Workers’ Struggles in Brazil
We hereby gather some of the news that have been reported this week by the newspaper A Nova Democracia:
More leaflets spread against the 6×1 in Paraíba
Activists are carrying out actions against the 6×1, the constitutionally approved working day in Brazil, with six days of work and one day of rest. With this campaign they want to achieve 40 hours per week, with 36 hours in perspective, without salary reduction.
On January 23, activists in Campina Grande spread leaflets in front of the city’s industrial complex during the change of shifts for workers of the industry. The leaflets caught the attention of workers coming and going from the shift.
School canteen personnel demand their delayed wages
The personnel of the school canteen of the State schools of Passo Fundo protested last Thursday, January 29, in front of the 7th Regional Coordinator of Education to demand the payment of their delayed salaries and bonuses that correspond to them. At the moment, the company that outsources the services and the State of Rio Grande do Sul are engaged in a bureaucratic process while the workers have reached the limit of not being able to buy food or pay the bills.
More than five thousand workers are at risk of being fired
Since January 1 of this year, the federal government suspended the contract with a company that manages the Candiota 3 thermoelectric plant. This can mean the loss of jobs for more than five thousand people, including workers of the factory itself and small business who work around the factory. This is almost half of the population of the town of Candiota, which has eleven thousand inhabitants, what raises fears of the ruin of the entire town.
On January 15, more than 500 workers held a demonstration in front of the factory demanding the reopening of the factory. The reason for the closure is due to the “sustainable transition” of the federal government, which vetoed the assignment of a new contract to the company that manages the plant for the reduction of CO2 emissions according to the international Paris agreements. However, thermoelectric plants are responsible only of 0.3 per cent of CO2 emissions in Brazil. Mining, which accounts for 5 per cent of Brazil’s emissions, has not been affected, mainly because the mining of Candiota, which has 12 billion tons of coal in the subsoil, is destined to supply imperialist companies.
