Court orders that at least 80% of buses operate in RJ during strike

The TST (Superior Labor Court) determined, on Tuesday night (30), that bus companies in Rio de Janeiro operate with at least 80% of the fleet. The court order comes even after the convening of a new conciliation hearing, at 11am this Wednesday (1st), called by the TRT (Regional Labor Court).

The decision was taken by minister Luiz Philippe Vieira de Mello Filho, in response to a request presented by the city hall to end the bus workers' strike.

According to the decision, "public transport is an essential service and maintaining only 50% of the fleet" would represent a risk to order and security in the capital of Rio de Janeiro. The municipal management, through a note, states that it will be responsible for monitoring (by electronic means) the operation and compliance with the court decision.

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"Rio City Hall is monitoring the situation and reinforces that it will continue to adopt all necessary measures to ensure the continuity of public transport and minimize impacts on the population", says an excerpt from the position.

The fine for non-compliance with the decision was set at R$100,000 per day for the category. Also according to a note from the city hall: "if possible collusion between the workers' union and the employers' union to harm public coffers is proven, the penalty will be extended to the employers' union and increased to R$200,000 per day for each of the entities."

CNN Brasil contacted the road workers' union, which has not yet commented. The space remains open.

Understand the strike
The strike began at midnight on Monday (29) after the failure of negotiations over the category's salary campaign. Without consensus between workers and companies, road workers decided to start the wall movement while demanding improvements in working conditions and salary adjustments.

Among the main demands of the category are:

- Salary floor of R$4,000 for drivers and R$5,000 for articulated bus drivers;
- 17% adjustment for all workers;
- Food voucher of R$1,000;
- Health and dental plan;
- End of temporary contracts at Mobi-Rio, with the transition to the CLT regime.

*With information from Helena Barra and Ana Clara Machado

Source: CNN