Brazil Court Rules in Favor of Fired Petrobras Workers on Strike

Parana's regional labor court temporarily suspended Tuesday the lay-off of more than 1,000 workers of the fertilizer factory Fafen-PR until at least March 6, following a collective strike that lasted more than two weeks.

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The strike against the Petrobras executive board started in protest against the massive lay-off that was carried out despite a collective convention reached between the workers and the head of the state-owned oil company.

Petrobras' union leader, Tadeu Porto, welcomed the decision of Judge Rosalie Michaele Bacila Batista in an interview with Foro, saying it represented a victory over the obtuse Petrobras' executive board, while warning that the battle had "only begun."

In mid-January, the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro announced the closure of the Parana Nitrogen Fertilizer Factory, a Petrobras subsidiary in which more than 1,000 people worked. The response of the Brazilian working class, however, was immediate.

On February 1, the Single Federation of Tankers (FUP) and the Workers' Single Central (CUT) began an indefinite strike that is becoming a milestone.

In an attempt to contain the workers' unity process, the Bolsonaro administration also tried to hire former employees to replace the strikers but the measure was unsuccessful.