CNM Internacional
Confederação Nacional dos Metalúrgicos da CUT ( Brasil) November, 19 2001

Volkswagen workers in Brazil agree to end strike

By Raymond Colitt in Sao Paulo

Motor vehicle workers have reached an agreement in principle with Volkswagen to end a week-long strike at an assembly plant in Sao Paulo, the company's largest outside Germany, union leaders said at the weekend.
The agreement has been made to prevent massive lay-offs and end production shortfalls during the strike of up to 900 vehicles per day.
It would also pave the way for new investments and further modernisation of the ageing Anchieta plant located in Sao Bernardo de Campo in greater Sao Paulo.
Under the agreement, VW is to reinstate the 3,000 employees it dismissed at the plant more than a week ago. Half would begin work immediately and the other 1,500 would be given paid leave until the end of January, according to Celso Horta, spokesman of the metal-workers union.
At the same time, VW would present workers with a voluntary retirement programme aiming to reduce the workforce by 700, Mr Horta said.
Employees would also accept a reduction in their salaries and their work schedules, he added. The reduction is believed to be around 15 per cent.
The accord came after Luiz Marinho, head of the metal-workers union, travelled to Germany for a two-day negotiation at VW headquarters.
Despite modernisation efforts at the Anchieta plant in recent years, it is still less competitive than VW's newer plants in Brazil, largely because of labour costs that are roughly 30 per cent higher than at other plants.
As part of the agreement VW is said to be considering additional investments to further modernise the plant and to allow for the assembly of new car models, thereby preventing massive lay-offs. Failing to do so, Mr Marinho told the Estado news agency, could lead to nearly half the 16,000 current employees being made redundant within two years.
Union members are expected today to support the end of the strike and will vote on the agreement later in the week. "The conditions now exist for the strike to end," Mr Horta said.
VW, one of the largest private companies in Brazil, was not available for comment at the weekend.
Motor vehicle sales in Brazil have plunged in recent months amid a wider economic downturn. The sale of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in October totalled 99,239 units, down 15.26 cent over the same period last year, according to the automobile manufacturers association, Anfavea.
Volkswagen's year-on-year passenger car sales in October fell 17.32 per cent and for the year-to-date have fallen behind those of Fiat. Including busses and trucks, however, VW still maintains its 40-year leadership in Brazil. (©Finacial Times, November 19, 2001)

VW Brazil workers end week-long strike

SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The 16,000 Brazilian workers at German automaker Volkswagen AG's second-largest factory ended their week-long strike early on Monday as they considered a company proposal to suspend 3,000 layoffs in return for cuts in wages and working hours.
Workers at the Anchieta factory in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo, were due to vote on Wednesday on the proposal hammered out between the president of the ABC Metalworkers Union, Luiz Marinho, and VW management in Germany.
"The proposal is complex and has many items," Marinho told workers during an assembly at dawn. "If we made a decision today, many people might have doubts when they voted."
Marinho, who returned from Germany on Saturday, said he believed the proposal would be accepted by workers.
Of the 3,000 employees laid off a week ago, 1,500 will return to work immediately and 1,500 will receive paid leave until January 31. During that time, the company aims to put 700 people on a voluntary redundancy programme.
The workers, in turn, will have to agree to a 15 percent cut in wages and working hours, a reduction in entry-level wages, a four-day working week during slow sales periods and a new productivity and evaluation program.
The union convinced VW management to abandon a plan to lay off six percent of workers a year and replace them with new hires who would be 30 percent cheaper.
In the ABC -- the cluster of the industrial cities of Santo Andre, Sao Bernardo and Sao Caetano -- auto workers' wages are around 30 percent higher than in other states.
VW has promised to invest more than 500 million reais ($200 million) in the production of a new Polo model for export to Europe. The Tupi, a compact model in the development stage, could also be manufactured in the 42-year-old Anchieta factory.
VW is the auto industry leader in Brazil with 27 percent of the market, although its share has dropped from 42 percent in 20 years. Car sales in Brazil this year have been undermined by an economic slowdown and high interest rates.
VW management in Brazil said it would only comment on the deal after workers voted on Wednesday.Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited

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