Strike notices have hung on the glass of a Caixa branch in Mogi das Cruzes, in the interior of São Paulo state, since September 10, and the scene has hardly changed: doors shut, customers steered toward ATMs and digital channels, employees off the job. On Monday (21) it is the turn of those employees to decide, in electronic assemblies held across Brazil, whether to accept the new offer the bank put forward to renew its collective labor agreement. Voting is scheduled to close at 6 p.m. and can settle whether the national strike ends or continues.
At the heart of the dispute is Saúde Caixa, the employees' health plan, which union leaders describe as the main obstacle in the talks. Caixa Econômica Federal, the state-owned bank that manages the FGTS severance fund and social program payments for millions of Brazilians, saw the walkout begin on September 10, after more than 90 percent of union branches rejected its previous offer, according to Contraf-CUT, the national federation of finance workers. At the São Paulo branch of the bank workers' union, 68 percent voted against the proposal the bank had called final, in an assembly that ran until 11 p.m. on Friday (11); at the time, the bank said it might take the impasse to labor court, Agência Brasil reported.
What changes in the health plan
The new offer was presented in the early hours of Thursday (17), at the end of a bargaining round that had begun the day before in São Paulo. From 2027, plan members would contribute 3.7 percent of base pay, and monthly fees for direct dependents would be set at 560 reais. Children aged 21 to 24 counted as indirect dependents would pay 660 reais, and children aged 24 to 27, along with surviving parents, 900 reais. The cap on a family group, covering the member and direct dependents, would be 9 percent. According to G1, the bank also cut the charge for urgent care consultations from 150 to 120 reais, kept telemedicine free of co-payments and agreed to place at least one employee dedicated full time to the health plan in each regional personnel office.
For the unions, the main gain lies in the ceiling on the bank's share of the plan's funding, which rises from 6.5 percent to 9 percent of payroll from 2027, an increase of 2.5 percentage points, or 38.5 percent over the current limit. An estimate presented at the bargaining table, cited by Contraf-CUT, puts the added capacity at about 1 billion reais a year. The federation also cites actuarial projections of a 685 million real deficit in 2026 and 945 million in 2027; under the offer, monthly fees will not rise this year and the bank will absorb the negative result.
Bonuses, variable pay and the days on strike
Beyond the health plan, the bank adjusted the Super Caixa variable pay program: the initial award for qualification rises from 25 percent to 50 percent in the second half of this year, with changes to evaluation criteria and more transparency in results panels. There will be no penalties tied to the Figital and Genesys programs in 2026, which remain in a pilot phase before rules are set for 2027, and the bank kept its offer of an extraordinary bonus of 3,000 reais per employee. The unions say the offer preserves every clause of the category's collective agreements. If it passes, the stoppage of August 20 will be paid and working days lost to the strike must be made up within 180 days.
While Caixa employees decide, the rest of Brazil's bank workers have already signed a national agreement with Fenaban, the banks' federation, with inflation adjustment by the INPC price index plus a real raise of 0.6 percent for two years, along with measures on mental health, harassment and the right to disconnect, G1 notes. At Banco do Brasil, most union branches approved their own offer on the 11th and stayed on the job, though 18 branches were still on strike as of Saturday (12), Agência Brasil reported. Should the offer pass on Monday, the unions expect the strike to end and the negotiated measures to take effect; if it fails, the walkout continues indefinitely. Until the result, the notices stay on the glass in Mogi das Cruzes, and it is in front of that locked door that customers learn whether the counters will reopen.