RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil kicked off a general strike Friday that is likely to paralyze major cities across Latin America’s largest country. Here is a look at what’s happening and why: FIRST GENERAL STRIKE IN TWO YEARSWorkers in all 26 Brazilian states and the federal district of Brasilia are expected to take part in Friday’s strike, according to several unions. Before that, there hadn’t been a general strike in 20 years. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOWPENSION REFORM Friday’s strike is primarily against the pension reform the Bolsonaro administration is currently pushing for in Congress. A previous pension reform bill, introduced by ex-President Michel Temer, managed to pass the commission and made it to the plenary, but was abandoned after nine months.

Source: thestar June 14, 2019 13:07 UTC