THE LOOKOUT | Abuse of power and persecution of the general manager of the Chamber of Chamusca

Fernando Brás has been out of work for more than six years because of his “boss”, despite receiving his salary on time. MIRANTE gave visibility to this issue at the end of February 2020 but the situation, four years later, has not changed. Jurist interviewed by O MIRANTE says that there is abuse of power and possible persecution of a worker by his professional entity.

One of the oldest workers at Câmara da Chamusca, Fernando Brás, 61 years old, is in ‘quarantine’ in an office on the premises of the União Desportiva de Chamusca playing field where nothing is happening. The employee has a computer but will not yet have Internet. He went there more than six years ago to manage some works that were going to start in that space but until now the works have not started. Apparently it was just a pretext to remove him from the old office where he held the position of general manager. Since then, he has managed his working time without working. The sole general manager of Chamusca Chamber only needs to manage his spare time as he has no work or any assigned responsibilities.
Fernando Brás has worked at the Chamber of Chamusca since 1979. He became in charge during the presidency of Sérgio Carrinho. About six years ago, the vice-president of the Chamber of Chamusca, Cláudia Moreira (PS), called him and announced that he would be the one to direct some works that were going to start on the Chamusca playground. In these six years there was no further work done nor did they give him any justification for the fact that they had banished him to an office, on a playground, almost in the middle of the woods, without any function or responsibility.
Fernando Brás said in February 2020 to O MIRANTE that he does not know who depends on him, since he still holds the position of general manager, or even who his boss is, because in recent times no one has sought him out or asked him for responsibilities. He still works today, just as he did at the time of our report, in an office in a corner of a room, isolated, and since he went to that space he has never been called for anything again; he continues to have the role of general manager but does not go to training, he never submitted a paper to the municipality’s human resources again, he has a municipality cell phone but did not have access to mobile data at the time; the only good thing that truly happens to you is the timely wages in your bank account.
After the report of this case by another employee of the municipality, who says that the Chamber of Chamusca is governed by “two people who are not from this world although they live together, and apparently very happy”, Fernando Brás told O MIRANTE at the time that he did not can fail to answer our questions because the matter is “public and notorious”, and that he knows very well that one day this will have an outcome because the general manager of an institution such as a town hall.
As he stated at the time, until the outcome, that he hopes it will be peaceful, he simply follows orders. “I’ve never heard a reprimand, they’ve never said a bad word to me, nothing has ever happened that justifies something like this,” the chamber employee who earns a salary of around one thousand and two hundred euros told O MIRANTE, in a brief conversation on the phone.
O MIRANTE recovers this story published in February 2020, but this time it did not have the collaboration of the chamber employee who preferred not to answer our questions because he thought he had already said everything four years ago when the first editorial work on O MIRANTE was carried out.

“Possible abuses of power and persecution” says jurist

The situation that Fernando Brás experiences in his job is considered by an experienced jurist, with whom O MIRANTE spoke, as a possible “abuse of power and persecution that the Public Prosecutor’s Office must investigate. Anyone who uses their power to harm someone must answer for it. This situation is harming the municipal council’s services, there is poor management of the municipality’s human resources that harms the municipality, as is evident in the story that O MIRANTE told four years ago, and which had no effect on the attitude and management of politicians who govern the chamber. Taking into account that the fact is known, and has been repeated for at least six years, is public knowledge and is commented on throughout the town, the authorities will certainly not fail to act, because the rule of law and the offense are at stake. to the dignity of a person”, says in conclusion the jurist who agreed to talk to our newspaper.

On the sidelines/opinion

Six years on the “shelf” in plain sight

There is no better example of the lack of shame and ability to manage the Chamusca Chamber’s destinies than what we tell you on this page: the two politicians who manage the municipality’s millions pulled over a head of services like one would pull over a broken-down car in a park, and they only feel the responsibility of paying for monthly parking. It has been six years since Paulo Queimado and Claúdia Moreira lived every day with the nightmare of not having a person in charge to replace Fernando Brás, but they did not give up keeping him in “preventive detention”, with the prerogative of letting him go home and sleep in your bed, go overboard. There is certainly no case in the democratic country, which celebrates 50 years of democracy this year, of a lack of scruples, of respect for human life and the dignity of a worker. We hope that this second text of O MIRANTE, telling how to make a worker’s shoe, will wake Paulo Queimado and Claúdia Moreira from their sleep of death, and finally be reborn for the mission of governing the municipality of Chamusca, without nightmares, without feeling at the end of each working day, they are the most politically clumsy managers that the land of Silvas has ever given to the world.