Brazil's Lula Kicks Off Reelection Bid, Courts Gig Workers

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva kicked off his final re-election campaign on Sunday at the storied "May 1" Stadium, where in 1979 he stood on a table and addressed some 60,000 striking metalworkers without a sound system.

His homecoming in São Bernardo do Campo, once a thriving factory town on the industrial outskirts of São Paulo, is a tribute to the labor movement that ultimately propelled Lula from factory worker to Brazil's first working-class president.

Nearly five decades later, Lula faces the challenge of how to rally a new generation of app-based gig workers, who have little connection to the unions and factory floors that once formed the backbone of his Workers' Party.

"There has been a substantial change in the world of work," Lula said, after his government suffered losses in major city elections in 2024. "We need to adapt our message to the world of work that is not limited to formal, registered employment."

(Reuters, su)