Nick Shields: Global Labor Production. December 1st 2008.
The Cargill-owned Seara Poultry plant in Brazil ended a strike on December 1st that had been ongoing since November 17th. The strike started over the plant refusing to give the workers the 20% monetary gain for working in harsh conditions. That is half th amount the Brazilian supreme labor court requires. They voted to end the strike after an 8 hour meeting between the managment and the unions which was facilitated by the Brazilian Ministry of Labor. The settlement included a 9.5% wage increase, a larger basket to benchmark future increases to offset inflation, and a verbal commitment from the company to not dismiss or retaliate against any of the strikers. The 10% monetary gain remained there but it still under appeal. Tensions reached a peak when the company blasted loud dance music at the workers picketing outside the plant, and when 5 buses of replacement workers showed up overnight. The Seara Poultry plant is the 3rd largest in Brazil.
I always think it is a good think when a strike is ended. Even though the workers did not get everything they wanted I still feel as if it is a victory for them to some degree. As long as the company is the one giving ground and the workers are not the ones then that is perfectly fine. Eventually I believe the company will be forced to give the workers everything that they demand, including the 20 % monetary gain.
http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=5536&view_records=1&ww=1&en=1
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