Brazilian riot police use tear gas to disperse striking staff

Brazilian police have used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse striking workers inside a subway station, adding to fears that labour troubles could disrupt the World Cup when it opens in six days.

At least three union members were injured in the Sao Paulo clash, according to Paulo Iannone, a union spokesman.

Operators of the subway and overland trains seeking higher wages are on strike for a second day, with no indication that it will end soon.

This is causing a headache for authorities as most football fans heading to Thursday’s opening Cup match in Sao Paulo will need to use the subway.

Cup organisers have fretted for a year that a resurgence of mass anti-government protests could mar soccer’s premier event, with all the world watching. However, in recent weeks, a series of strikes by public transport workers, police, teachers and others in several Cup host cities have proved more disruptive than demonstrations.

If such strikes continue, “there will be chaos during the World Cup,” said Carla Dieguez, a sociologist at Sao Paulo University’s School of Sociology and Politics.

“What we don’t know is how long the (subway) strike will last and if workers in others cities where games will be held will also go on strike,” she said.

Unions across Brazil are using the leverage of the World Cup in an effort to gain concessions from authorities, as has happened before other big sporting events.

Ahead of South Africa’s World Cup in 2010, bus drivers went on strike.

So far, it has often worked, as in the case of federal police officers and garbage collectors in Rio de Janeiro who have won better wages recently.

Unions argue that high inflation is eating away at workers’ purchasing power.

On Friday, the government statistics agency said the benchmark consumer price index rose 6.37% in the 12 months through May.

Justice minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo made an appeal to national pride to get strikers to return to work in time for the Cup.

“We want to feel proud of our country,” Mr Cardozo said.

“On and off the pitch we must show what we are capable of.”

Unions in Brazil are strong and often strike to demand higher wages and better working conditions. Elsewhere, striking teachers in Rio de Janeiro blocked main roads during yesterday’s evening rush hour.