Deodoro Olympic Complex on Schedule Despite Layoffs

(ATR) Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro, says that the venues in the Deodoro cluster will be finished on time despite recent layoffs.

A report by Estado de S. Paulo said around a dozen of the 1,000 workers in the park were laid off and as many as 100 have been told their jobs may be in jeopardy.

Paes said at a press conference on Apr. 2 the layoffs are an effort by the company to get the government to pay for the project earlier than expected.

"What they want is to use the press to pressure City Hall into paying before the deadline," Paes said reported by the AP.

"This pressure is not going to work."

Paes added in the press conference that the venues will be delivered on time and on schedule and that payments to the construction company Queiroz Galvao were not late.

"The mayor, the government, it's all their fault, and it's we, the workers, who are paying for their errors," Joedson de Lima Santos, one of the fired workers, said to the AP.

"If they'd paid their bill, none of this would have happened."

The press conference was the first opportunity for media to view the Deodoro cluster. The first test event for the cluster will take place in November.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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