Caixa Econômica Federal employees voted to continue their nationwide open-ended strike after rejecting the bank’s third proposal for a collective labour agreement. Virtual assemblies held across Brazil on September 21 produced rejection in more than 90% of union bases, according to the employees’ executive commission.¹

Both accounts place Saúde Caixa, the health plan serving employees, retirees and dependants, at the heart of the impasse. The proposal would have raised Caixa’s ceiling for funding the plan from 6.5% to 9% of payroll beginning in 2027.¹ Workers nevertheless declined the package, choosing not to join the sector-wide collective convention or the bank-specific agreement and to maintain the stoppage, the financial workers’ confederation said.¹

The employees’ side characterises the vote less as a rejection of every element in the offer than as pressure for a fuller settlement. Fenae president Sergio Takemoto said staff needed to “maintain unity” to keep advancing toward “an agreement that meets the demands of the category.”²

That framing contrasts with the scope of the proposal described by Fenae. Alongside the higher Saúde Caixa contribution ceiling, it retained the plan’s solidarity-based model and a single agreement, while including measures on pay, career progression, working conditions and social rights.² Yet those concessions did not resolve workers’ concerns sufficiently to end a strike that began on September 10 and had entered its 12th day by the vote.

The two accounts agree on the immediate outcome: the third proposal failed and the national stoppage continued. They differ chiefly in emphasis—one focuses on the scale of the rejection and the formal decision to remain out, while the other stresses the union’s call for unity and the elements workers say still fall short of their claims.