On 1 April, 300,000 engineering workers came out on strike in the industrial belt of greater Sao Paulo.
of employment.
weeks later their unions had been taken over by Callul the military government, mass meetings had been banned, and trade unionist and organisers of the strike fund had been arrested.
these including Luis better knowi Lula', the most famous of Brazil's new trade union leaders, were still being held incommunicado, facing direct possible prison sentences of up to 12 years for 'incitement to strike'.
But the 'illegal' strike remained Defying the government's ban, progressive clergy had opened the doors of their churches to which firmly decided to stay out until the demands were met.
years these same engineering workers had been the first to break the silence imposed on Brazil's labour movement by a decade of police repression ana a 40-year-old union structure based on Mussolini's Carta di Lavora.
Economic problems Carter's
"liberal' foreign policy, squabbles among the ruling groups divide the Brazlilan cake lad forced the military dictatorship in- sia to setting about insulationaisilig a 'acceptable', and made. 'stable' face of exploitation.
Mockery cated The workers stepped into the Previously wages, already pitiful, had tended to fall behind inflation, but major strikes at the of Ford, Chrysler, Diesel and Massey Ferguson showed that it was possiwin increases even slightly above the inflation rate They also showed that it was possible toget rid or goeround, 'pelegos', government WHO. since the military coup in 1964, had run most of the unions as harmless welfare bodies For the next 18 months an un precedented wave of strikes swept through just about every sector of the economy and every part of the They were The regime responded with the they imn'emented. a sere. ot clever alie superficially liberal measures tended to divide the opposition and prevent the creation of a genuin workers' party. To take the stean strike movement, they automatic indexlinked wage increases every six months.
But this was combined with inrepression: strike leader. were sacked and intimidated, and colleanc made mockery of wage increases by laying off large numbers of workers and re-hiring omen worker • or even the sami Lower grades and caper osa grades and cheaper rates That is why the crucial demands are no longer about wages but about job security and the recognition of stewards.
Force For a time it seemed as if the governmenl s manoeuvre. might be working but the engineers' strike and a resoundingly successful dock strike two weeks earlier showed the opposite Without social security or other funds to draw on, it will be impossible for the engineering workers to out much longer. But the political point has already been On the one hand, the hardliners in the army, ог one invalicu the government's sophisticharade of "democratisahon. have been torceato olay cu hand. in a not entirely convincing show of force Solidarity On the other hand, the huge wave of solidarity with the strikers and their imprisoned leaders that is Brazil and beyond is giving boost to the Workers Party tie labour strategy in mins The Tie about strategy coming weeks will see who is he able to pick up the pieces.
In a - rulure issue Socialis Challenge will be running an in-depth analysis of the current political situation and the stale of the left in Brazil.Socialist Challenge 15 May 1980
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