Oil Workers Threaten To Strike In Brazil WorldNews.com, Wed 4 Oct 2000

WN - James Casey. Oil workers in Brazil may call a nation-wide strike over wage increases, a union spokesman said yesterday.

This follows Petrobras' failure to meet demands for a pay increase including inflation adjustments and benefits from increased productivity, stated a spokeswoman at the umbrella union United Oil Workers Federation (FUP).

The spokeswoman went on to say: "After 80 days of negotiations, Petrobras offered on Monday an increase of just 5%. The union is not going to accept the proposal so we are going to talk this week about a strike to stop production."

At least 35,000 workers are represented by the FUP, which is demanding a 9.21% basic wage rise, plus a 39.75% increase to counter rising inflation, plus an additional 13.85% increase to repay them for higher productivity.

The FUP plans to meet with the 20 different unions that it represents to discuss the possibility of industrial action.

In 1995 oil workers went on strike for 4 weeks causing severe fuel shortages and forcing Brazil to spend at least $400 million on imports.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 04, 2000