Brazil is on the brink of a national police strike

What about the Brazil Federal Police ? I understand they are paid about 10 times more than the state ones . Is this accurate ?

Hi Dell1,

I don't have any figures on the pay scale of Federal Police, but it wouldn't surprise me if you are correct. There is an alarming diparity in they salaries of people doing relatively the same work in every sector here.

Regards,
James

I first posted this article back in October of last year, since then things have continued to get worse. Both Salvador, BA and Rio de Janeiro are in the midst of police strikes and other cities are set to follow just in time for Carnaval.

Looks like the most popular Carnaval costume won't be a costume at all, but a soldier's uniform... Rio will be receiving no less than 14 thousand soldiers. God knows how many more in Salvador.

Is a nationwide base salary for police officers really too much to ask for? Why is it that the richest states pay their police officers and firefighters a pitance while their politicians keep raising their already absurdly high salaries?

The following list show the salary for the Military Police (Soldado 1° Class) for each of the states and the Federal District from the highest paid to the lowest. The figure on the right is the state’s ranking in terms of GDP (2009). It clearly shows that the police officer’s salary has little if anything to the state’s ability to pay; the richest states pay the lowest salaries in most cases. The median salary is around R$1.500,00 (just over 2 X the minimum wage).

Salary PM Soldado 1° Class State by GDP(2009)
01- Distrito Federal – R$4.129.73 - 07
02- Sergipe – R$3.012.00 - 22
03- Goiás – R$2.722.00 - 09
04- São Paulo – R$2.387.00 - 01
05- Mato Grosso do Sul – R$2.176.00 - 17   
06- Amapá – R$2.070.00 - 25
07- Maranhão – R$2.037.39 - 16
08- Alagoas – R$1.818.56 - 20
09- Espírito Santo – R$1.801.14    - 11
10- Paraná – R$1.789.00    - 05
11- Mato Grosso – R$1.796.71 - 14
12- Minas Gerais – R$1.775.42 - 03
13- Santa Catarina – R$1.600.00    - 08
14- Tocantins – R$1.572.00 - 24
15- Bahia – R$1.550.00 - 06
16- Amazonas – R$1.546.00 - 15
17- Roraima – R$1.526.91 - 27
18- Piauí – R$1.372.00 - 23
19- Acre – R$1.299.81 - 26
20- Paraíba – R$1.297.88 - 18
21- Rondônia – R$1.251.00 - 21
22- Pernambuco – R$1.237.29 - 10
23- Pará – R$1.200.00 - 13
24- Ceará – R$1.147.00 - 12
25- Rio de Janeiro – R$1.137.49    - 02
26- Rio Grande do Norte – R$1.111.00 - 19
27- Rio Grande do Sul – R$996.00 - 04

Minister of Justice José Eduardo Cardozo says that the PEC 300, which is designed to equalize police salaries, is unviable. How so? When a Federal Deputy makes the following:

•     Monthly Salary: R$ 16.512,09;
•    13º,+ 14º e 15º Salaries;
•    Housing Allowance; R$ 3.000,00;
•    Telephone Allowance: R$ 4.000,00;
•    Transportation Allowance; R$ 9.000,00;
•    Magazine/Newspaper Subscriptions; R$ 1.000,00;
•    Medical Coverage: R$ 8.000,00;
•    Other Indemnification: R$ 15.000,00

This is a staggering total of R$56.512,09 per month, not counting the 13th, 14th and 15th salaries and the other funds for operating his/her political offices (almost 91 X minimum wage).

State Deputies receive about 75% of that which a Federal Deputy gets. They also vote themselves a nice pay raise whenever the mood strikes them and you never hear the Minister of Justice or any of them saying that it is UNVIABLE.

It is shameful that in a country as wealthy as Brazil the Minimum Wage is so low that it violates the Constitution and even police officers and firefighters don’t get a decent living salary.