Unions mention GM’s profit to question dismissals

By Redação AutoIndústria | 10/24/23 | Translated by Jorge Meditsch

Besides causing a joint strike since Monday, 10/23, the anger about last weekend’s dismissals communicated by e-mail or telegrams has united the unions that represent the workers from the three plants reached by the mass layoffs, São Caetano do Sul, São José dos Campos and Mogi das Cruzes.

The labor organizations issued a note citing that the manufacturer expanded its sales in Brazil in the second quarter when its profits were 51% higher than last year: “All cuts are unjustified.

The manufacturer alegges a sales fall, but it registered an 18.18% increase in sales in Brazil from April to June this year, compared to the same period in 2022. It had a net profit of US$ 2.57 billion (R$ 12.94 billion) in the second quarter this year, a 51.6% increase”.

On this Tuesday, 10/24, the three unions sent joint letters to President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, labor minister Luiz Marinho and São Paulo’s governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, to communicate the dismissals arbitrariness and the fact that GM has not even disclosed the number of employees fired.

They also notified the manufacturer’s Labor and Union Relations Management, demanding a meeting between the unions and the company. The aim is to cancel the layoffs and ensure the jobs.

The three unions define the collective dismissal as “cowardly and arbitrary” since it happened without a previous negotiation with the workers, in opposition to the national labor laws.

“Moreover, in São José dos Campos and Mogi das Cruzes, GM failed to comply with the temporary layoff agreements firmed with the unions that ensured job stability in the two plants. In São Caetano, the company also cut jobs unilaterally, without previous negotiation”.

Halted plants

GM metalworkers from the three GM units in São Paulo are on strike for an undetermined time. On Thursday, 10/26, GM workers from São José dos Campos and their families will hold a rally for dismissal cancelation.