Deputy wants explanations about working conditions at Lollapalooza

the federal deputy Erika Hilton (Psol-SP) filed a letter with the Chamber of Deputies asking for clarification on the financing of the situation similar to slavery identified in the facilities of the Lollapalooza festival, in São Paulo. The document was sent on Friday (24.Mar.2023). Here’s the full (177 KB).

In the letter, Hilton calls the Board of Issuers of B3 (Brazilian Stock Exchange) and the superintendencies of sanctioning processes and institutional relations of the CVM (Securities and Exchange Commission).

The deputy alleges that the T4F (Tickets for Fun), the event’s producer, acted against regulations issued by the CVM and the Novo Mercado segment of the Stock Exchange. “A company that does not consider the flagrante delicto of slave labor at its biggest event a ‘Material Fact; does not demonstrate the corporate governance that it claims to have and required by its listing on the Stock Exchange,” he published in his Twitter profile.

The Ministry of Labor and Employment rescued 5 workers hired for the festival under these conditions. The employees were hired by the third-party company responsible for selling drinks at the festival, Yellow Stripe. T4F stated in a note (read the full text at the end of the article) that it terminated its contract with the company.

The ministry reported that workers slept on the floor, had no electricity or access to personal protective equipment. The contract was informal and began on March 16, with services scheduled for until this Sunday (March 26), when the event will be closed.

According to the folder, the working day was 12 hours a day and workers were forced to sleep at the Interlagos race track – where the festival is held. They would receive payment of R$ 130 per day.

The folder also informed that, after being rescued, the employees received “the due rights“, of approximately R$ 10,000 each. In addition, an investigation into the case was opened by the Public Ministry of Labor in São Paulo.

O Power360 tried to get in touch with yellow stripe through phone calls and by e-mail, but did not receive a response until the publication of this report. The company’s website is down and the page link indicates that the portal is under maintenance. The company profile on Instagram is closed and posts are not public. At the Facebookthe page appears not to be updated, as the last publication is from December 2021.

The website Reporter Brazilwhich disclosed the informality situation on Thursday (23.Mar.2023), published that Yellow Stripe reported having complied with “the determinations of the Ministry of Labor, and the employees in question were duly hired and remunerated”.

Here is the full text of the note sent by T4F on Friday (24.Mar.2023):

“To hold an event the size of Lollapalooza Brasil, which occupies 600,000 square meters at the Interlagos Circuit and is estimated to receive an audience of 100,000 people per day, the event has teams that work on different work fronts, in departments ranging from communication to food and beverage operation, from setting up the stages to cleaning the space and security. There are more than 9,000 people who work directly at the venue and more than 170 service providers are hired.

“T4F, responsible for organizing Lollapalooza Brasil, has as a priority that all people involved in the event have the proper working conditions guaranteed and, therefore, requires that all service providers do the same.

“This week, during an inspection by the Ministry of Labor at the Interlagos Racetrack, 5 professionals from Yellow Stripe (a third-party company responsible for operating the bars at Lollapalooza Brasil) were identified, who, in the auditors’ view, would fit into work analogous to slavery . They worked for 5 days inside the Interlagos Racetrack and, as verified by the auditors, slept in the workplace, something that is strictly prohibited by T4F.

“Faced with this finding, T4F immediately terminated the legal relationship established with Yellow Stripe and made sure that all the rights of the 5 workers involved were guaranteed in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Labor auditors. T4F considers this an isolated fact, vehemently repudiates it and will continue to take a strong stance in the face of any non-compliance with rules by outsourced companies.”