Brasília - The major steel mills that operate in the North of Brazil signed a commitment today to erradicating the use of slave-like labor in charcoal production. Fifteen companies represented by the Carajás Steel Mill Association (Asica) committed themselves to the imposition of commercial restrictions on suppliers who exploit slave-like labor.
Ratification of the agreement is part of the agenda of National Citizenship and Solidarity Week. The document acknowledges that degrading conditions still exist at the bottom of the chain, leaving a large number of workers helpless. Together with iron ore, charcoal is one of the main raw materials that go into the making of pig iron, used mostly for the production of steel, which is exported to developed countries. The charcoal comes from ovens that burn wood from native forests. This is the stage in the productive chain where slave-like labor is employed.
"Most of the workers have to put in a huge work day, from 10 to 14 hours, without any safety equipment, such as gloves and boots. They work without signed papers, medical care, or social security. The food is awful, and the system of transportation from one municipality to another is extremely precarious; it is what is worst in terms of existing forms of labor," observed the director of the Social Observatory Institute, Odilon Faccio. The organization did a survey of the situation of slave-like labor in the steel production chain.
"This initiative demonstrates a concern and a commitment by this sector to Brazilian society. It is an initiative worthy of total respect," said the coordinator of the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Project to Combat Slave Labor, Patrícia Audi.
According to Audi, there are still around 25 thousand people working under slave-like conditions in Brazil. "Contemporary slavery is different from traditional slavery, because slavery nowadays is not based on color or race," she emphasized. She recounted that the workers are recruited in the country's poorest municipalities and are taken to work in distant rural properties. Because they have to pay their employers for their travel, clothing, food, and housing, they are unable to free themselves from debt to leave. Since most of these rural properties are very far away from the municipalities where these workers come from, they cannot escape, because they lack money for the trip. There are also armed thugs to prevent these workers from fleeing.
Agência Brasil
Reporter: Juliana Andrade
Translator: David Silberstein
08/13/2004
