In Brazil, “after the massive job losses (75% of
personnel) at the Varig aeronautical company last spring, it’s the turn of the
employees of the Volkswagen factories in the industrial belt of Sao Paulo
(ABC). (…) It’s the ABC metalworkers’ union that, in collaboration with the
bosses of Volkswagen, fixed the quota of 3600 job cuts staged up to 2008. In
the assemblies, the atmosphere was extremely intimidating, with the unions
using blackmail about more job cuts if the workers didn’t accept the proposals
for voluntary redundancies. In the assembly where the agreement was concluded,
the unions were booed, labelled as ‘sell-outs’ and accused of having swindled
the workers. (…) But that’s not all: the workers who are going to keep their
jobs are going to see their wages cut from 1-2% due to increased social
security costs, that too with the assent of the unions”. (Extract from a
joint declaration by the Brazilian group Workers’ Opposition - OPOP – and the
ICC).
