Brazil customs workers vote against strike
Reuters, Friday, October 02, 1998 at 14:30
SAO PAULO, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Customs workers throughout
Brazil voted against restarting industrial action that crippled
shipping activities in August, a customs union official said on
Friday.
The workers, eagerly awaiting a promised pay hike, instead
opted at a meeting late Thursday to delay a decision until Oct.
14, after Brazil's Oct. 4 general elections when a salary raise
would more likely be presented.
"The idea was that the Customs Agency would probably
announce something after the elections, so we decided not to
strike," a customs union spokesman at Brazil's key port of
Santos said.
A series of strikes and work slowdowns in August waged
customs workers hampered coffee exports and choked off the
supply of imported components for the nation's car manufactures
and other industries, causing multi-million dollar losses in
sales.
The workers are demanding a 28 percent across-the-board pay
raise.
(Phil Stewart, Sao Paulo newsroom 55 11 248 5417)
Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service |
