Sao Paulo: Some 3,000 workers at a General Motors plant in Brazil went on an open-ended strike over planned layoffs.
The metalworkers union at the plant in Sao Jose dos Campos in southeastern Sao Paulo state said the strikers had downed tools to protest the planned firing of 794 staff suspended in September but who resumed working last week.
“The workers reject the GM proposal. There is no guarantee of the jobs being saved,” said union general secretary Luiz Carlos Prastes.
Prastes said the stoppage was a response to the firm giving them an ultimatum to accept temporary layoffs or the automaker would impose job cuts, despite the company and the union havingagreed last August to retain the personnel concerned at least until the second half of this year.
Beyond the layoffs, GM had on February 2 unveiled an initial week-long offer of voluntary redundancies which was extended. The plant’s 5,300-strong workforce produces the S10 and Trailblazer models.
General Motors said the union had not informed it of Friday’s stoppage, a legal requirement in Brazil, and that the union was misrepresenting its proposals to shed staff.AFP
