Volkswagen do Brasil president Hans-Christian Maergner has presented the company’s restructuring plan to Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as unions prepare to fight the loss of almost 6,000 jobs.

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During the meeting with the president and government ministers, Maergner detailed the plan announced last week to reduce production capacity and cut thousands of jobs in the automaker’s local plants.


Brazilian minister of finance Guido Mantega said the government is analysing the plan and is considering measures to help the country’s automotive industry.


Government representatives plant to meet delegates of the Brazilian National Automakers Association (Anfavea) to discuss the VW situation.


Despite reducing the number of workers in its Brazilian plants since 2003, Volkswagen has insisted that the restructuring plan is due to the Brazilian currency’s strong appreciation against the dollar that has hit the profitability of exports.

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General Motors, Fiat and Ford have also said currency effects will cut their export volume by about 30%.


Volkswagen has not yet announced the number of workers will be fired, but the ABC Metalworkers Union said the automaker will cut 5,773 jobs – 3,672 in the Anchieta plant, in São Bernardo city, the largest and oldest factory.


The ABC union is the strongest in Brazil and is formed of workers in the cities of Santo André, São Bernardo and São Caetano (known as ABC), which form the industrial belt of São Paulo city. This where the country’s president da Silva, an ex-metalworker, first rose to prominence as a labour union leader.


The ABC union and two other labour federations, CUT and Força Sindical, have said they will work together to oppose VW’s restructuring plan.


They plan to pressure the government to halt the dismissals.


And they have that power because this is a presidential election year. After all, Brazil’s Workers Party (PT), the Brazilian president’s party, started within the CUT.


Rogério Louro