Brazil’s labor ministry, Miguel Rosseto, will talk with Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) in January in order to help the steelmaker avoid massive layoffs, as a local union said last week the company would lay off about 3,000 workers at its mill in Volta Redonda city, in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
After meeting with union leaders and local politicians this week, Rosseto said he’d call in the next few days CSN’s CEO, Benjamin Steinbruch, to intervene in the situation.
A union leader said CSN could start the dismissals on January 4.
Union leaders say CSN workers could join a nation’s job protection program, in which employees work at reduced shifts, while receiving lower wages.