25 September, 2009The FEM-CUT/SP, affiliated to CNM/CUT, and the Greater Curitiba Metalworkers' Union, affiliated to the CNTM/FS, have won a pay rise that will have a positive influence on other negotiations in the sector.
BRAZIL: When the employers' side began to make excuses during the annual round of negotiations on pay, metalworkers organised rallies, protests and demonstrations. This struggle by IMF affiliates CNM and CNTM has resulted in major gains for metalworkers.
After a series of demonstrations and protests by workers, FEM-CUT/SP, affiliated to CNM/CUT, negotiated major gains for the 53,000 metalworkers employed by Volkswagen, Ford, GM, Mercedes-Benz, Scania, Toyota and Honda in Sao Bernardo and Taubate. Employers agreed to a 6.53 per cent pay rise and agreed to pay an additional R$2,800 (US$1570) bonus. The 6.53 per cent takes account of the annual inflation rate of 4.44 per cent, based on the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) and includes a real increase of 2 per cent. The agreement also included a series of social benefits.
Meanwhile, 6,000 metalworkers at Renault-Nissan and Volvo, affiliated to CNTM/FS unions, won the biggest pay rise in the country's manufacturing sector this year, according to the trade union research institute DIEESE. They won a real increase of 3% plus the 4.44 inflation rate, totalling 7.57 per cent, and a bonus payment of R$2,000 (US$ 1,110) for each worker.
"The pay rise won by the Curitiba Metalworkers' Union for Renault and Volvo workers is important and will have a positive influence on other negotiations that are scheduled to take place over the next six months" said Miguel Torres, president of the São Paulo and Mogi das Cruzes Metalworkers' Union and vice president of Força Sindical.
Valter Sanches, CNM General Secretary, said that the agreement in the auto sector "is a major victory after a year in which Brazil, especially the metalworking sector, was affected by the international crisis. The sector has lost approximately 210,000 jobs since October 2008, after a gain of 700,000 since 2003." Sanches said that at the beginning of the year, metalworkers took the lead in negotiations with employers and the government about how to deal with the crisis and avoid job losses.