The councilor of Caxias do Sul (RS) Sandro Fantinel.| Photo: Manuelli Boschetti/Caxias do Sul City Council.

The Labor Public Ministry in Rio Grande do Sul (MPT-RS) opened this Wednesday (1st) an investigation against the councilor of Caxias do Sul (RS) Sandro Fantinel for statements against workers rescued in a situation analogous to slavery in wineries of Bento Gonçalves (RS) and also for “promoting xenophobia against Bahian workers”.

In a speech at the Caxias do Sul City Council, on February 28, Fantinel said that entrepreneurs in the grape and wine sector should no longer hire “those people from above”, in reference to the workers in Bahia who were rescued in the wineries , informed Agência Brasil. Earlier, the Patriot party expelled Fantinel.

For the Labor attorney and deputy national coordinator for the eradication of Slave Labor at the MPT, Italvar Medina, the councilor’s statement “unduly minimizes, unduly, the extreme gravity of contemporary slavery, seeks to blame the victims themselves for the offenses suffered, has prejudiced content and , to make matters worse, encourages discrimination in labor relations, in violation of the Constitution of the Republic, legislation and international commitments assumed by Brazil”, informed the MPT-RS, in a note.

On the night of February 22, a joint action between the Federal Highway Police (PRF), Federal Police (PF) and the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE) rescued 207 workers who faced degrading working conditions in the grape harvest in Bento Gonçalves, in Serra Gaúcha. In a note, the wineries, which used the workforce, said they were unaware of the irregularities practiced against workers recruited by the outsourced Oliveira & Santana, a service provider.