AFP - A Brazilian labor court judge ordered aviation unions preparing a crippling pre-Christmas airport strike Thursday to abort their action under threat of big fines.
Milton de Moura Franca, president of the High Labor Tribunal in Brasilia, issued the order just hours before the stoppage was to take hold across all of Brazil's 65 passenger airports.
Invoking constitutional rights to freedom of movement and a "free, fair and united society," De Moura Franca warned flight crew and ground staff unions to maintain 80 percent of services under risk of 60,000 dollars a day in fines if they defied the order.
The unions had been planning to try to bring airports to a standstill Thursday after talks with airlines over pay rises broke down.
The unions are demanding a 15-percent pay rise in line with big profits Brazil's airlines are reeling in. But the airlines are offering only a six-percent hike, to match inflation.
The strike was organized for one of the busiest days of the year, as up to 500,000 people were to fly out for Christmas and New Year's festivities.
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