MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula: First strike under my administration is “legitimate”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva regards as “legitimate” the first strike staged during his administration, which took office on Jan. 1, a presidential spokesman said Wednesday.

"The president stated that (striking) is a universal right guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution," said spokesman Andre Singer. Singer said the president dismissed as unimportant the fact that the strike by metalworkers in Brazil's most industrialized state was timed to coincide almost when he had completed his first 100 days in government.

"As a president who spent his all his life fighting for union liberty and autonomy, (Lula) can only hope that workers and companies negotiate good agreements," Singer said. Lula, a lathe operator who led the metalworkers union in the 1980s in Sao Paulo state, scene of the strike begun Wednesday, is a founding member of the Workers' Party, or PT.

The PT grew during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship out of the discontent of the metalworkers, who challenged the military regime, but currently are demanding pay increases.

On Wednesday, some 23,000 metalworkers at 40 factories in Sao Paulo state walked off the job to press their demands for higher pay. According to strike organizers with Forca Sindical, the country's second-largest union, the protest was not aimed at Lula's administration, but rather was an expression of workers' discontent with the country's current economic situation.

"This strike is strictly economically motivated and has no political overtones whatsoever," said Forca Sindical chief Paulo Pereira da Silva, who has become a stern critic of Lula's economic policies.

Pereira expects some 280,000 Sao Paulo workers to carry out staggered strikes against 1,500 companies to pressure business owners to grant a pay hike of at least 10 percent to compensate for inflation.

Sao Paulo metalworkers received a 10.26 percent pay hike last November, but unions argue that the increase was eaten up by the 10.39 percent inflation experienced over the past four months.