Brazil: government intervenes against workers at occupied factories

All three factories produce plastic. Flasko is located in Sumaré in the state of São Paulo, and is part of the same corporate group as Cipla-Interfibra, which is in Joinville, in the state of Santa Catarina.

As opposed to the intervention at Cipla-Interfibra, which was successful, the 70 workers at Flasko resisted, paralyzing production and blocking the dismissal of the members of the factory commission and the assumption of control by the intervener.

Cipla employs some 1,000 workers and is one of Joineville’s largest factories. The company’s owners entered into an agreement with the government after failing to pay taxes for two years. In 1998, after failing to meet further tax obligations, the firm stopped paying its share of workers compensation and social security payments.

In January 2002, in response to this situation, the workers went on strike, walking out in defiance of their own union leadership. As a result, 80 workers were fired. The union crushed the strike and drove the fired workers away from the factory gate. After the strike, the situation only deteriorated, as the company failed to issue workers’ paychecks on time.