The walkout brought car production to a halt in São Paulo, where 60 percent of the country’s automobiles are produced. The strike is expected to spread to parts companies, union officials stated.

The auto bosses have been pressing the workforce to speed up production in order to meet rising demand for vehicles. Car sales in Brazil soared 37 percent in October compared to last year, according to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

José Pinheiro Neto, president of the employers organization and a vice president of General Motors of Brazil, tried to appeal to nationalist sentiments, saying the workers should accept the bosses’ wage proposal because "we have to be competitive not only in Brazil, but also outside of the country as well."

Pay rates for workers in the auto industry remain at 1994 levels and workers are pushing to improve their wages as the economy comes out of a slump. Last January the buying power of workers’ wages declined 7 percent as a result of the devaluation of the Brazilian currency.

Unemployment in São Paulo, the country’s industrial center, stands at 17 percent and it has increased to the highest levels since the mid-1980s in other metropolitan areas.

"With the economy recovering, our members feel there is space for a real wage increase," stated a union official.

Meanwhile, workers in other industries have also organized labor actions demanding a pay raise. Nearly half of the 11,500 employees at the state-owned energy utility, Cemig, have been on strike since early November demanding a 39 percent wage increase.

Oil workers called off a nationwide strike November 12 against the state-owned oil utility Petrobras when the company offered a 7 percent pay hike and a productivity bonus. The deal averages out to an 8 percent wage increase for the industry’s 35,000 workers.  
 
 
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