SAO PAULO, Brazil, March 27 (Reuters) - A metalworkers strike in Brazil's industrial hub of Sao Paulo moved into its second day on Thursday as a new wave of laborers joined in the push for higher wages to keep up with rising inflation.
The Sao Paulo Metalworkers Union said at least 23,000 workers laid down their tools at 40 factories to demand a 10 percent wage increase. Within hours, however, workers went back to their jobs at at least 10 of those plants after management gave in to their demands.
Labor leaders say they intend to stop work at 40 factories a day until all of the union's members -- some 280,000 -- are given a raise, meaning the strike could drag on for weeks.
"This strike is going to last longer than the war in Iraq," said Eleno Jose Bezerra, president of the metalworkers union. "We're targeting about 1,200 factories, and we're prepared to strike for more than a month if need be."
The strike has mainly affected auto parts makers and is unlikely to extend to large vehicle manufacturers, most of which are located outside the Sao Paulo city limits and fall under the jurisdiction of a separate union.
On Wednesday, wage agreements were reached at another 19 factories on the initial day of the walkout, the first major strike under Brazil's new center-left government.
But Bezerra cautioned that the protest was not aimed at the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who on Wednesday defended the union's right to strike.
A former metalworker and union leader himself who led massive strikes against Brazil's military dictatorship in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lula is coming under increasing pressure to make good on his promises to revive the country's slow-growing economy and create millions of new jobs.
Both the government and independent economists fear that large-scale salary increases could further fuel inflation, which soared to a seven-year high last year and only now is starting to lose steam. There are also concerns that the strike could trigger a rash of wage demands in other sectors.
So far, the country's largest labor union, CUT, has sided with the government and has avoided demands for wage hikes. Instead, CUT's Metalworkers Federation, which represents some 250,000 workers, is seeking a one-time bonus from companies to make up for the inflationary surge.
The government's benchmark IPCA inflation index, the gauge it uses for setting interest rates, has risen an accumulated 9.24 percent since November. Its INPC index, which covers a basket of basic goods bought by the less wealthy, has risen 10.39 percent in the past four months.
Metalworkers in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest and wealthiest city, earn on average 847 reais a month ($248, more than twice the minimum wage. ($1=3.42 reais)