Ivan Richard
Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – At a hearing on slave-type labor this week in the Chamber of Deputies, Ruth Vilela, from the Ministry of Labor, reported that since the creation of the Mobile Inspection Groups in 1995 by the ministry, the problem has become more visible because more is being done to deal with it. As for eliminating slave-type labor in Brazil, Vilela declared: "If employers complied at least with basic legislation and treated their employees with a minimum of dignity, we would not have a slave-type labor problem."

Since they became operational, the Mobile Inspection Groups have liberated some 15,000 workers from slave-type labor situations and fined employers US$7.2 million (R$17 million).

Also testifying at the hearings, José Pandelot, president of the association of labor judges (Associação Nacional dos Magistrados da Justiça do Trabalho) (Anamatra), declared that "The only way to stop slave-type labor is to make it impossible for landowners to commercialize their produce when slave-type labor is used."

In May a Pact to Eradicate Slave-Type Labor was signed in Brazil by representatives of the government, the business community and civil society. The objective of the pact is make the use of slave-type labor economically inviable. The pact was based on studies by the International Labor Organization and the ONG, Reporter Brasil, which showed how slave-type labor had become a part of the productive chain in Brazil.

Translator: Allen Bennett