Agreement signed in São Paulo to step up fight against slave labor

Brazil’s Labor Justice, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, and the Office of the Attorney General of the Union signed on Monday (Feb. 24) the Protocol of Technical Cooperation for the Fight Against Slave Labor of the State of São Paulo. Thus, all agencies connected to the judiciary power will take part in a joint effort to strengthen the fight against the exploitation of adults and children in the workforce, degrading activities, working as debt payment and human trafficking in the state. All the agencies which signed the agreement are now expected to make measures more effective according to their institutional powers.

The president of the Regional Labor Court in the 2nd Region, Judge Maria Doralice Novaes, said that the agreement aims at finding definitive solutions to slave labor, which is not only found in the state of São Paulo, but also all across the country. “We need to seek the eradication of existing [slave] labor and identify the causes that give rise to it. To be sure, causes are near people’s economic difficulties, but we need to find the deeper reasons, since the country already has the conception of slavery.”

She also said that many people have no idea they can be a victim of slave labor. “We see a lot of slave labor in households, for instance. Young girls from the countryside or the Northeast usually come under the title of maids, but, after we monitor the situation, we ascertain that it is no other than slave labor,” the judge added.

Besides the actions already in effect which aim at monitoring and preventing the practice, the agencies in the Judiciary power want to raise the population’s awareness about the issue.

In the view of superintendent of the Labor Ministry in São Paulo, Luiz Antônio Medeiros, ideally, the initiative should be carried out in the entire country. “I’ll work on that. I’ll take the matter to the minister of Labor and Employment [Manoel Dias], so that a nationwide agreement can be reached.”

Medeiros further said that if it is not effectively and thoroughly fought, slave labor will tend to become even more widespread, since companies find it advantageous, as salaries are low and labor rights not followed. “There’s a certain level of permissiveness seen even at the institutions, which pretend they can’t see it. But we can. They [those responsible for slave labor] never think they can be punished, but the picture is changing, because the press is on them, and so is society, and we’re trying to give them the answer.”

Ivani Contini Bramante, representative of the National Council of Justice (“CNJ”) explained that the protocol formalizes a pre-existing partnership. “Slave labor is present in many economic sectors, but the clearest ones have been the textile industry, civil construction and charcoal works.” She said there is a concern with the World Cup, because child labor may be intensified, along with slave labor during the competition, which is to take place in June and July this year in 12 Brazilian capitals.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira