Unions and bankers will make another attempt to bring Brazil’s week-old bank strike to an end with a new set of talks set for Thursday morning, said spokesmen for both sides on Tuesday.
The nationwide?strike has had spotty effects, with banks operating normally in small states and rural areas but shutting down many banking operations in big cities.
So far, the strike has had little effect on financial exchanges. Effects on consumers are varied, with many able to use electronic transfers and automated teller machines but others inconvenienced by the inability to pay bills or take out loans.
Unions are demanding a 10% wage?hike, revisions in profit-sharing agreements and job guarantees from banks in the event of future mergers or acquisitions. Representatives of the National Bankers Federation have offered a 4.5% wage hike, in line with the current inflation?rate, and minor changes to profit- sharing plans.
By Tom Murphy, Dow Jones Newswires
Group of 20 leaders say they want to rebalance the world economy but getting them to accept a weaker U.S. dollar in the process could prove a lot to ask.
That’s especially true now that the Group of 20, which includes emerging markets like China and India, has supplanted the Group of Seven rich countries as the forum for managing the global economy.
In fact, coordinating currency policy of any kind may get a lot harder if it requires getting 20 countries, with disparate interests and priorities, to pull in the same direction.
“It’s tough to reach consensus on currencies in the best of times, but with more people at the table and more interests to pursue, it could make coordinated intervention more difficult to achieve,” said David Gilmore, partner at FX Analytics in Essex, Connecticut. (more…)
