Subway strike suspended in Sao Paulo

With a subway strike put on hold, traffic in Brazil's biggest city returned to its normal, congested nature Tuesday, but there was no guarantee service would be on for Thursday's opening of the World Cup, The Associated Press reported.

Subway workers in Rio de Janeiro, meanwhile, held an assembly late Tuesday to vote on whether they would strike to demand higher wages, threatening to disrupt transportation there as of midnight local time (0300 GMT). But the union representing subway operators voted not to go on strike, according to Rio's biggest newspaper O Globo — instead deciding to accept a wage hike of 8 percent.

The situation in Sao Paulo is deeply worrying for World Cup organizers. They are counting on the subway systems to carry tens of thousands of fans to the games there, where the Itaquerao stadium is far from the hotel areas where most Cup tourists will stay.

Union workers in Sao Paulo suspended their strike for two days, but planned to vote again Wednesday to decide whether to renew it. If they do, the subway system would grind to a halt on Thursday just as Brazil's national soccer team faces Croatia in the Cup's opening match.

Sao Paulo's Metropolitan Transportation agency said it has a "Plan B" - but refused to say exactly what that would entail.

"We will only give details if and when the workers go on strike again," an agency official said, insisting he couldn't give his name because he wasn't allowed to speak to the press about the issue.

A Sao Paulo labor court has fined the union $175,000 for the first four days of the strike and said it would add $220,000 for each additional day the work stoppage continued.