Thousands of workers from Volkswagen, Mercedes and Ford plants in Brazil on Monday blocked a Sao Paulo thoroughfare as they protested at sector layoffs. Unions said some 20,000 workers joined the protest - police told AFP they put the figure nearer 7,000 - which came six days after workers at Volkswagen's plant at Sao Bernardo do Campo near Sao Paulo began an open-ended strike to protest 800 layoffs.
Volkswagen responded to the strike call by saying Brazil's auto market, the world's fifth largest, had endured two years of poor growth, taking a heavy toll on the balance sheet, notably at the Anchieta plant at Sao Bernardo do Campo which employs 13,000 people, while lower sales and exports in 2013 saw production slump by 15 percent. Brazil's auto dealership association Fenabrave last week noted sales slid 7.15 percent last year to 3.5 million units, the sector's worst showing in five years, while the association of manufacturers putting overall jobs shed across the year at 12,400. Monday's marchers joined the protest, leaving their plants at 7 am to show support for the laid off Volkswagen workers and 244 more from Mercedes.
"Our struggle is to see the layoffs overturned. Nothing matters more to us than the jobs of the 800 fathers and mothers (working) at Volkswagen and the 244 at Mercedes," said union chairman Rafael Marques. The union announced that Labour Minister Manoel Dias would meet sector workers Wednesday to discuss the layoffs. "Volkswagen cannot do this after receiving years of financial incentives from the federal government," said Erik Silva, chairman of the metalworkers union at Sao Carlos, in Sao Paulo state.
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