In February this year, General Motors (GM) signed an agreement with the union, promising to pay workers 2,500 Brazilian Real (US$ 600) with no deductions. Not all workers received the payment, but after the union threatened to go on strike, GM management agreed to comply with the signed agreement.
In the February agreement, GM also committed to investing in the plant.
However, on 23 August, GM fired 17 workers at its São José dos Campos plant. According to the union, Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos de São José dos Campos, affiliated to CSP Conlutas, GM laid off staff in an attempt to boost profits by replacing current employees with lower-paid workers.
“The firings happened as GM announced they were taking on new workers, just before the weekend to try to avoid attention,” said Luiz Carlos Prates, member of CSP Conlutas’ governing body.
In response, union members decided to launch a campaign to fight for job security.
In a meeting with GM management on 29 August, the union called on GM to make the investments promised in February and to guarantee their job security.
IndustriALL Global Union’s regional secretary, Marino Vani, said:
We support the workers in their struggle.
At the latest regional meeting for GM workers, we committed to ensure that the company complies with the agreements it has signed and that it doesn’t seek to meet its profit targets by creating more precarious working conditions.
Disclaimer: All third-party opinions expressed via IASWI accounts linked to and from this page are those of the individuals concerned and do not necessarily represent those of IASWI or its affiliates. No copyright infringement is intended nor implied. To discuss this disclaimer or the removal of appropriate credit for materials of which you hold copyright please contact us. All the third party videos and contents found on workers-iran.org is not hosted on our servers; all third party videos or contents are hosted on a third party site. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and news sources on the www.workers-iran.org do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the IASWI or official policies of the IASWI. These posts are only generated for the purpose of information sharing on the labour related issues.