Brazil: Unions strike over Temer's welfare cuts

Scores of protesters rallied in the centre of Sao Paulo, Friday, to denounce the PEC 55 welfare reforms (previously PEC 241) proposed by President Michel Temer.
The protest was organised by the main national trade union Unified Workers' Central (CUT) along with other unions, which called for a national strike day.
President of Sao Paulo's Unified Workers' Central (CUT), Douglas Izzo, who attended the protest action, claimed that "[in order for] public sector workers to be heard by the states and municipality, they usually have to resort to mobilisations and strikes." He argued that "with this supreme court ruling, they are trying to prevent workers from fighting, mainly because they know that during [Michel Temer's] next term, one of the groups that will be most affected by the Temer government is the public workers' sector."
Earlier in the week, the Brazilian constitutional affairs committee in the Senate approved PEC 55.
The reforms, which will now face two more sets of votes from all members of the chamber on November 29 and December 13, propose a cap to social welfare spending for the next 20 years. A proposal for a future referendum on the reforms has been rejected by senators.