Ara-Sul workers are on indefinite strike. At issue is the pay scale, which they consider to be outdated, and the lack of career progression.

A peaceful strike began on Wednesday in all divisions of Águas da Região do Sul (Ara-Sul). The workers say they are angry and complain about accumulated problems that have been known to the management of the institution for several years. "At Ara-Sul, there is no career progression, no seniority bonus and no salary scale," said Sandra Pene, a representative of the Ara-Sul workers' union, who was speaking in an interview with the newspaper "O País".

Joana Chicuane has worked at Ara-Sul since 1991. She says she will retire later this year, but she hasn't seen her professional category change in over 30 years of work.

"I simply regret the fact that I have to retire without having had any progression. We've had several bosses, some of whom have retired, but they keep saying they're working on it, but to this day they haven't given any answer," the worker complained.

According to a document issued by the Ara-Sul Workers' Union, apart from Joana, the majority of the institution's workers were hired in 1980, but they all remain in the same category and on the same pay scale.

"We've entered into negotiations several times, but we haven't reached any agreement, because management says they've already drawn up the salary scale proposal and that the process is now at the Ministry of Finance," explained the union representative.

Ara-Sul's management has said that it is aware of the problem, but guarantees that more than 50% workers have already had their situation resolved.

"It seems that the workers were already impatient, not least because we've solved some of it, but not all of it. But when the time comes, we'll have solutions from the right people," assured Carlos Muxanga, head of Ara-Sul's Human Resources Department.

However, the workers remain dissatisfied and have decided to go on strike, with no scheduled end date.