Brazil's Foreign Ministry workers go on strike

Employees at Itamaraty, Brazil's Foreign Ministry went on strike Wednesday in demand of salary hike after the Planning Ministry refused their initial demands, local media said.

The strike, which is expected to affect all of Brazil's diplomatic services at home and abroad, calls for foreign ministry employees' salaries to match those of staff in other public service posts.

Salary charts establish the starting salary of a Foreign Ministry official at 6,299 Brazilian reais ($3,150), while that of a technical employee at the Brazilian Intelligence Agency is 11,941 reais ($5,970).

Itamaray's Employee Union said the strike was in effect for all services, including passport and visa processing.

According to the union, 19 diplomatic outposts had already joined the strike Wednesday, including those located in Oceania, Asia and Europe.

The salary increases were designed to "recoup the losses of the past 25 years, and to value the activities of each employee category, with effective guarantees equivalent to other public posts," the union said.

In June, Foreign Ministry employees voted to go on an indefinite strike, but later went back to work.