MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil's Lula faces first strike threats

The Brazilian government on Wednesday began meeting with civil-service unions that have called for pay hikes and threatened to hold what may be the first strikes since socialist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office.

The unions are demanding a 46.95 percent wage increase to make up for the loss in purchasing power they have suffered since 1999, but the government is offering a mere 2.5 percent.

"All we can offer is a maximum increase of 4 percent, and that only in certain cases," Planning Minister Guido Mantega said after he and other Cabinet members had met with union members.

Mantega noted that the minimal budget the administration of former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso had left behind allowed for "nothing more" and that negotiations for salary hikes of nearly 50 percent would have to be postponed until 2004. The meeting was meant to be just the first of many, the minister added.

Mantega said he trusted the union leaders were "sensible" enough not to carry out the work stoppages they have threatened.

Some union leaders have said they plan to organize strikes should the government fail to heed their wage demands and revive a bill expected to be sent to Congress soon that anticipates halting certain benefits enjoyed by former government employees.

Relations between Lula and his former colleagues in the labor movement seem to have taken a turn for the worst after only two months of his rule.

During a Tuesday ceremony at Planalto Palace, Lula advised union leaders to work with the government on behalf of all the nation, not only the special interests they defend. "Unfortunately, the union movement only represents those who belong to it," Lula said. Paulo Pereira da Silva, president of Union Force, one of the country's main labor groups, gave mixed reviews to Lula's presentation.

"I partly agree with what Lula said, especially in relation to a more civic-minded union movement, but just because he's president now doesn't mean we're going to give up the fight for better wages," Pereira da Silva said.