Correios workers in São Paulo ended a strike that began on September 10 after an assembly on September 24, with employees returning the following day. The stoppage had sought pay restoration, protection of benefits and improvements to the health plan.¹

The accounts agree on the central legal outcome: the Superior Labor Court found the strike was not abusive and ordered employees back to work while requiring the recovery of lost workdays. But they emphasize different implications of that decision.

The account focused on the São Paulo union stresses the remaining uncertainty. Correios had asked the court to classify the strike as abusive and impose a R$100,000 fine on unions, a request the court did not grant. Yet Sintect-SP advised workers not to begin making up hours until a formal negotiation establishes the terms. Vice-president Rogério Bueno said the criteria had not yet been defined.¹

The other account presents the judgment more as a settlement that preserved workers’ protections. It says the court awarded a 4.09% wage adjustment, retained 73 clauses of the collective bargaining agreement and recognized that the stoppage “was not abusive.”² The union said it was awaiting publication of the ruling and legal analysis before announcing the next steps in its 2026-27 wage campaign.²

Both perspectives identify the employee health plan, covering workers, retirees and dependents, as a principal dispute. The difference lies in context: the São Paulo-focused report places the conflict amid Correios’ financial difficulties, noting a R$2.4 billion second-quarter loss and its request for a Treasury guarantee for a R$7 billion private-bank loan.¹ The labor-focused account instead highlights what workers retained through the court decision, even as negotiations over the health plan and compensation arrangements continue.²