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Brazilian Dockers
Brazilian Dockers Occupy Ships
As we go to press, troops are poised to intervene to break the peaceful occupation of two ships in the Brazilian port of Santos, where workers are resisting attempts to replace them with contract labour on a berth belonging to COSIPA, the São Paulo Steel Company.
According to Santos portworkers' web site and e-mail received by the Liverpool dockers, the "Marcos Dias" and the "Vancouver", moored at the COSIPA terminal, are occupied. On Monday 7th April, COSIPA requested that the Army be brought in to clear the occupation. The unions expect an imminent armed military intervention., despite assurances from the local army commander that he will not send his men unless ordered to do so by the President himself.
Some time ago, COSIPA proposed contracting out of cargo handling in their own berth, which came to a head when they obtained legal authority to impose their plans. Santos portworkers' then struck from the 2nd to the 5th of April, with a general stoppage of Brazilian ports on 4th April. On Saturday 5th April, 3 workers were injured in clashes with the Military Police. On 7th April COSIPA succeeded in gaining authority to call in the Army.
According to the Lloyds list coverage, "The crisis is being widely seen as the crunch point in the long-running drive to privatise Brazil's waterfront, with President Cardoso under heavy pressure to personally authorise the use of troops."
"Henrik Simon, a director of Hamburg Sud in São Paulo, said: "This crisis is one of the most crucial points in the privatisation push. If the government gives in on this then the whole modernisation and privatisation law comes into question.""
For more info check out the Liverpool Dockers Page on Labounet, where regular updates are posted. Http://www.gn.apc.org/labournet/
Contact the Brazilian portworkers by fax on 0055 13 232 4877 or email them at interportus@portodesantos.com