BRAZILIAN TROOPS TO LEAVE OIL REFINERIES
Brazil's labour troubles eased a
little today as the authorities announced they were withdrawing
troops from the country's main oil installations occupied three
days ago.
    The troops went in at the request of the state-oil company
Petrobras because of the threat of a strike by 55,000 oil
industry employees.
    Petrobras said in a statement today it had requested the
withdrawal of the troops. The situation in the refineries was
calm, it said, and the employees had indicated their
willingness to negotiate a pay deal.
    A national seamen's strike, however, continued and marines
remained in the country's main ports. The marines were
despatched to the ports after the seamen's strike, now two
weeks old, was ruled illegal last Friday.
    A spokesman at the national strike headquarters in Rio de
Janeiro said today a total of l63 ships were strike-bound, 135
in Brazil and 28 in foreign ports.
    Yesterday two small companies specialised in the transport
of chemicals, Global and Flumar, struck a pay accord with their
seamen who have secured a 120 pct increase.
    Brazilian newspapers today hailed these agreements as a
sign that the national strike could soon come to an end.
    Both companies employ fewer than 200 seamen and union
leaders said the vast majority of Brazil's 40,000 seamen were
still on strike.
    The threat of a stoppage by oil industry employees appeared
today to be receding. Petrobras said in its statement that the
company would meet union leaders for pay talks in Rio de
Janeiro next Wednesday.
    Labour Minister Almir Pazzionotto would act as a mediator.
    Besides industrial troubles, there has also been
considerable unrest this week in the agricultural sector.
    On Tuesday hundreds of thousands of farmers held rallies
throughout the country to protest against high interest rates.
    Television reports showed some of these protests still
continuing today, with farmers blockading banks with their
vehicles in several towns in the states of Sao Paulo and
Parana.
    The strikes in Brazil come as the government is trying to
extricate itself from a serious debt crisis brought on by a
deterioration in its trade balance.
    On February 20 President Jose Sarney announced that Brazil
was suspending interest payments on 68 billion dlrs of debt to
private banks.
    Because of the seamen strike exports are being delayed and
the country is losing badly needed foreign exchange.
 Reuter
