Arthur Braga
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - The automobile sector is undergoing changes all over the world, and production in Europe and the United States has been declining. The world's largest automobile company, General Motors (GM), recently announced a dismissal program in the United States that should affect 25 thousand workers in the coming years.

To discuss the consequences of these transformations, union representatives from nine countries are participating in the Latin American Conference on the Automobile Industry. The event, which began yesterday (27) and ends tomorrow (29), in the capital of São Paulo, is organized by the International Federation of Workers in the Metallurgical Industry (Fitim). The unions that are attending are from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Mexico.

According to Jorge Almeida, from the Fitim regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean, the unions are under political and economic pressure. At the meeting he called for the creation of a global structure to ensure that the metalworkers' grievances have resonance at the automobile manufacturers' headquarters. This means creating a structure similar to that of the manufacturers, since decisions on investments or dismissal of workers, for example, can be made at headquarters and affect workers anywhere in the world.

According to Valter Sanches, organizational secretary of the National Confederation of Metalworkers, which is affiliated with the Workers' Central Union (CUT), an Action Plan will be defined for the Fitim for the period between 2005 and 2009. Sanches informed that, through the unions, the Fitim represents approximately 25 million metalworkers around the world.

He also said that, besides the concern with the preservation and creation of jobs, another important point is the flow of investments.

Translation: David Silberstein