Brazil's Environment Workers Propose Deal to End Strike Amid Amazon Protection Crisis

Brazil's federal environment workers, represented by the union Ascema, have proposed a deal to end their strike. The strike has impacted Amazon protection and oil permitting. Despite the strike potentially ending, workers plan to continue a broader slowdown affecting environmental licensing and expect worsened deforestation in 2024.

Brazil's federal environment workers on Tuesday presented the government with a proposed deal to end their strike that has limited efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest and slowed the permitting process for oil and gas projects. The union Ascema had voted to strike last month, demanding better wages and improved working conditions.

The proposal largely abandons their initial demands, focusing instead on a salary hike. In a letter, Ascema described the government's approach to negotiations as neglectful and disrespectful. The government has received the proposal and will review it, according to a statement it provided to Reuters. Officials from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's office and the federal environmental agency Ibama have yet to comment.

President Lula has emphasized protecting the Amazon and restoring Brazil's climate leadership after environmental setbacks under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. However, Ascema leader Wallace Lopes expressed dissatisfaction, stating, "This government has not kept its promise." Even if the strike ends, Lopes said a broader work slowdown at Ibama, ongoing since January, would continue to delay environmental licenses for oil production and other industrial projects.

Lopes warned that the continued dispute might worsen deforestation rates in 2024 compared to 2023. The ongoing lack of licenses is impacting daily oil production by 200,000 barrels, affecting operations in three oil fields run by state-owned Petrobras, according to the oil lobby group IBP.

The deal proposal follows a ruling from Brazil's Superior Court of Justice, compelling Ibama employees to resume licensing and forest fire prevention tasks despite the strike.