Slave labor: Compensation value is criticized – 03/14/2023 – Market

The value established in the TAC (Conduct Adjustment Term) signed between the MPT-RS (Rio Grande do Sul Public Ministry of Labor) and the Aurora, Garibaldi and Salton wineries, involved in the recent complaint of exploitation of labor under analogous to slavery in Bento Gonçalves, has been the target of criticism by specialists in the field.

The agreement provides for R$ 7 million in compensation to society and workers. If compared to the annual revenue of the three companies in the Serra Gaúcha, the amount corresponds to 0.46%.

Experts in Labor Law heard by the Sheet considered the agreed amount low, especially considering that, of this amount, only BRL 2 million will be used to indemnify the 207 workers, which would correspond to BRL 9,600 of indemnity per worker.

The remainder, R$ 5 million, corresponds to collective moral damage, and must be reversed by the MPT-RS in social actions. On the other hand, experts praise the level of detail of the 21 control measures established by the agency, which must be complied with by wineries under penalty of fine.

Asked how the parties involved arrived at that number, Labor Attorney Lucas Santos Fernandes classified the amount as “substantial”. However, he admitted that it was a figure that took into account the urgency of signing an agreement for greater control in the grape production chain in the next harvest.

According to the labor lawyer and licensed professor of Labor Law at Unisinos, Carolina Mayer Spina, it is not unusual for the amount established for collective damage to be more substantial in TACs. This is because the focus of the MPT is not to represent workers in court, but society as a whole. She points out that the agreement does not prevent workers from suing the wineries individually in court for the mistreatment suffered.

Even so, she considers the values ​​inadequate if taken into account three factors: the extent of the damage caused, the economic capacity of the companies involved and the so-called “punitive damage”, a term used in International Law that can be translated as “exemplary damage”.

“The ‘punitive damage’ must take into account that other companies must be discouraged from having similar conduct. To think twice before breaking the rules of the game. In my opinion, the BRL 7 million is disproportionate taking into account the three factors , but especially the last one”, says Carolina.

According to the lawyer, the “punitive damage” is important because it takes into account the irregular competitive advantage that the company obtained by disregarding good practices —that is, by violating legal obligations, they manage to have lower costs and higher profits than competitors that respect rights labor.

This discussion came to the fore, recalls the specialist, in the case of Zara Brasil. In 2011, 15 Bolivian workers who sewed clothes for the brand were rescued in a degrading situation. The company claimed ignorance, but initially signed an agreement that provided for collective compensation of BRL 3.4 million and another, in 2017, of BRL 5 million for non-compliance with the first.

Carolina observes that the case of the grape harvest involved 13 times more workers and, according to the investigation, it had already been happening in previous harvests.

Lawyer, retired judge and president of the Association of Magistrates of the Regional Labor Court of the 4th Region, Roberto Siegmann attributes the low compensation to workers to an “ill-formed idea” that compensation amounts cannot represent an award to the indemnified.

“It is not exclusive to this TAC. To discourage requests [de indenização] that don’t make sense, Justice often chooses to establish low workers’ compensation even when they are justified. In a case like that of the wineries, the first criterion for establishing the value should be the therapeutic effect”, says the magistrate.

Siegmann, however, praises the didactic character of the TAC by listing step by step the measures to be taken by the wineries in question. For him, the document can serve as a guide for any company interested in closer monitoring of its relations with suppliers and service providers.

“From a theoretical point of view, [o TAC] it’s very well done. It points out numerous violations that have been committed and says there, in all letters, that the company that hires the services of a third party is responsible and has the obligation to supervise and demand that the rules are complied with”, he says.

For Siegmann, by meticulously listing obligations in relation to accommodation, sanitary facilities, meals and contractual payment issues in the event of default by outsourced companies with contractors, the document paves the way for greater clarity of labor duties in other agricultural crops in RS and from Brazil.

The day after the announcement of the agreement with the wineries, there was a new operation to rescue people in degrading work situations in Uruguaiana, on the western border of RS. There were 82 people rescued – including 11 teenagers, who worked on leased rice farms. There are already 291 workers rescued in RS in 2023, a number that is close to double the 156 rescued in 2022.