“We'll hold an assembly on Monday [25 January] and we'll strike unless we have a proposal from the company for the maintenance of remaining workers,” said Emerson Gomes, the co-ordinator of wind power projects at the Union of Heavy Construction Workers of the state of Bahia (Sintepav).

According to Gomes, the six main construction services companies hired by Renova have not been paid for several months and have reduced the 3,300-strong workforce at the wind projects by over half since October 2015.

“The