Around 2,000 workers held a union-organised demonstration in Sao Paulo on Wednesday to call for an interest rate cut to stave off mass lay-offs looming because of the global economic crisis. "The bosses have to pay for the crisis, not the workers. I want my job to be guaranteed," said one protester who gave his first name as Mario-Sergio, 38.
"I don't know what the government has to do, I only know that I want my paycheck at the end of the month because I have a family to support," he said. The head of one of the unions organising the demonstration, Paulo Pereira da Silva, said Brazil's reference interest rate of 13.75 percent had to be slashed to spur flagging consumption.
"Reducing the rate is a fundamental instrument to revive economic activity and guarantee employment," he said. Another leader, Ricardo Patah of the General Workers' Union, said: "We are calling for a two-point cut at least, so that companies can keep producing and so they won't have to fire workers."
The call for a rate cut echoes an appeal from Sao Paulo's powerful Federation of Industries. Several big companies in Brazil has started to shed workers, including the subsidiary of General Motors and mining giant Vale. Unions fear thousands more positions will be axed in the coming weeks. The government thus far has resisted joining other countries in cutting rates because of concerns that inflation - finally after control after decades of runaway price rises - could soar again.
The demonstration was timed to coincide with a meeting of Brazil's central bank, which was to decide whether or not to bring rates down. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former trade unionist himself, has also been holding meetings with union representatives to discuss the risk to employment.