Embraer workers strike again for more pay

Two thousand workers with Brazilian aviation giant Embraer went on strike Wednesday demanding better pay, with 7,000 more set to follow, unions said.

Last month, some 10,000 personnel downed tools at the firm's Sao Jose dos Campos headquarters outside Sao Paulo, where around 13,000 people work, to demand a 10-percent wage rise and a greater share of profits.

Embraer offered a 6.6-percent hike, then 7.4 percent.

The first stoppage came on the day Embraer presented its new KC-390 military transport plane as part of plans to ramp up its presence in the military sector.

"The (latest) stoppage comes following the refusal of the latest 7.4 percent offer by Embraer made in the last round of talks with the metalworkers' union," a statement issued on the strikers' behalf read.

With 2,000 workers having already walked out, another 7,000 from Thursday's opening shift were set to follow after first taking a vote. Both shifts usually back one another's stance, a union official noted.

Union vice-chairman Herbert Claros da Silva said given profits and contracts with the federal government, "Embraer is in a position to make workers a better offer. We shall therefore continue the strike until the firm ceases its intransigence and accepts our demands."

Embraer is the world's third-largest commercial aircraft constructor after US giant Boeing and Europe's Airbus.

Last year the Brazilian firm turned in net profits of $342 million, a 1.7 percent drop on 2012.