Mercosur Union Post march 31, 2002 - OAS



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Number 04 - March, 15 to March, 31 2002

CUT gathers one million to oppose changes in the CLT

More than one million workers participated in the protests, demonstrations and work stoppages against proposed legislation that would change the CLT (Consolidation of Work Laws), according to estimates by the CUT (the Single Worker Center). The CUT organized the event which it called, ‘the unified action against the weakening of labor rights’.

According to the center’s calculations, at least 200 thousand public and private sector workers in more than 100 cities participated in the protests yesterday and more than one million participated in the work stoppage at some point during the day.

João Felício, national president of the CUT, declared, ‘We achieved our objective, which was to get public attention. We cannot permit that they weaken labor rights. We are willing to negotiate many things, but we will never negotiate the basic rights that the Brazilian workers have conquered’,

In São Paulo a march along Avenida Paulista to the Praça da República united four thousand students, professors, metal and chemical-sector workers, and health care employees, among others, according to the military police. According to the CUT’s calculations, five thousand participated. At the end of the protest, at around 7pm, the protesters burned effigies of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the Minister of Labor, Francisco Dornelles, and the President of Força Sindical, Paulo Pereira da Silva. In downtown São Paulo around 15 thousand bank workers employed in 8 banks with headquarters or offices on Buena Vista and XV streets also protested.

In Campinas (SP) 10 thousand people joined a protest in acts that took place at universities, the city center, and municipal offices. Also in São Paulo state, in the Paraíba Valley, 20 thousand workers joined the day of protests and struck at 11 factories. The LG Philips plant did not open during the entire day and production at the GM and VW factories was stopped for 2½ hours.

In the ABC region, 30 thousand metal workers of VW, Scania, Ford, and ten autoparts plants participated in a work stoppage for up to 2½ hours. The total vehicle production remained unchanged according to plant management.

At the federal universities of Rio de Janeiro there was a 24 hour strike. According to the CUT, workers at Reduc (the Duque de Caxias refinery) and the Central Post Office also participated in partial strikes. In the city center there were protests in front of the Embratel phone company.

In other states, marches, closing of businesses, street blockades, heavy traffic caused by actions by busdrivers marked the day of protests. In the Federal District of Bahia, Ceará, Goiás, Paraíba, and Rio Grande do Sul registers the greatest additions to the demonstration of the largest labor center in the country. In Salvador in Bahia, at least 800 buses stopped during the morning provoking traffic on the main streets of the city.

In Rio Grande do Sul there were demonstrations in Porto Alegre, Caxias do Sul, Canoas and Capão do Leão in the gaucho capital there was traffic during the entire morning. Around 140,000 people were unable to use the subway. In Goiás around 5,000 people participated in a demonstration in the capital Goiâna. In Ceará, Aracaju (SE), Maceió (AL), Palmas (TO), Florianópolis (SC), Belém (PA), Teresina (PI) e Vitória (ES) there were marches without any incidents. In Paraná there were protests in Curitiba, Maringá and Foz de Iguaçu with little participation. (Folha Online and Folha de São Paulo, march 23, 2002)

Act calls for an additional tax on foreign steel

Last Friday, mayors, parliamentarians, businesses, and workers participated in a demonstration in Ipatinga (MG) in defense of the national steel industry and against the barriers imposed by the United States. They demanded that the tax for steel imports be raised from 12% to 25%. The PT was one of the sponsors of the event. The protests took place on the same day that the European Union announced that it would also increase its tax up to 35% on Brazilian steel. ‘If our government does not appeal to the WTO, the damages to our sector will be unimaginable’, stated the parliamentarian João Magno (PT-MG). He cited that with the additional tax imposed by the United States Brazilian exports would fall from 3.5 million tons to 2.5 million tons this year. The damage is at an estimated US$490 million. For the PT’s presidential candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who participated in the event, the reaction of the Brazilian government to the new trade barriers was ‘very timid’. He asserted that the government could have already appealed to the WTO, in addition to already preparing the internal market to absorb excess production ‘by investing in infrastructure and electrical energy’. (Correio Sindical Mercosul)

The Força Sindical prepares for May Day by distributing coupons

Força Sindical officially launched its preparations for the May Day celebration (international workers day) with pamphlets and by distributing coupons at the Praça de Ramos in the downtown area of São Paulo. The coupons will give workers who can participate a free raffle ticket for the raffling of ten cars, five apartments and electric appliances that will be distributed during the festivities.

According to the calculations of the president of Força Sindical, Paulo Pereira da Silva or Paulinho, more than 1.5 million people will participate in the May Day celebration that for the 5th consecutive year will take place at the Praça Campos de Bagatelle in the northern zone of São Paulo. Different from previous years, Força Sindical’s May Day celebration of 2002 will be preceded by three other commemorations in Osasco, Santo André and Guarulhos. In each one, cars and electrical appliances will be raffled. Shows will also be part of Força Sindical’s May Day celebration. Among the artists who have been invited, the following have confirmed their participation: Zezé di Camargo e Luciano, Sandy e Junior, Adriana e a Rapaziada, Leonardo and Bruno e Marrone. (Folha online, March 26, 2002)

Metal workers approve changes in the CLT

Yesterday, in an assembly that took place in front of the Workers’ Palace (Força Sindical’s headquarters) in São Paulo, close to 25 thousand metal workers of the greater São Paulo region linked to Força Sindical approved a propsal to make five items in the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) more “flexible.” In order to attract workers, the center and fifty-one of its unions that promoted the assembly, organized a raffle of five cars, five refrigerators and five televisions. For the absolute majority, the metal workers said they were in favor of discussing with the business sector the parceling of their 30 vacation days, their profit sharing and results (PLR) income, and their 13th salary. They also agreed to discuss the reduction of their lunch break to half an hour and the reduction of paternity leave benefits.

The leaders of Força Sindical favor modifying article 168 of the CLT, which will allow companies and workers to decide on the provision of those benefits. In the opinion of the president of Força Sindical, Paulo Pereira da Silva or Paulinho, the vote to change the CLT only will take place next year because of this disagreement. (Jornal da Tarde, March 18, 2002 )

Attorney responds to the agreement of Força Sindical to make labor laws more flexible

The Public Ministry of Labor summoned Força Sindical, the Metal Workers Union of São Paulo and Sindipeças (the autoparts corporations union), and could ask the Labor Justice to suspend the agreement that permits labor law flexibility.

Approved by 25 thousand metal workers in the greater São Paulo region, the agreement allows for holidays, 13th month salary, paternity leave, profit sharing and break time schedules to be paid to workers in deviation from what is established by law.

Since the project to make the CLT more flexible has not yet been voted upon in the Senate, Força Sindical’s agreement in practice is illegal. (Folha online, March 27, 2002)

Atanasof together in the ILO to ask for help

In tandem, the Minister of Labor, Alfredo Atanasof, and the General Secretary of the CGT, Rodolfo Daer, declared before the Administrative Council of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which was meeting in Geneva Switzerland, the need to receive financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Atanasof was very clear when he said that ‘in order to overcome the crises we need the understanding of international financial entities, and to receive genuine resources that will permit us to quickly achieve economic recovery’.

For his part, Daer gave a dramatic tone to the situation pointing out that ‘this is the 5th president elected by the Legislative Assembly as the Constitution dictates’, what substantiated his assertion that ‘if we do not receive the understanding and the needed support, perhaps this could be the last link of democracy which would provoke the suffering of the nation.. (La Nación, March 19, 2002).

The Business-Labor concertation presents its proposals

The Business Concertation for Growth presented a document drafted together with the PIT-CNT named ‘for work and national production, because another Uruguay is possible’. The document calls for ‘productive reactivation that allows for mobilization of resources, work creation and development, investment increases, and a national production strategy based on quality’.

In order to reactivate the internal market and create jobs, business representatives and workers called for ‘realistic refinancing policies by lending institutions which do not increase the informal sector, and support for start-up firms, since these small and medium national firms are the ones that have created the greatest number of jobs in the last decade.’

Referring to measures affecting the export-oriented sector, they called for ‘active trade policies with adequate monetary and exchange policies to deepen the national and regional strategy of international economic insertion, promoting industrial complementarity to create the necessary conditions to develop competitiveness’.

‘We must change our country’s strategy to insert itself into the international market. Indiscriminate trade liberalization has already demonstrated its consequences. We support the strengthening of Mercosur for which it is necessary to coordinate macroeconomic policies and toconstruct a democratic Mercosur based on solidarity and complementary production. Mercosur should be a platform from which Uruguay can export and from which all Mercosur countries can negotiate together with other regional blocks. Mercosur has not failed. What has failed are the economic policies of its member countries’, the document indicated. (La Republica, March 21, 2002)

The Dow chemical corporation attended to union demonstration

The Chemical and Oil Workers’ Union of the State of Bahia demonstrated in front of the American Dow Chemical production facility in Candeias (BA) and prepared for new actions.

Carlos Itapirica, press director for the Chemical Workers Union stated that the demonstration was the first one to take place at the entrance of the factory. According to SINPEQ, which represents the petro chemical companies in Bahia, there was not a work stoppage in the factory. The motive of these demonstrations comes from an impasse that has lasted 11 years. The union demands compliance with a clause of 1989 that should have entered into effect in March 1990. This clause would adjust the salaries of the workers. The company representative stated that Dow will act in accordance with the business union. (Valor Econômico, march 23, 2002)

Criticisms of the president of the CGT of Daer

The CGT, which is led by Rodolfo Daer, analyzed in a plenary session the socio-economic situation pointing out its concern ‘for the decline in employment and salaries’ and insisted on that the government establish a ‘family basket of 33 basic products’.

Commercial leader Armando Cavalieri in an interview with La Nación criticized ‘the lack of solidarity on the part of the business community’ despite the fact that this sector had agreed to certain commitments at the Argentine Dialogue Roundtable (Mesa del Diálogo Argentino). The unionist, who is a member of the official CGT, also criticized the economic policy of the CGT government. “It seems very exclusive in terms of the aid that can be received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which shows that here there’s no alternative plan, neither B nor C nor Z”, he emphasized.

The unionists from Sanidad Carlos West Ocampo also clarified: ‘If they do not establish a policy that maintains the purchasing power of salaries, the demand-side crises that exists today in Argentina will deepen’. West asked for ‘ coherence’ in order to sustain a ‘distributive policy’, which according to the unionist ‘must be the main concern of the government and the business community’ to whom he demands ‘an urgent meeting’ to analyze ‘the recuperation of workers’ income’. (La Nación, March 26, 2002)

De Gennaro and Lula in Brazil

The General Secretary of the Argentine Workers’ Center (CTA) stated that the Brazilian presidential candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT), is thinking about visiting Argentina at the end of next month. Víctor De Gennaro met with Lula’s leadership team in order to provide them with a report on the situation in Argentina and perspectives to overcome the crises. The unionist stated that the meeting with the presidential candidate was ‘very good’ and that ‘the Brazilians expressed their solidarity with and commitment to the Argentine people’.

In the meeting with the Argentine unionists, Lula expressed interest in maintaining contact with the leaders of these social sectors and with parliamentarians. De Gennaro and Lula agreed to hold a seminar with technicians and economists from the region to debate alternatives to overcome the crises in each country. The PT candidate will provide closing remarks at the seminar.

De Gennaro met with the leadership of the Single Workers’ Center of Brazil (CUT) and highlighted his agreement with Lula ‘to prioritize Mercosur over ALCA because we consider this to be the strategic environment through which to develop solidarity between our countries’. In addition, he stated that like the CTA, the Brazilian proposed ‘to overcome the social crises by recuperating the internal market and confronting the financial sectors’ and that this triumph would demonstrate that ‘there is an alternative project to neoliberalism, traditional parties, the proposals of the IMF, and North American hegemony’. Regarding his visit to Buenos Aires, he noted that ‘it will signify inspiration to the resistance that has been developing in the country and will motivate the discussion on alternative proposals that are already being debated’ (Página 12, March 11, 2002)

March by the CTA

Organizations that make up the Argentina Workers’ Center (CTA) marched to Congress in a day that included a national work stoppage by state workers and teachers. Around four thousand CTA demonstrators –most especially from teachers’ and state workers’ unions- came together to march toward Congress. They were joined by hundreds of picketers (piquetero). Speaking at the event were the picketer (piquetero) Alderete, the state worker Pablo Micheli, and the journalist Daniel Das Neves.

The leader of CTERA also took the microphone. Marta Maffei described the seriousness of the crises, which in her judgement is affecting the Argentine educational system. “We go to school as if it were a day care center to provide food”, complained the leader of CTERA. The mobilization lasted a little more than 1½ hours and departed toward La Plata to demand the Legislature consider the petition to free the picketer (piquetero) Emilio Alí. (Clarín, March 15, 2002).

Brazil landless leave president's farm

Brazilian police have arrested 16 leaders of the country's landless peasants' movement for occupying the president's family farm, despite a deal to let them go free.

The leaders were seized as they withdrew peacefully from the property as part of a settlement to end the 24-hour occupation aimed at pressing demands for land redistribution.

The two government officials who helped end the 600-strong invasion of the land belonging to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's sons have expressed anger at the arrests and offered to resign.

Witnesses said the 16 were handcuffed and placed on the floor before being driven away in a police van, the Reuters news agency reported.

It is thought that the leaders are being taken to the capital, Brasilia, for questioning about the farm invasion.

There has so far been no explanation from the authorities for the arrests.

The government's ombudsman who deals with land issues, Jesinu Jose da Silva, said he had given his word to the landless leaders that there would be no arrests.

Cardoso's government says the opposition is behind the invasion The chief negotiator from the Agrarian Development Ministry said she was indignant that their word had been broken.

The MST has for years been campaigning for major land reform in Brazil.

Our correspondent says the government has been using divide and rule tactics, giving out land to other peasant organisations, and doing its best to discredit the confrontational tactics used by the MST. At the same time, it is still relatively common for leaders of the MST to be murdered - cases which the police usually fail to solve, our correspondent says.(BBC News, March 24, 2002 )

Jobless protest against political class in Argentina

After long marches from various cities in Argentina, thousands of jobless arrived in the capital Friday to demonstrate in front of Congress and the presidential palace, chanting "Out with all" (the politicians)." Demonstrators demanding "bread and jobs" and the release of imprisoned activists, blocked traffic for several hours in downtown Buenos Aires, where the government had deployed hundreds of police.

"The first thing is for all of them (the politicians) to leave and for a popular assembly to solve the people's problems," one of the protest leaders, Nestor Pitrola, told EFE.

"We are now at the end of a long journey from all parts of the country, with a lot of anger, but also satisfaction at the tokens of popular solidarity that we received," he said before thousands of unemployed workers gathered in front of Congress.

Pitrola led a column of jobless who Monday began their journey to Buenos Aires from the northern provinces, which are among Argentina's poorest.

Two other columns arrived from the western and southern provinces, respectively, and combined with the northern contingent for a national march that included protests in cities and districts with high rates of poverty and unemployment.

According to the latest government figures, which date from October, more than 40 percent of the 36 million Argentines live below the poverty line and unemployment is 18.3 percent.

The jobless demonstration was organized by left-wing and independent groups with the support of retiree associations demanding "dignified" pensions, but the country's largest labor unions were conspicuously absent. All of the organizations representing the unemployed joined in demanding the release of activists jailed for blocking roads during protests. (EFE, march 16, 2002)

Meeting of the Production Ministers

The Production Minister, José Ignacio de Mendiguren, received his Brazilian counterpart Sérgio Amaral and business representatives from his country with a request: time. Amaral wants to begin to eliminate bilateral trade barriers, specially antidumping measures, minimum import quotas, and the safeguards that were imposed by the when he was Economic Minister. But Argentina is in the midst of instability and uncertainty regarding its exchange rate and prices, which prevents it from making decisions. Together with the Development Minister of Brazil Sergio Amaral, a mission of 40 Brazilian business representatives arrived. De Almeida said that the business representatives arrived with the intention of acquiring Argentine business cheaply given the economic crises in the country and the devaluation of the peso, which reduces the value of assets. The ambassador of Brazil in Argentina did not subscribe to the thesis that the business people came on a shopping trip.

Unionists participated

In one part of the meeting a delegation of leaders from the CGT and the CTA (Argentina), CUT and Força Sindical (Brazil), PIT-CNT (Uruguay), and CUT (Paraguay) participated. These organizations make up the Southern Cone Union Center Coordinating body (CCSCS). They went to the meeting to state that for the unionists it is fundamental to reinitiate the process of discussion of an industrial policy for the Southern Cone and that they wanted to be part of this discussion. The presence of and the statement by the unionists was well received by the Ministers. (Correo Sindical Mercosur, March 24, 2002)

Argentine gov't official seeks to promote collective bargaining

Argentine Labor and Employment Minister Aflredo Atanasof said Monday he wanted to "strengthen business and labor organizations (to) encourage collective bargaining and promote social cohesion."

The minister told the International Labor Organization's board of directors in Geneva that "the crisis must be solved in a productive way, with job creation and policies to stimulate investment and international demand."

The labor and employment minister criticized the policies proposed by these institutions and said it was "inconceivable (that), while developed countries employed growth-oriented policies to break out of the recession, developing countries are advised to follow austerity programs."

Atanasof pointed out that unemployment climbed from 6.5 percent in 1991 to 19.4 percent last year and was currently situated at about 22 percent. The number of unemployed has risen to a total of two million people, compared with 750,000 a decade ago. (EFE, march 19, 2002)

Argentine Government Says It Can't Pay Its Workers

The Argentine government has announced that it cannot pay the full monthly salaries of more than half a million government employees who are expecting to be paid this week. The government said that because of the worsening economic crisis, tax receipts plummeted 19 percent in January and may fall another 12 percent this month.

"We don't have the money, so we can't pay," President Eduardo Duhalde said in radio programs and interviews over the weekend and again today. "The payment depends on tax collections, and as everyone knows, we are having difficulties with revenues."

Mr. Duhalde's decision has infuriated government employees and the civic groups that have been leading street protests here against austerity, not least because of its timing. It came just a few days after Mr. Duhalde raised his own net salary and those of other top officials by 13 percent to the maximum permitted by law, $1,500 a month.

Rodolfo Daer, leader of the main labor confederation, warned over the weekend that any move by the government to withhold or delay the pay of government workers could "set off a big explosion." (...) (By LARRY ROHTER)(The New York Times , march 26, 2002)

Bush: Argentina must make 'tough decisions'

President Bush said he hoped Argentina will make the "tough decisions" necessary to regain international confidence and help its ailing economy. Bush made the comment on Tuesday during an interview with Latin American journalists ahead of a weekend trip to a U.N. development conference in Monterrey, Mexico, and stops in Peru and El Salvador. (...) "Argentina is a financial issue. Argentina has got a long-standing democracy. And it's an issue of great concern for us because we're friends with Argentina and we're partners with Argentina," Bush said.

"And we are hoping that Argentina will make the necessary reforms, the tough decisions necessary to earn the confidence of some of these international financial institutions, but most particularly the IMF."

He said he had talked a bit about Argentina's financial crisis to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar "because the Spanish banks are quite exposed in Argentina. They've got more exposure than any banks in the world, and we're second."

"I know that there is a way out, and the country itself is going to have to make some tough calls, starting with reforming the relationship between the states and their budgets and the central government," he said.( C N N, march 21, 2002)

Argentina may end free-floating exchange policy

The Argentine government, its survival threatened by recent volatility of the peso against the U.S. dollar, may abandon a free-floating exchange rate that has brought more chaos to the country's recession-wracked economy.

As creeping price rises led some supermarkets to begin rationing key goods like rice and sugar, government sources said President Eduardo Duhalde was considering a currency band, or even returning to a fixed exchange-rate system, similar to the decade-old peg abandoned at the start of the year.

The sources, who asked to remain unnamed, said Argentina's fifth president since December could be forced to make the change after inflation fears drove the peso down a dizzying 68 per cent since Mr. Duhalde ordered a devaluation in early January.

(...)Mr. Duhalde has repeatedly warned Argentina could slip into "anarchy" if the IMF doesn't hurry up and grant the aid. Daily fallout from the recession frustrates almost all Argentines.

Yesterday, riot police had to clear a major highway into Buenos Aires after dozens of unemployed blocked the road with burning trash and tires. "This is an outrage and shows how bad this country is right now," yelled Daniel, an angry shopper at a local supermarket after cashiers would not let him buy 30 one-litre bottles of mineral water due to the quotas. A supervisor explained sales of some products have been limited to three a person.(...) (The Globe and Mail, march 28 ,2002)

Brazil's Prized Exports Rely on Slaves and Scorched Land

The recruiters gather at the bus station here in this grimy Amazon frontier town, waiting for the weary and the desperate to disembark. When they spot a target, they promise him a steady job, good pay, free housing and plenty of food. A quick handshake seals the deal.

But for thousands of peasants, that handshake ensures a slide into slavery. No sooner do they board the battered trucks that take them to work felling trees and tending cattle deep in the jungle than they find themselves mired in debt, under armed guard and unable to leave their new workplace.

"It was 12 years before I was finally able to escape and make my way back home," said Bernardo Gomes da Silva, 42. "We were forced to start work at 6 in the morning and to continue sometimes until 11 at night, but I was never paid during that entire time because they always claimed that I owed them money."(...)

Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, in 1888, and forced labor for both blacks and whites continued throughout the 20th century in some rural areas. But government authorities admit that despite a federal crackdown announced seven years ago, "contemporary forms of slavery" in which workers are held in unpaid, coerced labor continue to flourish. The reasons range from ranchers in cahoots with corrupt local authorities to ineffective land reform policies and high unemployment. (...)

In the jungle west of here, fortunes are being made clearing the forest and harvesting mahogany and other tropical hardwoods, including jatoba and ipe. The United States is the main importer of Brazilian mahogany, and though logging has been permitted only in 13 designated areas, Greenpeace, the advocacy group, has listed nearly 100 companies it says deal in illegal mahogany to meet a growing demand from American furniture makers.

Furniture companies like Ethan Allen and L. & J. G. Stickley say their mahogany comes only from "suppliers that advise us that they comply with responsible forest practices," as Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. of Danbury, Conn., put it in a statement. But the companies also acknowledge that they do not have independent monitors and do not believe that they should have to determine the origin of imported wood.

"We cannot do the job of the Brazilian government," said Aminy Audi, an owner of Stickley, a big buyer of Brazilian mahogany in Manlius, N.Y., for its own stores and a manufacturer for other brands. "We have to believe the certification, and we have had no reason to believe otherwise."

Brazilian government statistics indicate that Aljoma Lumber of Medley, Fla., near Miami, was the largest importer of Brazilian mahogany in the United States in 2000. Asked about slave labor in the Amazon, the company's vice president for hardwoods, Romel Bezerra, said that "there is no such thing these days," and insisted that his company's mahogany came from legal sources.(...)

But the Brazilian government has estimated that as much as 80 percent of Amazon timber comes from illegal sources, according to a confidential 1997 report. In booming mill towns like this one, dealers openly resell, copy or simply counterfeit the government certificates needed to export timber.(...)

"Slave labor in Brazil is directly linked to deforestation," Cláudio Secchin, director of the Ministry of Labor's special antislavery Mobile Enforcement Team, said in an interview in Brasília. "There are more and more cattle ranchers who want to increase the size of their herds, but to do that they need more space, so the clearing of land is a constant."

In 1995, the first year that Mr. Secchin's team operated, 288 farmworkers were freed from what was officially described as slavery, a total which rose to 583 in 2000. Last year, however, the government freed more than 1,400 slave laborers.

Mr. Secchin attributed the increase to "the growth both of slave labor and of our efficiency in combating it." But he acknowledged that most cases probably go undetected.

A national survey conducted in 2000 by the Pastoral Land Commission, a Roman Catholic Church group, estimated that there were more than 25,000 forced workers. A decade ago, there were less than 5,000.(...)((By LARRY ROHTER) (The New York Times, march 25, 2002)

Brazil's Exports To the Editor:

I take issue with "Brazil's Prized Exports Rely on Slaves and Scorched Land" (front page, March 25).

Forced labor is perceived in Brazil as an extremely serious problem because of its inherent evil and incompatibility with a fully democratic society. As such, it is aggressively combated by the authorities. It is also circumscribed to rare occurrences in remote locations, and Brazilian exports certainly do not rely on it.

The article referred to timber and beef. The beef Brazil exports — and the vast majority of what we consume — does not come from the Amazon and is produced under rigorous quality and labor standards. As to mahogany, the Brazilian Environmental Agency has worked to stop the illegal harvesting and issued a ban last year on all such exports.

RUBENS A. BARBOSA,Ambassador of Brazil(The New York Times, march 30, 2002)

Brazil Defends Chemical Arms Chief

The government on Wednesday rejected a U.S. call for the resignation of the Brazilian head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The statement came a day after State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the 145-nation organization, led by Jose Bustani, "is beset by a number of problems that have resulted in a loss of confidence in the current director."

The Brazilian foreign ministry disputed Boucher's charge, saying the government "considers that he has conducted himself with a sense of responsibility and correctness."

Brazil's permanent representative to the organization, Affonso Emilio de Alencastro Massot, also spoke in defense of Bustani, saying Tuesday that Brasilia "does not share the view that Mr. Bustani's tenure was flawed by a poor managerial performance."

He said Bustani "has done a remarkable job until now," citing the organization's growth from 87 founding members in 1997 to 145 members today.

Boucher cited problems that include "financial mismanagement, demoralization of the technical secretariat staff and what many believe are ill-considered initiatives."

(...)The organization was created to verify a 1997 treaty that bans chemical weapons. The United States pays about 22 percent of the organization's annual budget of about $60 million a year. It employs 500 people. By Adalid Cabrera Lemuz (The Washington Post, march 21, 2002)

Clamor for justice in Paraguay on third anniversary of massacre

Paraguayans on Tuesday commemorated the third anniversary of the fatal shooting of seven demonstrators in front of the legislature by calling for justice and criticizing President Luis Gonzalez Macchi's administration.

"The authorities who assumed power after those fateful days did not rise to the occasion nor did they fully understand what had occurred," Enrique Sanchez, who led the now-defunct Youth for Democracy organization, told EFE.

Sanchez was one of a handful of people who attended a commemorative ceremony sponsored by lawmakers in the square outside Congress to honor the seven fallen members of the group.

The assassination of Vice President Luis Maria Argaña on March 23, 1999, and the bloody events of the evening of March 26, when seven men were shot to death and hundreds more wounded by followers of mutinous retired Gen. Lino Oviedo are known within the country as the "Paraguayan March."

The families of the men slain during the protests, which led to the resignation of President Raul Cubas and his replacement by Gonzalez Macchi on March 28, blame the events on Oviedo, who continues to live in exile in Brazil after that country's rejection of a Paraguayan request for his extradition.

More than 5,000 people marched that March 26 evening, and two days later, nearly 100,000 protesters swarmed the squares outside Congress and the presidential palace to express support for a national-unity government headed by Gonzalez Macchi, who was then leader of the legislature.

Sanchez, who has been organizing an independent movement for the past year, was one of the few participants in the event sponsored by leading lawmakers in the square in front of Congress, where previously Gonzalez Macchi had laid a wreath to honor the fallen protesters.

(...)Seven young men were shot to death on March 26, and another died a month later in Brazil, where he had been taken for medical treatment from complications arising from wounds received that night. (EFE, march 27, 2002)

Titán/Fanaesa factory closes and 50 families are left on the street

The definitive closing of the battery factory Fanaesa in the city of Rosario has been recently confirmed. The factory had been taken over by its personnel over the last 2 months. The firm Titán SA (ex Funsa), which managed Fanaesa, failed to meet the Rosario plant’s financial obligations, which made its continued functioning impossible.

Fanaesa workers hoped to convert this plant into a cooperative. To do this they were in contact with the highest levels of the national government with the support of PIT-CNT and the Cueta-Duarte Institute. At the end of November of last year fifteen Fanaesa workers were fired, which for the union was ‘ the precursor of the final closing’. (La Republica, March 20, 2002)

Brazilian Mining Companies to Invest in Gdansk Port

The Poland-Brazil Economic Forum held in Warsaw has already brought the fruit of a preliminary contract involving a consortium of Brazil's CVRD mining conglomerate, Comexport trade company, and Poland's Huta Katowice and Huta Tadeusza Sendzimira. The consortium plans to invest ZL200m in the development of infrastructure of the northern port in Gdansk, so as to enable the port to take in ships of capacity greater than 100,000 tonnes. This in turn would make possible delivery of Brazilian iron ore to Polish steel plants. In addition, Brazilian companies are thinking about the construction of a service centre for Embraer planes made in Brazil, 12 of which LOT Polish Airlines bought some time ago. dljh 26 February issues of Rzeczpospolita, p. B2; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 19 Polish News Bulletin – Polônia – 26/02/2002

Embraer ahead to RDollars 1.1bn

Embraer, the world's fourth-largest aircraft manufacturer and Brazil's largest exporter, posted net earnings of RDollars 1.1bn (USDollars 469m) last year, up 70.6 per cent in local currency terms and 40 per cent higher dollar terms.

"In view of the adverse scenario the air transport industry is facing, the results constitute one more demonstration of (Embraer's) great strength and vitality," said Mauricio Botelho, chief executive.

Nevertheless, the company, which had warned of a drop in aircraft deliveries in the last quarter, suffered a fall in ebitda margin of more than 10 percentage points to 22.4 per cent in the last quarter against a background of lower jet deliveries. It delivered 34 aircraft against 42 in the third quarter and 44 in the same period last year.

Embraer plans to deliver 135 jets this year and 145 in 2003. Mr Botelho said the company had a backlog of USDollars 10.7bn in firm orders and an additional USDollars 12.7bn in options. Thierry Ogier, (Financial Times, march 27, 2002)

TIW pulling out of Brazil

With its restructuring plan completed, Telesystem International Wireless Inc. is focusing on a scaled-back strategy that includes pulling out of the once-promising Brazilian market, the company's chief executive officer says.

After about four years of struggling to establish a beachhead in South America's most populous country, Montreal-based TIW has opted to concentrate its energies on expanding its wireless networks in Eastern and Central Europe, TIW president and CEO Bruno Ducharme said in a rare interview yesterday.

(...)But TIW also had its share of problems in Brazil, not least of which was a long-running fight with Brazilian fund manager Daniel Dantas over control of Telpart, the holding company that owns two cellular operators, Telemig Celular and TeleNorte Celular.

TIW's major investors are Charles Sirois' private holding company Telesystem Ltd. with 25.6 per cent; public pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec with 13 per cent; Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. with 15.5 per cent; and J.P. Morgan Partners LLC with 23.3 per cent.

Completion of TIW's nine-month restructuring exercise, announced two weeks ago, has left the company with debt of $105-million (U.S.), down from about $800-million, and the company's funding needs are covered until mid-2003, Mr. Ducharme said yesterday.(The Globe and mail, march 18, 2002)

IMF publishes report on FTAA

The IMF has just published a report entitled "Metalworkers and the Free Trade Area of the Americas", which gives an overview of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and analyses the potential impact of the FTAA on the metal industry in the Western hemisphere.

Calling the FTAA "a new agreement for the rich", IMF General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi questions the spirit in which the agreement is being negotiated. Although he says that fair trade is one of the best instruments for development, "certain fundamental conditions must be fulfilled for this purpose, such as a clause guaranteeing minimum labour and environmental standards, and increased purchasing power, particularly in developing countries, so that people are able to buy what they produce."

Whilst recognising that the FTAA would affect all workers in the region and beyond, the IMF felt it could bring a sectoral perspective into the union debate and raise points of specific interest to the metal industry. Consequently, the IMF set up an IMF FTAA Working Group in 2000/2001, and the report is the outcome of their work.

Metalworkers and the Free Trade Area of the Americas

An IMF report giving an overview of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the potential impact it will have on the metal industry in the Hemisphere.

(pdf)

Executive Observation Reports for Embratel

The Social Observatory is an initiative of CUT BRASIL in partnership with CEDEC, DIEESE and UNITRABALHO. Its goal is to generate and organize reliable information about labor conditions and social policies at companies, considering compliance with the social and environmental clauses in international trade agreements. The analysis of the Observatory concerns the following rights: union freedom, collective bargaining, child labor, forced labor, racial and gender discrimination, the environment, and occupational health and safety.

Social And Labor Programs And Conditions Executive Observation Report

Embratel ( MCI Communications Corporation)



Population and Social Security in Brazil: An Analysis with Emphasis on Constitutional Changes Kaizô Iwakami Beltrão, Sonoe Sugahara Pinheiro e Francisco Eduardo Barreto de Oliveira / Rio de Janeiro, 2002.

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Mercosur unions

Mercosur crisis

Corporations and sectors

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