Rousseff meets restive labour unions, pushes reform

AFP/BrasiliaPresident Dilma Rousseff yesterday met with Brazil’s restive labour unions as she worked out the details of a national plebiscite on political reform in the wake of two weeks of street protests.Demonstrators, however, took to the streets once again in at least 12 cities including southeastern Belo Horizonte.The country’s five biggest labour unions have called for strikes and demonstrations on July 11 as Brazil confronts a wave of unrest reflecting deep public anger over poor social services and rampant corruption.Union leaders said they would ask Rousseff to consider shortening the work day, a readjustment of pension and bigger investments in health and education, as demanded by hundreds of thousands of Brazilian protesters in recent days.Fury over the state of public services in the world’s seventh largest economy and the high cost of staging both the Confederations Cup and next year’s World Cup has prompted Brazilians to fill the streets demanding change.Under pressure, Rousseff pledged her leftist government would hold a plebiscite on sweeping political reform, earmarked $25bn for public transport and urged tougher penalties for those found guilty of corruption. She dropped an earlier idea of holding a referendum on the creation of a constituent assembly on reform, in the face of strong protests from lawmakers and jurists.The plebiscite would be non-binding and allow for debate of several issues, while a referendum involves a popular vote which is binding on the government.“The president will forward to the presidents of the House of Deputies and the Senate the proposal by the executive branch for the organisation of a plebiscite,” Education Minister Aloizio Mercadante said.Officials said Rousseff would consult with parties allied to her ruling leftist Workers Party (PT) as well as the opposition to craft the questions related to political reform that will be submitted in the popular plebiscite. “There is a need in Brazil to include the people in the discussions on reforms. Brazil is tired of reforms that come from the top,” Supreme Court chief Joaquim Barbosa said after meeting with Rousseff.Mercadante said all efforts would be made to hold the plebiscite as soon as possible, as presidential elections are scheduled for October next year.As a sign the government is listening to public complaints about corruption, the Supreme Court yesterday ordered the immediate detention of lawmaker Natan Donadon, who was sentenced to 13 years in jail in 2010 for embezzlement - the first such move in 25 years.Rousseff is seeking to regain the political initiative after mass demonstrations that stunned her government, bringing 1.2mn people into the streets last Thursday alone.The protesters scored a major victory on Tuesday when Congress scrapped a proposed constitutional amendment that sought to curb the investigative powers of independent public prosecutors - a key demand of the demonstrators.