The Correios management has extended the Collective Labor Agreement (ACT), signed with federations and trade unions, until December 15. Next Tuesday, the company will present a proposal to union leaders.
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Collective bargaining is taking place amid the preparation of a financial recovery plan for the state-owned company, with the adoption of measures to reduce spending, especially on employees, and the search for a bank loan worth 20 billion Brazilian reals, with the approval of the union.
A statement issued by the company said: “At this meeting, Corios will present objective proposals on the economic terms, benefits and important points of the operation, such as the distribution of homes and the change of the volume of goods.”
The agreement expired in July and has since been extended. Collective bargaining was expected to be completed by the end of September, but a change in leadership at the state-owned company and cash difficulties did not allow for this.
In addition to replacing salary inflation, the collective agreement stipulates that food stamps and vacation benefits will be adjusted by 70%. In total, there are about 70 social and economic paragraphs.
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“The company’s financial scenario requires care and decisions that ensure continuity of services,” the memorandum stated, warning that a workers’ strike would affect everyone: “A strike now could exacerbate the situation and cause impacts on everyone: the company, the workers, and the population.”
Unions threatened to strike if collective negotiations did not progress. The head of the state-owned company, Emmanuel Rondon, avoided going into details of the restructuring plan, which foresees unpopular measures, so as not to fuel anger.
According to interviewers, Rondon is focused on resolving the loan, but has sought dialogue with worker representatives. The president advocates making the Corios’ structure more robust, but is reviewing the design of some features.
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The state-owned company’s balance sheet shows a heavy weight of employee costs in the company’s expenses, highlights specialist Daniel Pekanka. The third-quarter result shows a 6.9% increase in staff costs in 2025 through September compared to the same period last year, or an increase of R$529 million, to R$8.3 billion. There was another significant increase compared to the first nine months of 2024 in court orders, which amounted to a 337% increase, reaching R$2.1 billion.
Pecanka also highlights delays in payments to suppliers, salaries, fees, taxes, contributions and in the Postal Health Agreement, which total R$3.2 billion. The specialist in analyzing state-owned companies still says that the company’s debt profile is very bad. The latest loan, of R$1.8 billion, raised with Citibank, ABC Brasil and BTG Pactual, has an effective interest rate of 25.67% per annum.
“All of the loans are short-term – two of them are due this year, and the longest is due on 11/2026. Moreover, according to Curios’ own calculations, the largest loan also has a very high interest rate.”
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He highlights that the situation is getting worse every quarter and that restructuring also costs, for example, the activation of the Voluntary Separation Program (PDV).
“In my opinion, the idea of ’slicing’ the loan was more appropriate than collecting R$20 billion all at once. There is no room on the balance sheet for all this debt and interest will strangle the company, in addition to relieving pressure on management, because the cash flow is comfortable. The tendency is to end up not adjusting enough, and then asking for more money.”