Volkswagen workers on indefinite strike

Volkswagen announced today (Dec 6) the termination of 800 metal workers from their factory in Anchieta, in São Paulo city. As a protest against the resolution, employees held a meeting early in the morning to strike indefinitely until the terminations are reversed, reported the ABC Metal Workers' Trade Union.

According to the union, the meeting was attended by nearly seven thousand people who come to work for the first shift. As many as 13 thousand employees work at the factory. The union's press office announced that the metal workers are inside the premises, but kept their arms crossed. Volkswagen, in turn, chose not to make any remarks on the topic.

Since last year, the car maker has implemented measures like collective vacations and temporary layoffs at the factory. The company says that workers fired go on a 30-day license, after which they are dismissed.

The employees were informed of the redundancies by a letter sent on December 31, which said that they were not to return to work after the collective vacations, and that they should look for the company's human resources department.

According to Volkswagen, the Brazil's currently unpropitious automotive industry over the last couple of years and the fiercer competition had a significant impact on its figures. The company reports that, from January to December 2014, the industry in the country experienced a decline of approximately 7% in sales and over 40% in exports compared to 2013, which resulted in a 15% contraction in output.

In 2012, the trade union and Volkswagen signed a deal, in effect up to 2016, on matters such as job stability and readjustment policies.  Last year, however, the company attempted to make changes to the agreement, but the proposal was rejected by the metal workers. Union members claim that the company has not invited its employees to negotiate ever since, and that Volkswagen took the unilateral decision to sack the workers.

The company argues that, when the agreement was made, after five years on the rise, the outlook for the industry was a positive one, as it was believed that four million units would be sold in 2014. “What happened [instead] was a reduction to 3.3 million. It's important to recall that, at the Anchieta [factory], the average pay is higher than [it is] among our main rivals, including those in the same region,” the company's note reads.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira