Brasil and Mexico : news from auto workers

CNM Internacional Confederação Nacional dos Metalúrgicos da CUT ( Brasil)

August, 30 2001

BRASIL

Brazil's Auto Workers Seek Sep Pay Raise Of At Least 7%

SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--More than 130,000 Brazilian auto workers in the industrial hub of Sao Paulo state are set to start campaigning Thursday for a pay raise of at least 7% in September.
The Central Unica dos Trabalhadores labor union umbrella group said Wednesday a protest at the Volkswagen AG (G.VOW) factory in Sao Bernardo do Campo tomorrow will mark the start of the wage round Thursday at 1700 GMT. The protest is expected to delay the start of production by 30 to 60 minutes.
On Friday, workers at Ford Motor Co. (F), Toyota Motor Co. (TM), DaimlerChrysler AG's (DCX) Mercedes-Benz and Scania AB (SCVB) in the region are expected to follow suit and paralyze production for a while.
Similar protests are scheduled to take place at various auto parts plants in the region by the end of the week.
The demands come as Brazil's economy slows sharply and car sales plunge amid falling consumer confidence, a weakening currency and rising interest rates. Some economists expect the country to fall into recession this year.
The 7% demand corresponds to inflation tallied over the past 12 months, but workers are also seeking a real wage increase whose size has yet to be discussed among union members.
The union said the upcoming campaign also aims at putting pressure on auto makers to agree to move workers' annual wage review to September from November, in a bid to make it easier to mobilize support for wage rounds and demonstrations.
"Car production peaks in September while in November, especially at times of economic sluggishness, most auto makers stop production and send workers home on paid leave," said a union spokesman.
After a court dispute, auto workers got a 10% pay raise in 2000, the first increase exceeding inflation for the first time in six years.

(By Adriana Arai, Dow Jones Newswires; adriana.arai@dowjones.com )

VW Brazil workers suspend stoppages after management makes new proposal

The employees at Volkswagen AG's Sao Bernardo do Campo plant yesterday suspended the series of two-hour stoppages they started on Thursday, after Volkswagen management submitted a new proposal to increase the minimum amount paid under the company's profit-sharing scheme, newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo reported, citing the steelworkers union.
The employees will discuss the new proposal tomorrow.

MEXICO

Workers Reject VW Mexico Pay Offer

By Kieran Murray

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Union leaders at Volkswagen AG's plant in Mexico said Wednesday the German auto giant must substantially improve its wage offer to end an 11-day-old strike after workers overwhelmingly rejected its latest proposal.
But Volkswagen AG said it had already made major concessions and it was now the union's turn to move.
In a secret ballot on Tuesday night, almost 97 percent of workers voted against Volkswagen's offer of an 8.5 percent salary increase plus improved benefits and they vowed to continue the strike, which costs VW about $30 million a day in lost output.
Union leader Jose Luis Rodriguez said the vote sent a clear message the company would get nowhere with ``aggressive'' offers way below workers' demands.
"We would really have to receive a more serious, feasible offer to take it back to a union assembly and not wear away at the workers' patience,'' Rodriguez said on Wednesday.
VW spokesman Thomas Karig said the company had offered a good wage increase and accused union leaders of hiding behind their members by refusing to negotiate directly with VW executives.
"It is unfortunate the vote went that way. The company made an effort to put forward a good proposal,'' he said, adding that the mood at negotiations was not good. "The atmosphere is difficult, there is no doubt about that.''
Volkswagen's plant in the central Mexico city of Puebla is the only one in the world to produce the popular New Beetle, which is sold in 80 countries.
With some 16,000 workers, including more than 12,300 union members, the plant also makes the classic Beetle, Jetta and Golf Cabrio models. About 80 percent of output goes for export.
VW and union officials were to meet for a new round of talks with labor ministry mediators Wednesday evening.
Rodriguez said the union might then ask the government of President Vicente Fox to take a more active role in forcing through an agreement.
"We will wait to see the results of the meeting. If there is no progress, we will ask for a meeting with the interior minister,'' he told Reuters. "That might set the way for a meeting with the president.''

TWO SIDES FAR APART

The union's latest wage demand, presented last week, but only revealed on Wednesday, stands at 16 percent and Rodriguez said workers would not accept anything less than 10 percent.
VW said it already pays the best salaries in Mexico's auto sector and said it simply cannot afford to meet the union's demands, especially as car sales have slowed in recent months with both the U.S. and Mexican economies stagnating.
Karig said VW would insist in talks at the labor ministry that union leaders agree to negotiate a deal directly rather than simply passing on company offers to an assembly of workers to be accepted or rejected.
The union says its members are due a big wage increase because productivity at the Puebla plant continues to rise and Mexican workers at other international auto companies have won wage increases of between 10 percent and 16 percent this year.
Inflation is expected to come in at around or under 6 percent in Mexico this year.
Rodriguez said workers wanted VW's wage offer to include increases fixed to productivity, but the company refused. He also accused VW of actually wanting a strike, because that would help the company to reduce output in an environment of lower sales.
"We think this is a strike of convenience for the company. That is why they have not come in with a spirit of negotiation. They knew their offer was far from getting the support of workers,'' he said.
The union went on strike at VW's Puebla plant last year, but the action was quickly declared illegal on a technicality. When negotiations resumed, workers won a wage increase of 18 percent, with 5 percent linked to higher productivity.

(Reuters, August 30, 2001)

VW union rejects 10% offer

MEXICO CITY - Striking workers at Volkswagen de Mexico massively rejected management's offer for a 10.2-percent pay raise and decided to continue their 12-day-old strike.
A vote count completed showed that 98 percent of the 10,606 workers who cast their ballot -- out of a total of 12,500 -- voted to reject the offer.
Chanting "strike, strike, strike" and "victory, victory" the workers insisted on their demand for a 19-percent pay hike.
But Jose Luis Rodriguez, secretary general of the trade union at the auto plant, said he hoped to promptly reach a negotiating position.
The workers initially demanded a 21-percent pay increase. The strike started earlier this month after management rejected the demand.
Before the strike, the Volkswagen plant, located near Puebla, 110 kilometers (68 miles) southeast of the capital, produced 1,500 automobiles and 2,000 engines a day.
Analysts believe the strike is costing Volkswagen about 25 million dollars a day.

( AFP , August 30, 2001)

Mexican Union Votes to Continue Strike

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Unionized autoworkers at the Volkswagen car plant in Puebla, Mexico voted overwhelmingly to reject the company's revised offer of a 10.2 percent wage increase and continue their 11-day-old strike at the last plant that makes the old VW Bug sedan.
About 95 percent of the 12,500 union workers voted against the offer on Tuesday, according to published reports. The plant employs a total of 16,000 people.
Workers at the Puebla plant had rejected a 7 percent company offer earlier, but indicated they were willing to lower their own 19 percent wage demand.
Union leader Jose Luis Rodriguez said he would continue negotiations with the company ``in order to make another effort so that this conflict can be resolved.''
The plant, 65 miles east of Mexico City, also manufactures the new Volkswagen Beetle model, which is exported to the United States and Europe.

(Associated Press, August 29, 2001)

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