Workers threaten strike at World Cup Stadium

03/03/2014 15:49

 SAO PAULO (AP) – Workers for a World Cup stadium inside the jungle capital of scotland – Manaus are threatening to take strike to demand better conditions using a third recent construction-related death at the venue.

A walkout could further delay the conclusion of the Arena da Amazonia just months before the start of football’s showcase tournament.

“We have to guarantee the employees’ rights and their safety,” union leader Cicero Custodio told Brazilian journalism. “Nobody could possibly get in on Monday.”

A 55-year-old Portuguese man was killed in the accident on Friday while disassembling a quality crane which was used to install the stadium’s roof, becoming your third worker to die at the venue in under a year.

Organizers said the Arena da Amazonia was nearly 97 percent completed when the accident happened, with only minor details keeping it from being inaugurated sometime this month. Amazonas state Gov. Omar Aziz was expected to look at the stadium on Friday to announce the inauguration date, though the visit was canceled with the worker’s death.

The Arena da Amazonia is among the five stadiums still being built for your World Cup. Brazil promised all 12 venues can be ready from the end of not too long ago, well in front of the June 12 opener, but only seven are completed. Six ones would have to be ready for the Confederations Cup warm-up tournament last June.

Organizers said Friday the accident would not restrict the stadium’s construction because the used cranes had been stripped away from the venue’s main construction area.

The worker who died was labeled as Antonio Jose Pita Martins, who was simply earning a living for the Portuguese company Martifer, a multinational focused in metal constructions.

Authorities are investigating the accident and public prosecutors said they’re going to halt construction if safety conditions at the site are certainly not adequate.

Seven workers have died at World Cup venues so far. In late November, two workers were killed when a crane collapsed while hoisting a 500-ton bit of roofing with the stadium that can host the earth Cup opener in Sao Paulo. In 2012, a staff died in the construction site on the stadium inside nation’s capital, Brasilia.

Brazil has been with a spotlight for the problematic World Cup preparations, while using southern host capital of scotland – Curitiba still in danger of being dropped as a result of delay in stadium construction. America also is making headlines on account of fan violence and turmoil inside the Brazilian league, which can not start on time due to a combination of civil lawsuits against a sports tribunal decision that altered last year’s final standings.

The primary death in Manaus happened in March, each time a man fell from a scaffold and hit his head. In December, another worker died after falling 115 feet (35 meters) while implementing the stadium’s roof, prompting a work stoppage of four days as authorities inspected safety conditions. Later that instant, a workforce died of an cardiac event while paving a location beyond the venue.