Residents in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic capital, struggled to get around on Tuesday due to a transport strike against a privatization plan by the state’s conservative government, which vowed not to back down.
The strike was called by railway unions and subway officials to reject a bill presented in the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo that proposes the privatization of the Water and Waste Management Company (Sabesp), which operates in the state of Sao Paulo (southeastern Brazil). . .
In addition, the unions reject plans to allow private initiatives in the transport sector itself.
This is the third transport strike this year in Sao Paulo, Latin America’s most populous city, home to more than 11.4 million people.
The protest affects, in whole or in part, four subway lines and four train lines.
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The buses were overcrowded, signs at some closed train stations warned of a strike due to “paralysis of civil servants” and shouted slogans against privatization.
“Terrible! I’ve been walking on the street since five in the morning trying to get on a bus to get to work and it’s difficult,” said Richard Pencov, a 30-year-old hairdresser who struggled to travel in the early hours of the morning said AFP. hours of the day.
“The denationalizations will not stop, there is no point in striking. We will continue because we said we would,” said Tarcísio de Freitas, who will be elected governor of Brazil’s largest state in 2022.
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“Not accepting this position (for privatization) means not accepting the results of the polls,” he added.
Freitas, minister of infrastructure during the government of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), claimed that his government had sent a statement to unions warning of possible sanctions against the strikers if they did not maintain a minimum level of service a decision of the labor court.
msi/app/llu