Brazil's Superior Labor Court, the TST, ruled on Thursday (24) that the strike by workers of Correios, the state-owned postal company, is not abusive. The ruling by the court's collective disputes section closed the case two weeks after the walkout began on September 10. The rapporteur, Justice Maria de Nazaré Medeiros Rocha, had her opinion adopted in full, according to Folha de S.Paulo.
The decision was reached by majority vote. G1 reports that Justices Maria Cristina Peduzzi, Ives Gandra da Silva Martins Filho and Caputo Bastos were outvoted after arguing the strike should be declared abusive. Correios had also asked for a 100,000 reais fine against the unions representing the workers, Folha reports. The court authorized the compensation of the days not worked, a point that drew no disagreement among the justices. "I declare that the strike movement is not abusive, and on this basis I declare the compensation of the days stopped," said TST President Luiz Philippe Vieira de Mello Filho at the close of the session.
How the case reached the court
The strike began on September 10, after the company and the unions failed to reach a deal in collective bargaining. The main sticking point is the health plan covering employees, retirees and dependents. According to G1, Correios went to court the day after the walkout started. Folha reports that the TST had granted an injunction requiring 80% of operations to keep running, and the company says it was not honored. In the assessment of Vieira de Mello Filho, the isolated incidents recorded during the strike did not show an effective blockade of activities or disregard of court orders. "It is natural in a strike to have some kind of work to raise workers' awareness about the movement. That does not mean they violated the decision I issued," the justice said. The trial had opened on Monday (21) and was suspended that day so the unions would have 48 hours to review new documents filed by Correios.
What each side says
Findect, the federation representing postal workers, says negotiations advanced on all other points and the health plan is the only obstacle to signing the agreement. Workers want to keep the current model, in which Correios acts as the sponsor of the benefit. The federation says a change in the model could raise costs for families, and that more than 170,000 workers, retirees and dependents are affected. It also says it has formally asked the company to resume talks. Correios says its branches remain open and operating normally, and that it adopted a plan to contain the strike's impact, with administrative staff supporting operations and special delivery pushes.
On the practical effect of the ruling, the two outlets diverge. Folha reported that the court ordered an immediate return to work on Friday (25) as part of the collective dispute ruling. G1 instead highlighted that the rejection of the abuse claim removes, for now, the risk of the strike being ended by court order. In her report, the rapporteur denied worker demands that had no counterpart in the company's proposal, including a culture voucher and a complexity bonus, and confirmed the category's bargaining date as August 1, 2026.
The next milestone is Friday (25), the return date set by the decision, according to Folha. On the bargaining front, the unions await a response to their formal request to reopen talks on the health plan. The issue also connects to an earlier dispute: four clauses of the previous collective agreement, including the health plan clause, were suspended by an injunction of January 26 (Extra Ticket, Health Plan, Work on Rest Days and the 70% Vacation Bonus).