For nearly three weeks, a Caixa branch in Brazil meant a locked glass door: a notice taped to the window, a queue ticket in the hand of a customer who went home unattended, an empty counter behind the glass. On Tuesday, September 29, in Brasília, the Superior Labor Court (TST) ruled that this scene is over. The judges of the court's collective bargaining chamber ordered the immediate end of the national strike by the bank's employees, a decision taken unanimously according to UOL, and Caixa said its branches will operate normally across the country starting Wednesday (30).
Caixa is the state-owned bank that pays out federal social benefits such as Bolsa Família and manages the FGTS severance fund, so the stoppage rippled well beyond its counters. The strike began on September 10, after workers rejected three offers from the bank to renew the collective agreement. At the trial, the rapporteur, Justice Maurício Godinho Delgado, rejected the bank's request to declare the strike abusive and threw out fines against the unions for the alleged violation of earlier court orders, but ordered the walkout to end and work to resume, according to G1. "The request to declare the strike abusive is dismissed," the justice said during the session. If the ruling is violated, Caixa can inform the court and request measures from the labor courts.
What the ruling sets
On the days not worked, the TST said employees must make them up within 180 days, instead of the salary deduction first expected, and the makeup should reflect how much each worker actually joined the strike, since some branches kept running. On pay, the court granted full replacement of inflation as measured by the INPC index plus a real gain of 0.6%, which UOL calculates as a total raise of 4.6%. The same rate applies to benefits such as meal and food allowances, food baskets and daycare and nanny aid. The ruling runs for one year, from September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027, and keeps clauses from earlier agreements, from overtime pay and night-shift premiums to advance 13th-salary payments and funeral aid, at the same rates.
The health plan dispute
The cause of the strike was Saúde Caixa, the employees' health plan. Unions argued that the changes proposed by the bank would raise workers' contributions and could swallow the wage increase. In the ruling, the TST folded into the decision the clauses on the plan and on profit sharing already set in previous collective agreements, and held that the labor courts cannot replace collective bargaining to write new rules. Mediation attempts before the hearing ended without a deal, and the future of the plan remains unsettled.
Worker representatives committed to keep negotiating with Caixa at separate tables to find a solution for the health plan, still the main point of disagreement between the sides. On Wednesday the glass doors open again and queue numbers start moving on the screens; behind the counter, though, the dispute that stopped the bank is still far from a deal.