The meeting of the Board of Directors of Caixa Econômica Federal, which would have taken place this week, ended up not happening due to the union corporatism of the state bank's employees, who fear that a possible transfer of the lottery area to the subsidiary Loterias CAIXA could lead to disguised privatization of the area.
By law, the National Congress would have to approve the sale of any Caixa subsidiary. But employees claim that it is easier to pass through Parliament the sale of a piece of the company than to go for the complete privatization of CEF.
During the months in which she presided over Caixa, in the first year of the Lula government, Rita Serrano prepared the closure of Lotex, a subsidiary created during the Temer government, but never completed the operation. As soon as Carlos Vieira took office, appointed by Chamber President Arthur Lira, the closure of Lotex was reversed and the modality is about to be launched on the market.
Unionists defend that the agenda be definitively removed from the Board of Directors' discussions, claiming that a possible privatization of lotteries would harm the state bank.
Caixa's Board of Directors is made up of eight members. Six are appointed by the federal government, one is elected by CEF employees and the president of the Council is the Secretary of the National Treasury.
Therefore, the National Federation of Caixa Staff Associations (Fenae) and the National Confederation of CUT Financial Workers (Contraf–CUT) sent a letter to the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, warning of what is happening.
The letter highlights: “Historically, Caixa lotteries have been fundamental for reducing social inequalities in the country, through the transfer of resources to social policies. Around 40% of Caixa Loterias’ profits go to investments in health, education and social projects.”
The letter also recalls that Caixa has experience and efficiency accumulated over decades of managing lotteries and asked the minister to review the creation of the subsidiary.
“We employees are denouncing that if lottery operations are transferred to a subsidiary, privatization could happen and Caixa is the one who loses, because it loses resources, and the population, because it loses social programs,” said Antonio Abdan, finance secretary of the Union. of Brasília bank employees and a Caixa employee for over 35 years.
Influence of Arthur Lira
In addition to appointing the president of Caixa, Carlos Vieira, who replaced Rita Serrano, federal deputy Arthur Lira exerts direct influence on segments of the bank that are of direct interest to him. That was why the president of the Chamber won the power struggle with the federal government and managed to get the Ministry of Finance to announce the departure of special advisor José Francisco Manssur. He was responsible for conducting the sports betting regulation process.
According to journalist Letícia Casado, from UOL, since 2023, with the advancement of betting regulation, the group of the president of the Chamber of Deputies put strong pressure on minister Fernando Haddad.
To avoid further disruption in the approval of agendas of interest to the federal government in Congress, the head of Finance decided to give in to Lira's advance and decided to replace Manssur.
Source: GMB / ICL
