Jornal A Verdade| Apr. 2, 2024| Translated for the Red Phoenix by Alexina L.–
Trabalhador Unido (United Worker)– Municipal workers in the city of Navegantes, located in the interior of Santa Catarina, Brazil, went on strike on March 31 due to worsening working conditions, lack of compliance with federal laws, and a lack of dialogue on the part of the municipal executive.
Mayor Liba (PSD) has implemented a right-wing political agenda in the city; undermining public services through outsourcing, privatization, and handing over public funds for these services to the business class, a class to which the mayor belongs.
The Mayor’s political party is spearheading the so-called administrative reform (PEC 32/2020), which was introduced by the “Grupo do Tabalho” (Worker’s Group) created out of the initiative of Ze Trovaõ (PL-SC) and coordinated by the representative Pedro Paulo (PSD-RJ).
The Struggle of the Workers of Navegantes
The municipal workers of Navegantes have been attacked by Mayor Liba and the city council since the beginning of their service. These attacks intensified in the last year as the public sector was destabilized, with moral misconduct on the part of the councilors and commissioners appointed by the mayor, and the city’s non-compliance with federal laws.
In September, proposal PL56/2025 was introduced which facilitates the dismissal of temporary civil servants at any point and creates a period of six months to be rehired which, in practice, prevents temporary civil servants from working and providing for their families.
Additionally, the city hall does not pay the minimums for the health field required by law. The working conditions of public workers are horrible due to: a lack of PPE, overcrowded schools, issues with equipment such as digital whiteboards that no longer work, underfunded social assistance, outsourcing of city shelters for children and teens, and non-compliance with Lei Complementar nº 226/2026, known as Descongela, which retroactively paid workers for a time period in the pandemic where they were not paid.
“We can not accept this disregard, classrooms are overflowing with children, and there’s a lack of resources for us to do our work effectively and help children develop. That Mayor Libardoni (another name for Liba) and that city council are enemies of the people of Navegantes. We know that this always falls on the backs of the people, that we don’t receive quality services due to a lack of investment. And you well know: the only way out is to fight. Without struggle, nothing changes, history shows us this,” said one public servant from a children’s education center.
Public service employees declared a strike after an assembly on November 18 2025, and the union has tried to reach an agreement with the city ever since only to be disregarded. Movimento Luta de Classes (MLC), a socialist labor group, has been on the front lines of this fight – visiting more than 50 work locations in the city, pamphleting, agitating and uniting educational, health, public assistance, transportation, works, environmental and safety workers as well as citizens of the city to strengthen the complaints and unify the struggle.
With the enactment of federal law nº 15.326/2026 on January 6 2026, a legal framework that officially designates children’s teachers as professors, educational monitors and aides broadened the complaints to include the devaluing of their work, a devaluing which affects mainly women who make up the majority of monitors and aides.
The women workers and the MLC were present at two city hall sessions to pressure the legislators to hold a public hearing. On March 19 the council members Adriana Macarini (PP), Chapecó (PP), Bortolatto (PP), Monan (PSD), Delegada Patrícia (PSD) and Júlio Bento (PSD) voted against a public hearing, demonstrating the farce of bourgeois democracy and, for the first time in history, denying a public hearing in Navegantes, thereby declaring themselves enemies of education.
The Only Way Out is to Fight
On March 23 at an event with the business association of navegantes (ACIN), the mayor announced he would be resigning to run as a state deputy, officially stepping down on Apr. 1. On April 2nd the vice-mayor Ricardo Ventura (PP) took the post. As Brazil enters a year of state and federal campaigns, the rich candidates, such as Mayor Liba, will worsen public services through a lack of financial investment.
They will contract with third party companies to provide services which would not be necessary if there was adequate funding for maintenance. When it is no longer possible to do maintenance, new equipment will be purchased from big companies.
With all these worsening conditions, the workers have decided to fight. The Movimiento Luta de Classes has visited workplaces and collected complaints from various sectors, demonstrating through their militant organizing that the only way out is to fight.