Embraer strike halted, union takes demands to court
Sao Paulo (AFP) - Workers at Brazilian aerospace firm Embraer suspended a strike over a pay claim on Monday, as their union said it would ask the courts to rule on their demand for a 10 percent wage rise.
The decision was backed by almost 8,000 workers of the 10,000 who downed tools last Wednesday at the firm's Sao Jose dos Campos headquarters outside Sao Paulo, the metalworkers' union said.
"The union is going to undertake a legal class action against Embraer to obtain a ten percent wage rise, a reduction in the working week to 40 hours, job stability and for strike pay," the union said.
The spokesman said the stoppage by around three quarters of the 13,000 total workforce had halted all production at the company's plant.
Embraer, one of Brazil's chief exporters founded in 1969 and privatized in 1994, had seen an offered 7.4 percent wage rise rejected.
The stoppage came just as Embraer, the world's third largest manufacturer of commercial aircraft behind US giant Boeing and Airbus, unveiled third quarter losses of $10.7 million.
