Workers from the second shift at General Motors’ (GM) plant in the city of Sao Jose dos Campos, in the state of Sao Paulo, joined a strike last Friday at the company’s production park, according to local metals union, Sindmetals-SJC.
The work stoppage has no deadline to end, and according to the region’s metals union, the strike started because GM said it could fire workers. The union said about 798 employees are at risk of being fired.
In a statement to Brazil’s media, GM said the proposal presented in a recent meeting was “distorted” by the local union. GM said it was surprised about the strike.
According to the local metals union, it’s asking for job stability to all GM’s workers in the region. The union said the Sao Jose dos Campos plant is 100 percent stopped. GM employs some 5,200 workers at the plant. Each day of strike equals to 300 cars that are not produced.
According to media reports, GM has been dealing with an excess of workforce in a market that is facing a recession, with low exports volumes. According to data from the nation’s automotive industry, Anfavea, Brazil auto production decreased 13.7 percent in January, year-on-year, to 204,751 units.
“We were waiting for a hard beginning in 2015 and will evaluate this trend in the second half of the year. Our forecast is that the exports market will be stable this year, and production will be 4 percent up,” Luiz Moan, Anfavea’s president said.