“Desperate”: workers experience uncertainty after Oi’s bankruptcy decree

The court’s decision to declare Oi bankrupt last Monday (10th) increased uncertainty and concern among the company’s workers. The company, which was once responsible for the largest telecommunications infrastructure network in the country, was in its second judicial recovery.

“It was desperate, because people don’t know exactly what the bankruptcy decree means and how their rights will be preserved. So, this is a very serious problem that workers are very apprehensive about and it was a disappointment, obviously”, says Luis Antonio Silva, president of the Union of Workers in Telecommunications Companies of Rio de Janeiro (Sinttel-RJ).

The company operates in 7,500 locations throughout Brazil, with 4,600 contracts in the public sector and 10,000 with private companies. In total, around 13 thousand workers are linked to Oi, 10.8 thousand of which are in network maintenance companies and call centers.

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As shown by the EXTRAwith Oi’s bankruptcy decree, employees who have receivables exceeding 150 minimum wages will be included in the bankrupt estate, which means that there is still no forecast for the payment of their funds. Those who have credits of up to 150 minimum wages will have priority in receiving them.

Both Serviços de Rede (Serede) and Brasil Telecom Call Center (Tahto) entered into judicial recovery. Serede has approximately 5 thousand employees, who are in arrears with their salaries. Tahto has 5,800 employees. The two units will be sold by Oi.

Breach of contract

Using funds managed by BTG Pactual, Oi’s fiber optic infrastructure was purchased and transferred to the newly created V.tal. To carry out the maintenance and repair of this physical base, the new company contracted the services of Serede, managed by the telecommunications operator.

According to V.tal, after the end of the contract with Serede in September, competition was opened to hire new service providers. As a result, the company managed by Oi lost its biggest client.

Even with the crisis, Serede did not lay off its employees. Some of them resigned to work for V.tal’s new service providers. The rest remained in the company reassigned to other functions.

This was the case of multifunctional operator Bruno Matias, aged 38, who has worked at the company for around 11 years. He says that Oi’s bankruptcy decree was not a surprise, but it caused collective anguish among workers, especially in relation to payments.

Without having received this month’s salary, Matias, who lives with his wife and three children, had to take out a bank loan to pay his credit card bill, used for the month’s purchases. According to him, his situation is not the only one:

“We have a group on Telegram, and there are technicians with depression, others with children who have special needs and can’t afford the expenses, people with late rent. I myself, to pay this month’s card bill, had to take out a loan from the bank”, reports Matias.

Someone who also shares the same anguish is technical consultant Milton Ibraim, aged 40, who has worked at the company for 13 years. He says that, at the end of September, with the end of Serede’s contract with V.tal, the company did not lay off employees, but redirected the workforce to another function. If the dismissal or migration had occurred, he believes that the reality of many workers would be very different.

“The company did not dismiss us, did not authorize our migration, nor did it dismiss us. It did something different: it changed our work. It redirected our workforce to the removal of copper, without warning, without much explanation about the remuneration, and we took it as we could”, says Ibraim.

Married and father of five children, two of whom have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Ibraim states that the news of the bankruptcy was like a “bucket of cold water”. With the promise that his back salary will be paid on the 14th of this month, he still maintains hope, but he also lives in fear.

“We are expecting (to receive the late salary), but we are scared. They made a payment proposal for the 14th, but it could be that Serede declares bankruptcy and leaves us with one hand in front and one behind”, he says.

Guarantee of rights

According to Luis Antônio, Sinttel-RJ, in partnership with other union entities in the country, is seeking an emergency meeting with lawyer Bruno Rezende, who leads the judicial management of Oi, and with the judge of the 7th Business Court of the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro, to address the workers’ situation.

“What we are going to seek, effectively, is that all workers, regardless of their salary, receive their severance pay in full. This is what we are going to try to seek, an effective agreement, especially because the company continues to operate, so that people who are fired receive in full all the amounts they are entitled to”, says Luis Antônio.

On Thursday, union entities have a meeting scheduled with the Minister of the Institutional Relations Secretariat, Gleisi Hoffmann, and, in the late afternoon, with the Minister of Communications, Frederico de Siqueira Filho. According to Luis Antônio, the objective is to involve political and legal entities to effectively guarantee the rights of all workers.

“I hope that workers’ rights will be guaranteed and preserved. Workers cannot pay the bill”, says Amilton Barros, director of negotiations at Sinttel-RJ.

When contacted, V.tal said that it deposited, in court, the amounts owed to Serede to “guarantee its allocation to the payment of labor obligations”. Serede, in turn, did not respond to questions until the publication of this article.