World Economic Forum

The forum, aimed at improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas, brings together top business leaders, international political leaders as well as selected intellectuals and experts.
With the international situation constantly changing, issues addressed by the forum have gone far beyond the scope of economy. Its agenda now includes the most pressing problems facing the world, ranging from political, military and security concerns to bilateral and regional issues.
The forum has more than 1,000 members currently, all of which are major companies driving the world economy forward. A typical member company is a global enterprise with more than 5 billion U.S. dollars in turnover, though the latter varies by industry and region.
The forum also forges strategic and industry partnerships with its selected members. It sponsors international economic seminars each year jointly with state governments or enterprises worldwide.
With an increasing global influence, the forum has been hailed as the "top-level non-governmental global economic forum."

Volkswagen dismisses 150 employees

Volkswagen also announced a draft agreement with the Metallurgy Workers' Trade Union in Taubate on the flexibility of working hours. The draft needs to be approved by the workers, and the voting is due next week.
Nilton Junior, Volkswagen's executive manager of work relations in Brazil, stressed the necessity of having a mechanism of flexibility for working hours and output to ensure a prompt reaction to market demands.
Volkswagen was not the only automaker that announced staff dismissal. General Motors said Tuesday that it would not renew contracts with 744 temporary workers at its factory in Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo state.