Striking CSN Workers Killed (1988)

Wed Nov 09, 1988

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On this day in 1988, a conflict between soldiers and metallurgists on strike at Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil led to the deaths of three workers, with at least thirty-one more injured.

According to author Andrew Costa, the city of Volta Redonda was engaged in a general strike for the implementation of a six-hour shift and the reinstatement of workers dismissed in an earlier 1987 strike. Women in the local neighborhoods prevented CSN vans from picking up their husbands to work with pickets on the street, and the Residents Associations carried out barricades so that CSN busses and other transport could not run while the company was refusing to negotiate with workers.

The conflict on November 9th began when about 600 state soldiers descended on Avenida Independência, in front of CSN, throwing tear gas bombs at a crowd of workers. The crowd responded with by attacking sticks and stones. Three people were killed, and thirty-one were wounded. A monument dedicated to the victims of the violence was later partially destroyed with bombs.

In spite of this violence, workers eventually prevailed, winning their right to six-hour shifts.