São Paulo Subway Workers Decide Not to Strike Union Members Reach Decision in a Vote 42 workers fired

São Paulo Subway Workers Decide Not to Strike
Union Members Reach Decision in a Vote 42 workers fired
http://online.wsj.com/articles/sao-paulo-subway-workers-threaten-another...

By LUCIANA MAGALHÃES and ROGERIO JELMAYER
Updated June 11, 2014 9:50 p.m. ET

Metro workers meeting at their union headquarters in São Paulo on Wednesday raise their hands to vote not to resume their work stoppage. Agence-France-Presse/Getty Images
SÃO PAULO—Subway workers in this World Cup host city backed down from a threatened strike on the opening day of the soccer tournament, removing a cloud from global event whose preparations have been plagued by delays and protests.

Union members voted Wednesday to continue working despite its threats to walk off the job unless 42 co-workers fired this week were reinstated.

São Paulo Metro workers' union President Altino de Melo Prazeres Júnior said members were worried about a potential public backlash. "What weighed on our decision was fatigue and the fear of some workers that people could view our decision as a move to disturb the World Cup," he said.

The union's retreat defuses a potential public-relations nightmare for Brazil, which has struggled with delayed stadiums, unfinished infrastructure and protesters angry over the tournament's cost.

The Metro is a vital means of transport in this traffic-choked city and a means to shuttle thousands of World Cup visitors to São Paulo's main stadium, about 13 miles from the center. The tournament begins on Thursday and lasts a month.

Even as that strike was called off, municipal airport workers in Rio de Janeiro declared a 24-hour strike for Thursday, demanding higher salaries and a "Cup bonus." But participation in that strike will be limited to 20% of workers, reported newspaper O Globo, citing a union official, so is unlikely to disrupt service.

One big winner from the São Paulo standoff is the state's governor, Geraldo Alckmin, who is being feted by residents weary from a spate of transit strikes. Mr. Alckmin, whose state controls the Metro, rebuffed the union's demand for a 35% pay rise, never budging from an 8.7% offer the union ultimately accepted following a five-day walkout that ended Tuesday night.

His government also fired the 42 subway workers for alleged vandalism and misconduct. And it threatened to sack 300 more if the union made good on its vow to strike again on Thursday.

The tough approach by Mr. Alckmin, who is running for re-election in October, will play well with voters, and could boost his chances at higher office down the line, some analysts say. A failed presidential contender, Mr. Alckmin is still considered a heavyweight in the Brazilian Social Democratic Party.

"This decision to maintain a tough stance has helped his image," said Rafael Cortez, a political scientist at Tendências Consultoria Integrada.

The union appeared to be caught off-guard by the government's aggressive tactics and threats to fire additional workers. Union member Júlia Paz, 27, said members were intimidated.

"Some people were afraid" of losing their jobs, she said. "It was a good decision" to return to work. "Any other decision would have divided the membership."

Subway workers walked off the job last Thursday, demanding a 35% salary rise in a country where annual inflation is running about 6.5%. A labor judge over the weekend ruled that the strike was illegal and imposed a $222,000 fine for each day that strikers remained off the job.

The union voted to return to work Tuesday and to accept the government's offer of an 8.7% raise. But the fired workers remained a sticking point. In the end, the union promised to provide them financial support.

The subway strike wreaked havoc in São Paulo, which was also paralyzed by a two-day bus strike last month.

Commuter Vanessa Oliveira, 29, said supports the government's hard line.

"I think the government did the right thing," she said. "Because if they give into the unions, the unions will keep asking for more."

The subway strife is just the latest in a series of labor actions in Brazil in recent weeks as public workers, emboldened by the international spotlight and the $11.5 billion their government has spent on tournament preparations, have demanded large pay raises.

Strikes by bus drivers temporarily crippled the World Cup host cities of Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. A three-day walkout by police in Recife, another tournament host, sparked public unrest and the looting of stores in May. Belo Horizonte, another host, suffered a strike by thousands of city employees—including garbage collectors—during most of May.

—Jeff Lewis and Paul Kiernan contributed to this article.

Write to Luciana Magalhães at luciana.magalhaes@wsj.com and Rogerio Jelmayer atrogerio.jelmayer@wsj.com

Brazil Sao Paulo Transit Strike Called Off-42 Workers Fired
http://www.thestate.com/2014/06/11/3500783/subway-strike-suspended-in-sa...
Brazil averts subway strike on eve of World Cup
BY ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON AND JOSHUA GOODMAN
The Associated PressJune 11, 2014
A threatened second round of a subway strike in Sao Paulo would cripple transportation in South America’s biggest city. Authorities are counting on the subway to carry most fans to Sao Paulo games. RODRIGO ABD — AP Photo
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SAO PAULO — A subway strike in Sao Paulo that threatened to disrupt the opening of the World Cup was averted Wednesday night even as airport workers in Rio de Janeiro declared a 24-hour work stoppage in the main destination for soccer fans traveling to Brazil.

Some 1,500 subway workers in Sao Paulo voted against going back on strike in a pay dispute. They had suspended the walkout Monday amid a popular backlash and government pressure to end the transportation chaos in Brazil's biggest city.

"We thought that right now it's better to wait," union president Altino Prazeres said, but added that he wouldn't rule out resuming the strike sometime during the monthlong soccer tournament. "We get the feeling that maybe we aren't as prepared for a full confrontation with police on the day the World Cup starts."

The union said its members would hold a march Thursday morning demanding that 42 workers fired during the five-day work stoppage are rehired.

World Cup organizers are counting on Sao Paulo's subway system to carry tens of thousands of fans Thursday to Itaquerao stadium, where Brazil will play Croatia in the tournament's first game far from the hotel areas where most tourists are staying.

Even as tensions eased in Sao Paulo, labor conflicts heated up in Rio, where fans were arriving ahead of Sunday's match between Argentina and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

On Wednesday, check-in counter clerks, baggage handlers and janitorial staff who have been demanding raises of at least 5.6 percent for several months voted to strike starting at midnight. The work stoppage will affect the city's Galeao international airport as well as the Santos Dumont airport that connects Rio to other Brazilian destinations

A union representative said only 20 percent of workers would stay off the job for 24 hours, abiding by a labor court order that threatened to fine unions more than $22,000 if staffing fell below 80 percent of normal levels. The official agreed to discuss specifics of the walkout only if not quoted by name because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

The airport workers' strike is the latest unrest to hit Brazil as workers battered by several years of high inflation take advantage of the spotlight from the World Cup to pressure for pay raises from employers and the government.

In the northern city of Natal, where the United States plays its first game Monday against Ghana, bus drivers will stay home Thursday for at least 24 hours to press their demands for a 16 percent pay increase.

Teachers remain on strike in Rio and routinely block streets with rallies, and subway workers in that city briefly threatened a walkout. Police in several cities have also gone on strike in recent weeks, but are back at work now.

There also has been a steady drumbeat of anti-government protests across Brazil criticizing the billions spent on hosting the World Cup and demanding improvements in public services. The protests that began last year have diminished in size but not in frequency, and they also have disrupted traffic at times.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/06/11/3500783/subway-strike-suspended-in-sa...