[P2P-F] Fwd: [Networkedlabour] Fwd: Solidarity call from Brazilian workers; Brazil Is Facing an Unprecedented Labor Crisis With the World Cup Just Days Away

Fri Jun 13 02:26:05 CEST 2014

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Orsan Senalp <orsan1234 at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 3:24 PM
Subject: [Networkedlabour] Fwd: Solidarity call from Brazilian workers;
Brazil Is Facing an Unprecedented Labor Crisis With the World Cup Just Days
Away
To: networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org

Begin forwarded message:

*From:* Jai Sen <jai.sen at cacim.net>
*Date:* 9 Jun 2014 21:36:17 GMT+2
*To:* Post WSFDiscuss <WorldSocialForum-Discuss at openspaceforum.net>, Post
Social Movements Riseup <social-movements at lists.riseup.net>
*Cc:* Jai Sen <jai.sen at cacim.net>
*Subject:* *[WSF-Discuss] Fwd: Solidarity call from Brazilian workers;
Brazil Is Facing an Unprecedented Labor Crisis With the World Cup Just Days
Away*
*Reply-To:* Discussion list about the WSF <
worldsocialforum-discuss at openspaceforum.net>

Monday, 9 June 2014

*Worlds in movement, worlds of movement…*

*Urgent Call From Brazil : We Need Your Solidarity*

*Brazil Is Facing an Unprecedented Labor Crisis With the World Cup Just
Days Away*

            Thanks, Patrick.

            JS

fwd
Begin forwarded message:

*From: *Patrick Bond <pbond at mail.ngo.za>
*Subject: **[Debate-List] (Fwd) Solidarity call from Brazilian workers*
*Date: *June 9, 2014 2:27:33 PM EDT
*To: *DEBATE <debate-list at fahamu.org>, Campaign_DPE at googlegroups.com,
safis-solidarity-platform at googlegroups.com, "jubileesouth at yahoogroups.com" <
jubileesouth at yahoogroups.com>, Campaign_DPE at googlegroups.com

http://protesti.tumblr.com/

<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fprotesti.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F87848571369%2Fsao-paulo-subway-workers-to-strike&h=TAQGi_NPy&enc=AZMQIgHGmF4JWyzqSpZkPNNgMR73Aa5wph0Kh4ZhKpq2PxTKTKiQJLYmVp3c0QbKwCudN1SsjAc6D5Bp21i9bEp7w5OaSETp2kfdjr1ojCgrf3vaV5DXLkTvHIU69f-E08nqSKMX9UGqcRY4H-lZin8K&s=1>
<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fprotesti.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F87848571369%2Fsao-paulo-subway-workers-to-strike&h=TAQGi_NPy&enc=AZMQIgHGmF4JWyzqSpZkPNNgMR73Aa5wph0Kh4ZhKpq2PxTKTKiQJLYmVp3c0QbKwCudN1SsjAc6D5Bp21i9bEp7w5OaSETp2kfdjr1ojCgrf3vaV5DXLkTvHIU69f-E08nqSKMX9UGqcRY4H-lZin8K&s=1>

*URGENT CALL FROM BRAZIL: WE NEED YOUR SOLIDARITY*

Altino Prazeres, president, Metro Workers Union São Paulo Brazil Sao Paulo
Transit Workers: Intensify the struggle, defend the right to strike,
prevent any punishment, we want to negotiate now.

Everyone has been following the mobilizations going on in Brazil with
strikes and demonstration by workers and popular organizations expressing
their indignation about the World Cup with its astronomic costs and
corruption, all in function of the interests of the multinational companies
and FIFA.

But at the same time people have been .putting forward their concrete
struggles making demands for salaries, rights, housing, better public
services. They have denounced repression and criminalization of dissent,
etc.

At this moment, the transit workers in Sao Paulo are in the fifth day of a
strike which began last Thursday. The transport workers carry 4,000,000
passengers every day in the city where, next Thursday, June 12, the opening
of the World Cup will take place. Because this strike is so important, the
government has decided that it has to be defeated come what may. It is
seeking to impose an end to the strike and also prevent the mobilizations
from escalating in the coming days.

Brazilian Justice, working hand in hand with the interests of the
government, big business and FIFA declared the strike illegal today and
demanded that the transit workers return to work immediately. It has
established a daily fine of US$ 250,000 on their union for non-compliance.

This decision by the Justice Ministry allows the government to dismiss the
strikers, contravening all their legal and economic rights.

We are counting on the support and solidarity of all the Brazilian union
centrals that are organization initiatives in support of the strike (see
note below)

The Union and the workers have decided to continue the strike, despite the
government’s orders, in order to defend their demands and also to defend
their right to strike.

We need your support and solidarity. Send messages to the e-mails below,
post photos on social networks, broadcast this call on your lists and web
sites

Full support for the Sao Paulo Transit Workers

Response to the demands of the transit sector
In defence of the right to strike!
No to repression, no punishment!
Alckman negotiate!

Altino Prazeres, President, Sao Paulo Transit Workers Union
International Network of Solidarity and Struggle
CSP Conlutas - Brasil

Contact info and where to send support messages:
Altino Prazeres
Président du Syndicat des Travailleurs du Métro de São Paulo
http://www.metroviarios.org.br/site/ -
https://www.facebook.com/sindicatodosmetroviariosdesaopaulo
Réseau Syndical International de Solidarité et de Lutte
CSP-Conlutas — Brésil
http://cspconlutas.org.br/
<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcspconlutas.org.br%2F&h=rAQEdrRvf&enc=AZNlJeJmogAydM-oCdzRguUeudospjX5cNqpUX0SzPcvSyVPMeJBPOum_cug9JkXl_HAo94LrEHJ7jfjsIZFPliz4O3sfmUhAWdBLDlsP0-Tf5vKilw8_kenU57ejlaW9v5QHIyWjcsdaJhhunQr5tcB&s=1>
<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcspconlutas.org.br%2F&h=rAQEdrRvf&enc=AZNlJeJmogAydM-oCdzRguUeudospjX5cNqpUX0SzPcvSyVPMeJBPOum_cug9JkXl_HAo94LrEHJ7jfjsIZFPliz4O3sfmUhAWdBLDlsP0-Tf5vKilw8_kenU57ejlaW9v5QHIyWjcsdaJhhunQr5tcB&s=1>
 - https://www.facebook.com/CSPConlutas
sindicato at metroviarios-sp.org.br
imprensa at metroviarios-sp.org.br
cc: dirceutravesso1 at gmail.com
<http://webmailbb.juno.com/webmail/new/5?userinfo=b83fbf69bd2e8ff6d51a00c3503bc1b7&count=1402317721&randid=1827375203#>
<http://webmailbb.juno.com/webmail/new/5?userinfo=b83fbf69bd2e8ff6d51a00c3503bc1b7&count=1402317721&randid=1827375203#>

***

Brazil Is Facing an Unprecedented Labor Crisis With the World Cup Just Days
Away
57
<http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?s=100&p[title]=Brazil+Is+Facing+an+Unprecedented+Labor+Crisis+With+the+World+Cup+Just+Days+Away&p[summary]=With+the+World+Cup+set+to+start+in+S%C3%A3o+Paulo+on+Thursday,+Brazil%E2%80%99s+largest+city+has+been+racked+by+work+stoppages+that+have+created+an+unprecedented+crisis+for+the+country%E2%80%99s+already+fragile+labor+system.+After+a+Friday+in+which+striking+mass+transit+workers+brought+the+city+to+a%C2%A0grinding+halt,+S%C3%A3o...&p[ref]=sl_live&p[images][0]=http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/the_spot/2014/06/08/s_o_paulo_strikes_brazil_faces_an_unprecedented_labor_crisis_with_the_world/450104952-public-transportation-users-invade-subway-tracks-in-the.jpg/_jcr_content/renditions/cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg&p[url]=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/06/08/s_o_paulo_strikes_brazil_faces_an_unprecedented_labor_crisis_with_the_world.html>
<http://twitter.com/share?text=Brazil+Is+Facing+an+Unprecedented+Labor+Crisis+With+the+World+Cup+Just+Days+Away&count=none&via=slate&url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/06/08/s_o_paulo_strikes_brazil_faces_an_unprecedented_labor_crisis_with_the_world.html>
61
<http://twitter.com/search?q=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/06/08/s_o_paulo_strikes_brazil_faces_an_unprecedented_labor_crisis_with_the_world.html>
19
<http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/06/08/s_o_paulo_strikes_brazil_faces_an_unprecedented_labor_crisis_with_the_world.html#comments>
By Jeremy Stahl <http://www.slate.com/authors.jeremy_stahl.html>
<450104952-public-transportation-users-invade-subway-tracks-in-the.jpg.CROP.promo-mediumlarge.jpg>Public
transportation users invade subway tracks in the Corinthians Itaquera
station.

Photo by Victor Moriyama/Getty Images

With the World Cup set to start in São Paulo on Thursday, Brazil’s largest
city has been racked by work stoppages that have created an unprecedented
crisis for the country’s already fragile labor system.

After a Friday in which striking mass transit workers brought the city
to a grinding
halt
<http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/06/06/transit_strike_brazil_sao_paulo_workers_want_bigger_raise.html>,
São Paulo’s labor court ruled on Sunday that the strikes were not
legal, reports
the AFP
<https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/24191404/court-rules-sao-paulo-subway-strike-illegal/>.
This was the first time in the history of the court that it had been opened
on a Sunday to issue such a ruling, says labor judge Homero Batista Mateus
da Silva.

Homero works on São Paulo’s labor court, but in a different division than
the one that decided the fate of the striking workers.

“Everybody is afraid of waiting for Monday or Tuesday,” Homero, who is also
a professor of labor law at the University of São Paulo, told me over
email. “This is amazing and for us is a brand-new world.”

"The court ruled the strike was abusive. We are going to have an assembly
[this afternoon] and vote whether to continue the strike or not," said
union spokesman Thiago Marcelino Pereira after the ruling was announced.

Even though the court ruled against the strikers, enforcing the ruling may
be a challenge. The subway union has already scoffed at $44,000 fines
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2014/06/05/brazil-metro-trains-on-strike-1-week-before-cup/10003013/>
levied
by another judge for each day of full strikes.

*(Update, June 9, 2014, 8:30 a.m. EST: On Sunday, the labor court increased
the fine to $220,000 per day going forward. The subway workers voted to
continue striking indefinitely
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27757619> despite the ruling.)*

“The fines are not sufficient, nor respected,” said Homero. “They pay it
five, 10 years after, so it is not effective.”

A major problem is that the Brazilian legal system had not been set up to
resolve public-sector labor disputes until last year when the Supreme Court
ruled that a 1989 national labor law that had been restricted to
private-sector employees was now applicable to public-sector ones.

“This decision came as a huge surprise, since the Supreme Court has avoided
it for a long time, but the huge silence from Congress for the past decades
has forced the U-turn,” said Homero.

Still, because the 1989 law was written with the private sector in mind, it
is a poor mechanism for authorities to negotiate with public employees.

Homero said that because public-sector employees have largely been unable
to access the labor courts to resolve disputes via arbitration, “their
strikes are much more violent, widespread and long” than in the private
sector.

Police unions have said that they may ignore a Supreme Court injunction
<http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/06/07/subway-workers-strike-in-brazilian-word-cup-host-city-enters-3ed-day/>
not
to strike during the World Cup. The government of Brazil's President Dilma
Rousseff, who is facing re-election in October, has said it would call on
the military to prevent protests from disrupting World Cup matches
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/22/us-brazil-worldcup-protests-idUSBREA4L1AA20140522>
if
it came to that. Brazilian police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun
grenades
<http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/brazil-strikes-threat-smooth-world-cup-24020585>
against
subway workers during Friday’s strikes.

“The absence of [strong public labor] laws is responsible for many
problems,” Homero said. “As far as I know, some unions are not intimidated
[by threats of military force]!”

The subway workers were asking for a pay hike of 12.2 percent
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/sao-paulo-subway-operator-says-all-lines-running-partially-or-normally-1402172649>,
having rejected an offer from the state government company that runs the
subway system for an 8.7 percent raise.

The past two months have seen strikes from teachers unions, police unions,
and bus unions. Federal police who had threatened to go on strike received
a 16 percent raise <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27678013>,
while striking bus drivers received a 10 percent pay increase
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/06/319491937/striking-train-workers-adds-to-brazils-world-cup-woes>
.

Striking workers cite salaries that have suffered under inflation as a main
cause for the stoppages, with government statistics released on Friday
showing that the country’s consumer price index rose 6.37 percent in the
last year. They also note the enormous bill—more than $11 billion
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/labor-strikes-roil-brazil-ahead-of-world-cup-1401398941>—the
country has footed to pay for the World Cup and wonder why more of that
money hasn’t been spent on public employees.

“[The] World Cup has turned out to be a tremendous opportunity for wages
and better conditions efforts,” said Homero. “Even those who have been
quiet for some years, as the buses and trains drivers, have awakened.”

The subway system is supposed to be the main mode of transportation for
fans planning to attend Thursday’s World Cup opener between Brazil and
Croatia.

The country’s labor minister, Manoel Dias, has described recent work
stoppages as crass opportunism
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/labor-strikes-roil-brazil-ahead-of-world-cup-1401398941>.
"Many strikes are inexplicable," Dias said after a series of strikes two
weeks ago. "Workers have had higher-than-inflation salary increases."

Public-sector strikes in Brazil are not uncommon, and are beginning to
frustrate citizens. “Ordinary Brazilian people are so tired and so
disgusted that they do not count any more that the essential public
services will be available the whole year,” says Homero. “Public teachers'
strikes are on an annual basis, evolving from 30 to 90 days. Parents are
used to seeing their children at home many working days a year.”

The lack of ability by the political system to negotiate effectively with
public-sector employees has partially to do with Brazil’s shoddy historical
treatment of labor. Prior to the 1988 Constitution and the end of Brazil’s
military dictatorship, strikes were treated as a “crime and then as an
un-Brazilian activity,” according to Homero.

“I have a feeling that the way Brazil has treated strikes during [its
military dictatorship] has proved to be wrong and has backfired,” Homero
said. “Any president or politician that dares to make a speech about the
need of some rules are immediately considered right-wing or [an] enemy of
the workers. That’s why civil servants (and the military included) have
absolutely no rule concerning strikes. No rule at all. They can do whatever
they want, whenever they want.”

Homero said he empathizes with workers seeking better conditions, and
that’s why he wishes that a better arbitration system were in place to
resolve such disputes.

Concerns about this World Cup had centered mainly on fears of a repeat of
last year’s mass demonstrations, when millions of Brazilians took to the
streets to protest the billions that were being spent to host the
tournament instead of being spent on infrastructure needs
<http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/05/20/paulo_ito_world_cup_a_brazilian_street_artist_has_created_the_world_cup.html>
for
the creaky education and health systems. The work stoppages that have taken
place have involved many fewer participants, relatively speaking, but have
still proved to be disruptive. A recent poll showed that a majority of
Brazilians now view the nation’s decision to host the World Cup
<http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/06/03/majority_of_brazilians_say_hosting_the_world_cup_is_a_bad_thing_why_is_the.html>
as
a bad one. The tournament kicks off this Thursday at São Paulo’s Arena
Corinthians, which was still incomplete
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/06/05/318925781/as-brazil-barrels-toward-world-cup-brazilians-arent-feeling-it>
as
of last week.

Jeremy Stahl is a *Slate *senior editor. You can follow him on Twitter
<https://twitter.com/jeremystahl>.

______________________________

Jai Sen

jai.sen at cacim.net

www.cacim.net / http://www.openword.in

Now based in Ottawa, Canada (+1-613-282 2900), and New Delhi, India (+91-98189
11325)

*RECENT PUBLICATIONS :*

Jai Sen and Peter Waterman, eds, 2012 – *World Social Forum : Critical
Explorations**.* Volume 3 in the *Challenging Empires* series.  New Delhi :
OpenWord. *Available now as an ebook* - *internationally at*
http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/ *and in India at *
http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-jai-sen-world-social-forum-critical-explorations

Jai Sen, ed, 2012 - *Imagining Alternatives*, Book 3 in the *Are Other
Worlds Possible ?* series.  New Delhi : OpenWord and Daanish Books

*FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS  :*

Jai Sen, ed, forthcoming (2013) – *The Movements of Movements : Struggles
for Other Worlds**.* Volume 4 in the *Challenging Empires* series.  New
Delhi : OpenWord

*CHECK OUT* *CACIM* @ www.cacim.net, *OpenWord* @ http://www.openword.in,
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