During a visit to the Child and Adolescent Institute, one of the units of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, a representative of the Finnish Trade Union Solidarity Center, SASK, Anna Perttula, got an in depth tour of the grassroots trade union work of PSI affiliate, SindSaúde-SP.

Perttula said that the visit was very interesting and important to understand the reality of public health in Brazil, how a high-level public hospital works and how unions in the health sector work with their members to organize and prepare for current challenges. "PSI affiliates do an extraordinary job of representing workers and dialoguing with employers. It's clear that the privatization of health care is a constant threat, which is manifesting itself at the local level, and it's something that unions, together with PSI, need to tackle in a united and strategic way in order to protect quality public services," she said.

For Janaína Luna, general secretary of SindSaúde-SP, who led the visit, the exchange represented more just sharing experiences. "This activity symbolizes the building of international solidarity between health workers. At a time when public services are under attack, both in Brazil and in other parts of the world, it is essential to show how we organize, resist and fight for rights, for decent working conditions and for a quality public health system that remains under public control," she said.

SASK works in partnership with PSI and other global trade union federations to strengthen the trade union movement and promote decent work, with a focus on reducing poverty and inequality in developing countries. In Brazil, SindSaúde-SP, the National Nurses Federation (FNE) and other health workers' unions affiliated to PSI are part of the cooperation project which supports workers and their unions to protect the rights of all health professionals in Latin America.

"In 2025, we have already carried out two important activities as part of this project: a national meeting of the PSI Women's Committee, where we discussed advocacy actions to get legislation approved to ratify ILO Convention 190, and a national care policy approved in December 2024. Over the course of this year, three other important actions are planned with themes related to ILO Convention 151 on the right to collectively bargain in the public sector and unionization strategies," said João Cayres, PSI's sub-regional secretary for Brazil.

Ana Firmino, from the São Paulo State Nurses' Union, who took part in the meeting to present the project's results, said that "international trade union cooperation organized by Public Services International strengthens local capacity to win, regulate and implement policies of global interest that directly impact the working class."