He rose to the presidency of the metalworkers union, but was jailed by Brazil's military rulers for leading a strike.

The miners and metalworkers union has accused the company of violating its contract.

He became a lathe operator and around 1906 a member of the Deutscher Metallarbeiterverband (DMV), the German metalworkers union.

Soon they had contracts with the People's Commissariat for Labour and the metalworkers union (in which Gastev had previously played a prominent role) to train 10,000 metal workers.

They accuse Mr. da Silva, a former leader of the metalworkers union whose party is in power for the first time, of hypocrisy and of antidemocratic behavior.

Mr. Pfeiffer's 280 workers are covered by an industry-wide labor contract negotiated by the powerful metalworkers union, IG Metall.

The metalworkers union of S-o Bernardo do Campo, like most unions at the time, was controlled by conservatives who worked hand-in-glove with the companies and government.

"Our assessment is totally negative," Gianni Rinaldini of the metalworkers union told The Associated Press, predicting "heavy social conflict."

"Casino capitalism is a danger to our society," roared Klaus Zwickel, head of the nation's metalworkers union, his amplified voice echoing off the twin glass towers of Deutsche Bank headquarters.

DaimlerChrysler's works council said that representatives of IG Metall, the metalworkers union, voted against the so-called operations plan, after listening to a presentation.