<div dir="ltr"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Orsan Senalp</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:orsan1234@gmail.com">orsan1234@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Date: Fri, May 16, 2014 at 2:00 PM<br>Subject: [Networkedlabour] Fwd: [WSF-Discuss] Brazil: Workers against the Workers Party?<br>To: <a href="mailto:networkedlabour@lists.contrast.org">networkedlabour@lists.contrast.org</a><br>
<br><br><div dir="auto"><div><br>Via Peter..<br><br></div><div><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><b>From:</b> peter waterman <<a href="mailto:peterwaterman1936@gmail.com" target="_blank">peterwaterman1936@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Date:</b> 16 mei 2014 19:59:28 CEST<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:CRITICAL-LABOUR-STUDIES@jiscmail.ac.uk" target="_blank">CRITICAL-LABOUR-STUDIES@jiscmail.ac.uk</a>, WSFDiscuss List <<a href="mailto:WorldSocialForum-Discuss@openspaceforum.net" target="_blank">WorldSocialForum-Discuss@openspaceforum.net</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> <b>[WSF-Discuss] Brazil: Workers against the Workers Party?</b><br><b>Reply-To:</b> <a href="mailto:peterwaterman1936@gmail.com" target="_blank">peterwaterman1936@gmail.com</a>, Discussion list about the WSF <<a href="mailto:worldsocialforum-discuss@openspaceforum.net" target="_blank">worldsocialforum-discuss@openspaceforum.net</a>><br>
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<img src="http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/78f/incoming/article18711647.ece/ALTERNATES/w220/BRA105-BRAZIL+.jpg" alt="A civil police officer detain young suspects after a store was looted during a police strike in Recife, May 15, 2014. Road blocks and marches hit Brazilian cities on Thursday as disparate groups criticized spending on the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament and sought to revive a call for better public services that swept the country last June. (IGO BIONE/JC IMAGEM/REUTERS)" title="A civil police officer detain young suspects after a store was looted during a police strike in Recife, May 15, 2014. Road blocks and marches hit Brazilian cities on Thursday as disparate groups criticized spending on the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament and sought to revive a call for better public services that swept the country last June. (IGO BIONE/JC IMAGEM/REUTERS)" height="124" width="220">
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<h1 title="The estimated 60 separate labour actions under way in the country come less than a month away from the FIFA World Cup">
In Brazil, strike season kicks off as World Cup nears
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<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/stephanie-nolen" title="Go to Stephanie Nolen’s author page" target="_blank">Stephanie Nolen</a>
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RIO DE JANEIRO — The Globe and Mail</p>
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<p>Published
Friday, May. 16 2014, 6:00 AM EDT
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<p>Last updated
Friday, May. 16 2014, 10:35 AM EDT
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<a title="Go to the comments page" href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/brazil-workers-get-their-moment-of-maximum-leverage/article18710222/comments/" target="_blank">6 comments</a>
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<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/brazil-workers-get-their-moment-of-maximum-leverage/article18710222/#" target="_blank"></span><span>AA</a>
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<p>The firefighters in Recife are on strike. The bus drivers, civil
engineers, bank security guards and school support workers of Rio have
walked off the job. The teachers of Sao Paulo are picketing and the
train workers are marching. Police in Pernambuco are off the job. So are
City Hall employees in Belo Horizonte. Nationwide, employees of the
public pension fund and museum employees are striking; internationally,
the staff of embassies and consulates.</p>
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<h4>More Related to this Story</h4>
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<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/no-major-surprises-as-scolari-names-brazil-world-cup-squad/article18508445/" name="14606689a5b03aee_&lpos=art-world-related stories-stories&lid=Headline.1" target="_blank">
No major surprises as Scolari names Brazil World Cup squad
</a>
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<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/latin-american-business/from-favela-to-petrobras-president/article18628326/" name="14606689a5b03aee_&lpos=art-world-related stories-stories&lid=Headline.2" target="_blank">
Oil giant Petrobras: Brazil’s broken backbone
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<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/public-focus-on-petrobras-scandals-not-profitability/article18626971/" name="14606689a5b03aee_&lpos=art-world-related stories-stories&lid=Headline.3" target="_blank">
Public focus on Petrobras' scandals ignores its profitability
</a>
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<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/sports-video/video-fifa-secretary-general-defends-spending-at-world-cup/article18614703/" title="Video: FIFA Secretary General defends spending at World Cup" name="14606689a5b03aee_&lpos=art-world-sidebar stories-aside&lid=Picture.1" target="_blank"></span>
<img src="http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/c87/video/article18614702.ece/ALTERNATES/w140/2014-05-12T174933Z_1_LOVEA4B1DIKW6_RTRMADP_0_SWITZERLAND-VALCKE-WORLD-CUP-O.XML" alt="FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke says hosting the World Cup is always in the interest of the host country and FIFA is not the cause for any possible demonstrations in Brazil this summer." title="FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke says hosting the World Cup is always in the interest of the host country and FIFA is not the cause for any possible demonstrations in Brazil this summer." height="78" width="140">
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<h6>SOCCER</h6>
<h5><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/sports-video/video-fifa-secretary-general-defends-spending-at-world-cup/article18614703/" title="Video: FIFA Secretary General defends spending at World Cup" name="14606689a5b03aee_&lpos=art-world-sidebar stories-aside&lid=Headline.1" target="_blank">Video: FIFA Secretary General defends spending at World Cup</a></h5>
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<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/sports-video/video-fifa-says-world-cup-stadium-in-sao-paulo-will-be-ready-for-opener/article18099394/" title="Video: FIFA says World Cup stadium in Sao Paulo will be ready for opener" name="14606689a5b03aee_&lpos=art-world-sidebar stories-aside&lid=Picture.2" target="_blank"></span>
<img src="http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/594/video/article18099392.ece/ALTERNATES/w140/2014-04-22T174357Z_1_LOVEA3L1D982X_RTRMADP_0_BRAZIL-WORLD-CUP-VALCKE-O.XML" alt="FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke visits construction site of delayed Sao Paulo World Cup stadium and confirms stadium will be ready for June opener." title="FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke visits construction site of delayed Sao Paulo World Cup stadium and confirms stadium will be ready for June opener." height="78" width="140">
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<h6>Soccer</h6>
<h5><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/sports-video/video-fifa-says-world-cup-stadium-in-sao-paulo-will-be-ready-for-opener/article18099394/" title="Video: FIFA says World Cup stadium in Sao Paulo will be ready for opener" name="14606689a5b03aee_&lpos=art-world-sidebar stories-aside&lid=Headline.2" target="_blank">Video: FIFA says World Cup stadium in Sao Paulo will be ready for opener</a></h5>
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<p>In the words of a blaring headline in the Rio newspaper O Globo this
week: Strike Season Has Arrived. There are, at a conservative estimate,
60 separate labour actions under way now in Brazil, and dozens more
unions (including federal police, airport workers and pilots) have
threatened to stop work in the next few days.</p><p>It is also, of
course, FIFA World Cup season. One of the sporting world’s great
festivals begins in Brazil in less than a month, and the country’s
workers are seizing a moment of powerful leverage.</p><p>“They are
taking advantage of the World Cup because the government is very worried
about the image of Brazil – the government doesn’t want to see more bad
news about Brazil, or you will have people cancelling their plans to
come,” said Hélio Zylberstajn, a professor of industrial relations at
the University of Sao Paulo.</p><p>Many of the strikers – such as bus
and train workers – negotiate their collective agreements with
individual municipalities “so probably Dilma is calling all the mayors
saying, ‘For God’s sake, please give them some money and stop the
strike,’” he said, referring to President Dilma Rousseff, whom many
Brazilians call by her first name.</p><p>The strikes already under way
are causing considerable disruption. In Rio, for example, the lack of
buses left much of the city paralyzed for two days this week, many
schools are shut and most bank branches have not been operating for
weeks due to the lack of security guards.</p><p>The current strikes are
perhaps borrowing a leaf from the book of Rio’s trash collectors, who
went on strike in March during Carnaval – an event that brings even more
tourists into the city than the Cup will.</p><p>The streets soon
flooded with waves of empty plastic water bottles and beer cans. In
days, the city administration caved and gave the workers a 37-per-cent
wage increase (and doubled their lunch budget.)</p><p>“It’s not that
industrial conflict is deepening – it’s a strategic decision,” Prof.
Zylberstajn said. “The workers are not dumb. They are using their
bargaining power.”</p><p>Miguel Torres, president of Forca Sindical, one
of the largest unions in Brazil, insists the strikes aren’t because of
the Cup, but because the dramatic slowdown in the economy is leaving
workers in trouble.</p><p>Four hundred unions, with four million
members, are currently renegotiating wage agreements, he said, adding:
“And the negotiations are not going very well.” Employers are not
offering rises in wages that even keep pace with inflation, he said. “Of
course we are going to take advantage of the international publicity.”</p><p>Prof.
Zylberstajn said it is unlikely the economy can sustain the kind of
wage demands workers are making – and may get, since the government is
under pressure to quell the wave of strikes.</p><p>“It’s too much,” he
said. “For more than six years, agreements have provided workers with
significant real increases. … We are almost at full employment so
workers have a lot of bargaining power, but at the same time the economy
is doing very badly – so it’s just a matter of time before an
unemployment increases and we see a lot of dismissals.” The problem is
equally grave for public and private sector workers, he said.</p><p>Brazil’s
astoundingly complex labour laws are not helping matters. The laws date
from the 1930s, said Ana Virginia Morera Gomes – who teaches the
subject at the University of Fortaleza – and reflects the influence of
the then-authoritarian state which, in the name of protecting workers,
essentially removed their autonomy.</p><p>There is almost no negotiating
in contracts here, because the law defines almost every aspect of the
terms of employment. This removes the need for collective bargaining;
trade unions are state-controlled as well and and tend to have very low
actual support from their membership, who are compelled to join.</p><p>These
days, many workers feel their union leadership is corrupt – too close
to employers; union leaders unilaterally accept or reject wage offers,
without needing a membership vote. “It’s a very unique case – the unions
themselves [in some cases] oppose labour reform that would allow for
greater freedom of association,” Prof. Gomes said.</p><p>That, columnist
Elio Gaspari argued this week, is driving workers to more radical
action. Bus drivers in Rio, for example, have set fire to more than 500
buses, in a labour action that is only a week old, but more hostile than
anything seen in the past. “Having unions run by your friends doesn’t
guarantee [an employer] peace,” he wrote in Folha de Sao Paulo<em>.</em></p><p>The
Cup leverage is being used by workers even outside Brazil. Employees of
LAN-TAM, Latin America’s dominant airline network, across the continent
are threatening to strike.</p><p>“The last thing Ms. Rousseff wants is a
pilot strike,” said Prof. Zylberstajn. “And Brazilian embassies and
consulates in 17 cities are on strike – if you need a visa, you can’t
get one right now.” At least not quickly – a few workers in each site
remain on the job.</p><p>But the government’s chief preoccupation is a
strike by police during the World Cup. During a three-day police strike
in the city of Salvador in April, 39 people were killed, 60 cars were
stolen and there were countless other robberies. (The city’s usual
homicide rate is five a day.) There is widespread expectation in Brazil
that protesters of all stripes will take to the streets to capitalize on
the international attention during the Cup (more than 50 demonstrations
are scheduled already), and the government is determined to keep those
protests from disrupting the event.</p><p>A superior court here ruled on
Tuesday that federal police cannot strike during the Cup, but police
can still appeal that decision.</p><p>“I think it’s going to get worse,”
predicted Prof. Gomes. “People imagined that when Brazil had the World
Cup it would be a big party – they never imagined people would be so
aware of expectations and so critical.”</p></div></div></div></div></div></div><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><ol><li><b><font><span></span><font size="1"><span><span>EBook, November 2012:</span> <a href="http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/recovering_internationalism/" target="_blank">Recovering
Internationalism</a>. </span><span><font color="#ff0000">[A compilation of papers from the new millenium. Now free in two download formats]</font></span><span><span><a href="http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/" target="_blank"></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,0,0)"><span></a></span></span><span><span><a href="http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/" target="_blank"></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,0,0)"><span></a></span></span></font></font></b></li>
<li><b><font size="1"><span><span>EBook (co-editor), February 2013: World Social Forum: Critical Explorations <a href="http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/" target="_blank"></font>http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/<font color="#ff0000"> </a></span></span><span><span><br>
</span></span></font></b></li><li><b><font size="1"><span>Interface
Journal<span> Special (co-editor), November 2012:</span> </span><span style="font-weight:normal"><a href="http://www.interfacejournal.net/current/" target="_blank">For the Global Emancipation of Labour</a></span></font></b>
</li><li><b><font size="1"><span lang="NL">Blog:</span><span lang="NL"> <a href="http://www.unionbook.org/profile/peterwaterman." target="_blank">http://www.unionbook.org/profile/peterwaterman.</a>
</span></font></b></li><li><b><font size="1">Interface Journal Special (Co-Editor) Social Movement Internationalisms. <a href="http://www.interfacejournal.net/" target="_blank">See Call for Papers</a>, <font color="#ff0000">(Deadline: May 1, 2014). </font></font></b></li>
<li><b><font size="1"><font color="#ff0000"><a href="http://interfacejournal.nuim.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Interface-1-2-pp255-262-Waterman.pdf" target="_blank"></font></font></span></font><font color="#000000">Needed: a Global Labour Charter Movement<span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"><font color="#000000"> <font color="#ff0000">(2005-Now!)<br>
</a></font></font></b></li><li><b><font size="1"><font color="#ff0000"><font color="#000000"><a href="http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/under-against-beyond/" target="_blank"><font color="red"><b>MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "www.into-ebooks.com" claiming to be</b></font> Under, Against, Beyond: Labour and Social Movements Confront a Globalised, Informatised Capitalism </a>(2011) <font color="#ff0000">Almost 1,000 pages of Working Papers, free, from the <a href="tel:1980" value="+661980" target="_blank">1980</a>'s-90's</font>.</font></font></font></b></li>
<li><b><font size="1"><font color="#ff0000"><font color="#000000">Google Scholar Citation Index:</font></font></font></b><br><span style="display:block"> <b><font size="1"><a href="http://scholar.google.com.pe/citations?user=e0e6Qa4AAAAJ" target="_blank">http://scholar.google.com.pe/citations?user=e0e6Qa4AAAAJ</a> </font></b><br>
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