Victims provided services to alcohol plants and sugarcane producers in municipalities in Goiás and Minas Gerais
An operation by the Ministry of Labor and Employment rescued 212 workers who lived in situations similar to slavery in municipalities in the interior of Goiás and Minas Gerais. The action was carried out jointly with the PF (Federal Police) and the MPT (Ministério Público do Trabalho) in the cities of Araporã (MG), Itumbiara (GO), Edeia (GO) and Cachoeira Douradana (GO) on Friday (17 .mar.2023).
Most of the workers left Piauí, Maranhão and Rio Grande do Norte to work clandestinely in alcohol plants and sugarcane producers. A company providing outsourced services mediated the contract.
According to the Ministry of Labor, the victims were charged rent for the shacks used as accommodation, they did not receive food and had to pay for the work tools provided by their employers.
The workplaces had irregularities such as lack of bathrooms, lack of protective equipment and direct contact with pesticides that were applied in the region where the victims worked.
“Most of these shelters were extremely precarious and did not have the minimum conditions to be used as housing. Some of them were very old, with dirty and moldy walls, leaking roofs and lack of adequate ventilation, and some of the rooms did not even have windows.”said the labor inspector who coordinated the operation, Roberto Mendes, in announcement. “The bath was taken with cold water, which came directly from the pipe, even on the coldest and rainiest days.”
The auditor also stated that workers had to pay for the mattress they slept on and those who could not pay slept in hammocks or on the floor. The house also lacked the structure for preparing and consuming food.
In some cases, workers prepared meals improvised during the night and took them to work the next day. Lunch consisted of rice and meats such as liver, chicken or sausage.
“Many workers ate half of their lunch box for breakfast, as they had nothing else to eat.”, stated Mendes.
The companies assumed responsibility for the acts and agreed to pay the workers’ labor rights, with R$ 2.5 million in moral damages, totaling R$ 3.8 million.
The MPT also proposed the payment of collective moral damages of R$ 5 million, but the companies have not yet signed the agreement. The agency also granted rescued workers 3 installments of unemployment insurance.
The PF, which accompanied the team, initiated a police investigation to investigate the practice of the crime of subjecting workers to conditions analogous to slavery.
The operation is the largest carried out in 2023. This year alone, the labor tax audit has already rescued 890 workers from conditions similar to slavery in Brazil, with 365 of these rescues in Goiás alone.
In February, the PRF (Federal Highway Police) rescued 206 workers in a situation similar to slavery in Bento Gonçalves (RS). The company accused of exploiting workers offered labor to wineries in the Serra Gaúcha region.
#Operation #rescues #workers #situation #analogous #slavery