Thousands of GM Workers Go on Strike in Brazil

Even if some people are thinking that General Motors has finally found the right path to success, things are getting worse outside the United States, especially in Brazil where the company is now forced to deal with the anger of around 19,000 workers. Employees of two Brazilian plants decided to go on strike this week, asking for better wages after a first round of negotiations failed to bring an improvement.

According to a report by Reuters, the 10,500 employees working at GM’s Sao Caetano do Sul plant and the 8,500 people from the San Jose dos Campos facility stopped work on Thursday after GM announced it could only offer a a wage increase of 6.53 percent and a 1,750 reais ($972) bonus.

Specifically, the Sao Caetano plant employees demanded a 10 percent raise and a 2,000 reais bonus while those at the other facility asked for a wage increase of 14.65 percent.

Unfortunately, General Motors isn’t the only company affected by such protests in Brazil as approximately 60,000 workers from auto parts and machinery companies in the Sao Paulo region decided to stop work and demonstrate against the management's boards. Just like in GM’s case, they were asking better wages.

"We've exhausted our patience and can no longer accept excuses from companies for not increasing wages above the rate of inflation," said Sergio Nobre, president of the metalworkers union for three cities in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area, according to the aforementioned source.

Volkswagen is experiencing a similar problem with workers in the southern state of Parana after they stopped work since September 3, causing a production loss of 9,800 cars.