BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Workers ended a 10-day strike at Brasilia’s 2014 World Cup stadium yesterday while a stoppage entered its second day at the Arena de Pernambuco in Recife.
The 2,500 construction workers at the Mane Garrincha stadium stopped work on Oct.27 demanding, among other things, advance holiday pay, time off at the end of the year and access to dental treatment.
The agreement between the workers and the construction companies was signed at Brasilia’s labour tribunal on Friday, said union official Raimundo Salvador Braz, adding that workers had “moved forward.”
Brasilia, which does not currently have a first-division team, will receive seven matches — four in the group stage, one each in the round of sixteen and quarter-finals and the third place playoff.
Built in 1974, the stadium’s capacity will be increased from 45,000 to around 70,000 for 2014 following rebuilding.
Brazil’s preparations for the event have been dogged by delays, worries over transport, airports and crime and claims that soccer’s governing body FIFA is trying to ride roughshod over Brazilian law.
Sports minister Orlando Silva resigned last week amid allegations of corruption while Ricardo Teixeira, head of the organising committee, is the subject of a police investigation into allegations he laundered money from bribes he is suspected of receiving in the 1990s.
There have already been strikes at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana this year.
