Death, Work Strike Further Threaten Brazil's World Cup Stadiums
As if yet another tragic death at one of its work sites wasn't enough, Brazil's 2014 World Cup organizers have another issue to contend with: a work stoppage on the stadium in Curitiba, according to the Associated Press.
.Update, 4:08 p.m. As if yet another tragic death at one of its work sites wasn't enough, Brazil's 2014 World Cup organizers have another issue to contend with: a work stoppage on the stadium in Curitiba, according to the Associated Press.
The strike is over a day's worth of pay that workers have not yet received. Curitiba is one of the most-delayed projects of the six stadiums remaining on the docket, with an expected completion of mid-February, well past FIFA's deadline of late December.
Curitiba's mayor said that a third of the 1,200 workers took part in the work action, and that a protest closed off a part of a street on Friday.
A spokesperson for the team that owns the stadium disputed the number of participants, and added that the employees have since been paid.
Original: There have now been fatalities at a quarter of the 12 stadiums Brazil is building for the 2014 World Cup after a construction worker plummeted off the roof of the Arena Amazonia in Manaus.
Twenty-two-year-old Marcleudo de Melo Ferreira died early Saturday morning when a cable supporting him snapped and he fell more than 100 feet, reports the Guardian.
While six of the stadiums were ready for the Confederations Cup, the project to build the remaining six has been dogged by cost overruns and delayed construction, causing teams to work 20-hour days and prompting questions of whether the arenas will even be ready on time. The Manaus stadium was already behind schedule, according to an AP report.
Two workers died just over two weeks ago in Sao Paulo, when a crane holding a 500-ton chunk of metal roofing at Sao Paulo's Itaquerao – which will host the World Cup's opening match – snapped and crushed them. The incident means that stadium won't be ready until April – just two months before the games begin. FIFA had told Brazil to have the stadiums ready by the end of the year.
Work restarted on the Itaquerao just five days after the two workers' deaths.
Manaus itself has endured criticism from British media, which called it a "hellhole" for its deadly creatures and environment. The city is playing host to the English team's opening match. The U.S. team will play Portugal in its second game at the stadium at Manaus.