‘Heard: ‘Kill the Bahians’ ‘, says rescued in RS – 03/03/2023 – Market

“Kill the Bahians, kill the Bahians, because they ended our lives”, says he heard José (fictitious name), 35, while being attacked in Bento Gonçalves (RS), where workers were rescued by the Federal Highway Police (PRF). on the last day 22.

“I thought I was going to die, because I was fighting with three. One gave me a tie, another came with pepper spray, another with chairs, sticks, shocks and even biting”, he reports in an exclusive interview with Sheet. The beating, according to José, was in retaliation for having denounced him about conditions similar to slavery to which they were being subjected.

“They took us, me and two colleagues, to a small room and, there, I just called out to God. I didn’t die because it wasn’t my time, because I was beaten a lot. If in the time of slavery it was the whip, with us it was a weapon of shocks, sticks, chairs, whatever”, says José, one of the 208 workers kept in precarious conditions in a lodging in Rio Grande do Sul, according to the Ministry of Labor.

Owned by the Bahian businessman Pedro Augusto Oliveira de Santana, Fênix, which recruited José, acted as a service provider to Aurora, Cooperativa Garibaldi and Salton wineries —which, after the case was disclosed, repudiated, in a note, the conduct of the intermediary of labor.

In a note sent by the office of lawyer Augusto Werner, who represents both Fênix and its owner, the service intermediary says it does not accept any type of illegal work, in addition to investigating any alleged irregularities based on the workers’ reports.

eemployed, with primary education up to the fourth grade, father of three children, José says he was attracted by an advertisement on the internet by Fênix Serviços de Apoio Administrativos, which offered vacancies for work in the grape harvest in Bento Gonçalves, with a salary of R$ 3,000.

Born in Salvador, the worker spoke to the Sheet this Thursday afternoon (2), while attending a hearing with lawyers Lillian Moretti and Luciana Vieira, who form the defense duo of five of the victims.

After the first contact with the company, according to José, the workers were called to take the documentation to sign the contract and were sent by bus to Bento Gonçalves, where they arrived after four days of travel.

Upon landing, the group’s first surprise came with the information that they would have to pay for their stay in the accommodation, says José. He and the other workers were allocated at the Pousada do Trabalhador, a union of three properties (“puxadinhos”) where hundreds of rural workers were housed, in addition to regular pensioners, in Bento Gonçalves.

According to the MTE’s Labor Inspection, the place had unhealthy conditions, such as low ceilings, poorly ventilated, without the minimum hygiene conditions, dirty bathrooms and worn mattresses.

José says that, as of January 28, strenuous workdays began, starting at 4 am. “We were woken up by screams, tapping on doors. Bahians were called demons, devils”, he reports.

During the trip to the wineries around Bento Gonçalves, each worker received a cup of coffee with bread and a packed lunch. “That it spoiled on the way, because there was nowhere to store it. It caused worms in the food”, says the worker.

As the food was in insufficient quantity, according to him, the workers were forced to buy at the small market, which would also belong to the businessman. “A box of milk cost R$10, two eggs cost R$4, to give you an idea”, he says.

José says that the account only grew, because he did not receive any money, neither to support himself nor to send to his family. The promised payment, according to him, was withheld on the grounds that it would pay the workers’ debts with room and board.

Faced with the situation in which they found themselves, José took the initiative to record the violations through videos taken with a cell phone. It was the trigger for the contractor’s employees to start the aggressions, both physical and verbal.

On the night of the last 22nd, the three took advantage of the foremen’s distraction to lock the door from the inside with a padlock, according to the worker. Then they jumped from a height of almost three meters, passed through the garden and hid in a forest near the accommodation.

“They spent the night looking for us, thinking we had run away, but we were very close”, he smiled. “We left with the clothes on our backs, just our documents. We had to spend the night huddled in the woods to withstand the cold,” he said.

The following morning, the three went to the police in Caxias do Sul, a neighboring municipality, to report the case. “The policemen treated us very well. They were speechless with everything we were telling them and accompanied us to the accommodation”, he said.

After the rescue, the workers were sent to a gym in Bento Gonçalves, from where 194 left for Bahia last Friday (24). The group arrived in the state on Monday (27). Some stayed in cities along the way, such as Feira de Santana (BA).

“The feeling was one of relief, of being alive, of being able to see my children, the mother of my children, my family, mine. I felt safe”, says the man, who started working at age 12 as a shopping porter at the São Joaquim fair in Salvador.

“That alderman [Sandro Fantinel, expulso do Patriotas de Caxias do Sul por ataques xenófobos aos trabalhadores nordestinos] does not know the Bahians. We work a lot. He needs to know that the coconut he drank, the bed he slept in at the hotel, was working people from Bahia who woke up early to serve him”, he says.

The lawyer Lillian Moretti informed that, since Wednesday (1), the office started to listen to the workers. “These are very strong, heavy, painful reports, in the 21st century, from parents of families who left their state to go through this trauma”, she said.

The lawyer says that the workers have already started to receive the amounts referring to the termination. In addition to the R$500 in the agreement signed by the MTE with the company for the workers to return home, the man says he has already received R$3,800.

“We are going to file an individual action for moral damage to alleviate the suffering they went through”, he anticipates. “Various crimes were committed, such as torture, false imprisonment, loan sharking. Those responsible will respond in the civil and labor spheres”, says Moretti.

By e-mail, lawyer Augusto Werner replied that the defense of the suspects is still collecting “all the information necessary for a complete elucidation of the facts, which are still unfolding”.

“I tell you that the company does not agree with the accusation of having kept its employees in conditions analogous to those of slavery and, consequently, this has been the impasse with the MPT (Ministério Público do Trabalho)”, says the text.

The MPT informs that the company proposed the payment of individual moral damages to the workers, without prejudice to the victims being able to file claims. The proposed amount is around R$ 600,000, in addition to R$ 1 million in severance pay.

In an open letter to society, Vinícola Aurora published that the recent events involving the company’s relationship with Fênix “shame and infuriate”. Aurora also asks “the most sincere apologies to the workers victimized by the situation”.

Cooperativa Garibaldi, on the other hand, reported having received “with surprise and indignation” the denouncements of practices analogous to slavery. The company says it has terminated the service provision contract and made itself available to the authorities to collaborate with the investigations.

Also in an open letter, Salton reported that, upon becoming aware of “the very serious rescue that took place on the premises of the service provider, we immediately suspended the employment contract”, says the statement.