Brazil: End the anti-union attacks on health workers

It is no secret that the Brazilian government's response to the Covid-19 crisis has been one of the worst in the world. A lethal combination of denial, public violation of the basic practices of social distancing recommended by the World Health Organization, and active sabotage of efforts to acquire vaccines.

Health authorities in the state of São Paulo did not prepare the health system despite knowing that Covid-19 was on the way. In March 2020, the Health Workers’ Union Sindsaúde-SP had to go to Court just to get the State Health Secretariat to agree to sit down together and talk about pandemic responses including the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Covid-19 testing for health workers.

Several complaints about lack of PPE and terrible working conditions were published in the press. Union leaders Edson Fedelino and Marilurdes Silva de Faria were interviewed and quoted. Instead of talking to the workers and their union to resolve these problems, their employer decided to suspend them for 30 days without pay.

Please support these union leaders by demanding the immediate reversal of Edson and Marilurdes' suspensions.