the right to a day off on Saturday.
With the introduction of the military dictatorship, the Rio de Janeiro bank workers were subject to intense persecution, and many of the victories won in the 1930s were taken away, such as the IAPB, abolished in 1966. Regarding this political persecution, the names of four leaders of the bank worker movement appeared on the list of citizens whose political rights were taken away by the First Institutional Act (AI-1), implemented on April 9, 1964 by President Marshal Castelo Branco. They were Aluísio Palhano Pedreira Ferreira, president of Contec and Popular Revolutionary Vanguard (VPR) activist, disappeared in 1970; Salvador Romano Losacco, from the Bank Worker Syndicate of São Paulo and member of the CGT; in addition to Olympio Fernandes de Mello, Luiz Viegas da Mota Lima, and Humberto Menezes Pinheiros, all from the Rio de Janeiro syndicate.
The advisory board appointed by the Ministry of Labor to head the Bank Worker Syndicate ousted the more militant leaders, including president Humberto Campbel. Soon after, at the first meeting organized by the inspectors held in the auditorium of the Automobile Club of Brazil, conflict broke out between the new management and the members, who gathered in large numbers. Military police (PM) were called and stormed the auditorium, dispersing the crowd.
The bank workers suffered massive layoffs, aside from the persecution, imprisonment, and torture at the hands of the the government. According to testimony from Auri Gomes da Silva, who was elected director of the Syndicate in 1963 and had his rights stripped by the military government, military police raided the union headquarters on April 1, 1964. He and others on the board were imprisoned, taken to DOPS/GB [01], and interrogated. Following syndicate elections in 1966, the opposition ticket defeated supporters of the dictatorship, the Regional Labor Agency (DRT) annulled the election, forcing the Syndicate to form a single ticket. More conservative Catholics and more progressive voices/members still affiliated with past leadership settled their differences in order to end the investigation into the organization. By 1967 the Syndicate began to resume its activities, managing to dodge government suppression and organizing small campaigns, like the Bank Worker Housing Cooperative, which had an active role in the Second National Conference of Syndicalist Leaders and in the Anti-Wage Cut movement.
The Fifth Institutional Act (AI-5), established in December of 1968, dealt another blow to the bank workers, with even more intense government suppression. This time, the leaders were imprisoned and taken to the Department of Information Operations – Center for Internal Defense Operations (DOI-CODI). Auri Gomes da Silva states:
[…] I was put in an icebox, hooded, for days. They didn’t let me sleep, they beat my head against the wall, punched me, kicked me. I was psychologically tortured as well. They told me they would get my family, that they would rape my wife. Thirty days later they brought me back to the bank. They wanted to get some information out of me (Auri Gomes da Silva, testimony to the National Truth Commission on November 19, 2013).
In the years that followed, bank workers were hit hard by the anti-labor policies carried out by the military dictatorship, as were all other workers. In 1972, after intense reorganizing to avoid further problems with the Ministry of Labor, the opposition ticket headed by Edmilson Martins de Oliveira won the syndicate election. However, four months later, their headquarters were once again raided by the police. Some of the union leaders were imprisoned, including the recently inaugurated president. The climate of surveillance and political repression only started to change in 1978, with the beginning of re-democratization.
In the 1980s, after founding the Unified Workers Central (CUT) in August 1983, the bank workers created the National Department of Bank Workers of the CUT (DNB-CUT) – a national organization that brings members of the profession together, currently known as the National Confederation of Workers of the Financial Branch of CUT (CONTRAF-CUT). Bank workers had a strong presence in the struggle for re-democratization in Brazil, aggressively participating in the campaign for Diretas Já (Direct [Elections] Now) in 1984. At the start of the 1990s, the bank workers took part in organizing the Fora Collor (Out With Collor) movement, demanding the impeachment of the first democratically elected president since the end of the dictatorship. They resisted the neoliberal policies of the decade, opposing the privatization of the Rio de Janeiro State Bank (BANERJ), under the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration. The bank workers’ nationally orchestrated resistance hindered the privatization of dozens of public banks.
In the 2000s, during the two Lula administrations, the bank workers got back together under a unified campaign, organizing a series of strikes all over the country. They won new rights, like profit sharing (PLR bonus), a thirteenth salary, and food assistance, among other benefits obtained by way of collective agreements.