Last week another case of slave labor was discovered in Brazil. In Bento Gonçalves, a city in the Serra Gaúcha, around 200 workers were rescued, after some managed to escape and denounce the case. They were outsourced by large companies such as Bodegas Salton, Aurora and Garibaldi, which shows that capitalism, more and more, reserves us overexploitation, violence, hunger and death. The companies involved must be expropriated and placed under workers’ control, and those responsible arrested.
PSTU-RS State Directorate
According to the account of a rescued worker: “We got there with a large group of people. When we saw the situation, we all wanted to leave, but we had no money to come back. When they found out that I canceled my card [de trabajo]he [sospechoso] he passed by with the gun with the handle out to intimidate me. They pointed their weapons at us to go to work, they hit us on the feet. It was forced labor.”
The working day was exhausting, the housing conditions were totally unsanitary, they were provided with food in poor condition and they were forced to consume in establishments with very high prices, contracting debts, which made them work without receiving practically nothing.
But this is not an isolated case. In 2021, 1,937 workers were rescued from contemporary slavery in Brazil, the highest number since the 2,808 workers in 2013, according to information released by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare at the beginning of 2022. In total, there were 443 operations in the 27 units of the Federation.
Since 1995, when Brazil recognized before the United Nations the persistence of slave labor in its territory, until the end of 2021, more than 57,000 people have been rescued from slavery. All this, according to official data. We know that, in practice, these numbers are much higher, given the lack of enforcement and underreporting. Most cases are located in rural areas.
But slavery-like work is not exclusive to remote regions. In the central region of the city of São Paulo there are many Bolivian workers in the same conditions, working in sewing workshops. Such practices go back to the heritage of colonialism, which is at the base of capitalism.
Who benefits from slave labor?
Behind the foremen and intermediaries there are large companies that benefit from slave labor. In the case of Bento Gonçalves, a region responsible for producing 90% of the national wine, the large wineries benefited. Now they want to disclaim responsibility, alleging that they were outsourced workers. But, if the case did not come to light, they would continue to benefit from slave labor, without carrying out any inspection.
The capitalism that was established on the basis of slave labor, needs today to increase the level of exploitation more and more to maintain the profits of the big businessmen. For this reason, cases of slave labor are increasing, especially affecting blacks.
Overexploitation is accompanied by labor and social security reforms, the Outsourcing Law that eliminated various rights and lowered wages in recent years. Not to mention the increase in violence against workers, against youth in the periphery, the repression of mobilizations and the lack of control implemented by the Bolsonaro government.
For this reason, the mobilization of the workers is essential to demand that the Lula government increase investment in inspections, but also punish the benefited companies, expropriating them and placing them under the control of the workers. Furthermore, contrary to what Lula has said, the government needs to repeal the labor and pension reforms and the Outsourcing Law, so that workers can take a step forward in their conquests.
Enough of slavery and exploitation!
To end slave labor, exploitation and oppression, we need to fight against capitalism, which concentrates all the wealth produced by the workers in the hands of a few billionaires, who do not hesitate to use all kinds of violence to maintain their profits.
The violence against workers in conditions analogous to slavery, the repression of strikes, urban and rural occupations is no coincidence. Most of the time, they use the police and justice to implement the repression. But when the bosses need to free one of their own, they pay for it, like one of the businessmen arrested in the case of Bento Gonçalves, released on bail.
That is why we reaffirm that a government with a broad front and conciliation with big capital will not solve the serious problems that afflict the working class and the poor population of that country.
There is no way to reform this system, much less to “humanize” it. It is necessary to build a new society, a socialist society where workers can benefit from all the wealth produced by them.
Article published in www.pstu.org.br, 2/27/2023.-
Translation: Natalia Estrada.