Workers agree with GM to delay Brazil job cuts

Workers at General Motors's Brazilian unit on Tuesday endorsed a deal reached between their union and management to delay 1,840 planned job cuts until at least November, a union statement said. It said nearly 6,000 workers who gathered at the US carmaker's facility in Sao Jose dos Campos, in Sao Paulo state, gave their approval to the tentative deal struck Saturday. "This agreement is not what we wanted but it gave us breathing space to fight with all our might for the maintenance of all jobs," said Luiz Carlos Prates, the secretary general of the MetalWorkers Union. Saturday's agreement also calls for suspending until November the contracts of 940 workers on the struggling production line who will still receive their pay, the union said. The line will stay open at least until November with 900 people at work to produce 20 Classic vehicles per hour. GM workers held several demonstrations last week to protest what they called a plan for massive job cuts at the complex, which has eight plants and employs 7,500 workers. The union has said GM management made clear its intention to shut down the struggling production line which has already stopped making Zafira, Merica and Corsa models. The union meanwhile estimated that 2,000 layoffs at the GM plant would translate into a total loss of 15,500 jobs across the city of Sao Jose dos Campos, located around 90 kilometers (55 miles) from Sao Paulo.