One way of telling the story of labour and human rights violations on the coffee farms in the South of Minas
the so-called ‘gatos’ mediate the hiring process and lure workers who will be sent
to the four corners of the state of Minas Gerais
where they will work in insalubrious conditions on the harvest of one of Brazil’s principal exportation products
The country currently produces around one third of the worldwide output of coffee beans
The south and south-eastern regions of Minas Gerais meet half this demand
making the state the biggest coffee producer in the country
Over 28 million sacks of coffee are produced there every year
which is the equivalent to almost 1.7 thousand tonnes
The cost of a part of this production is systematic violations
like debt bondage and degrading working conditions
These were identified on 17 farms during inspections over the last four years
Violations related in testimonies made by 37 workers rescued from the farms
corroborated by infraction reports and Ministry of Labour inspection reports
make up the denouncement registered on 21 August by Conectas and ADERE-MG (State of Minas Gerais Rural Employees’ Group) together with the PCN (National Contact Point) of Brazil for the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) for multinational companies
The PCN is an apparatus made up of representatives from a number of public bodies that are dedicated to implementing and raising awareness of OECD guidelines – a set of norms aimed at bringing greater responsibility to business conduct
The PCN has the role of receiving denouncements of violations for multinational companies and starting the process of mediation to verify whether guidelines are being followed
The denouncement was received from ADERE-MG
an organisation that is the voice of a number of rural trade unions in the state
The farms in question are involved in product supply chains for the multinationals Nestlé
Slave-like working conditions – precarious living conditions
lack of hygiene in lodgings and common areas
irregular hiring and payment – were among the recurring violations
“Brazil has a commitment to comply with OECD guidelines for multinational companies
These clearly stipulate the corporate duty to respect human rights
prevent and remedy human rights violations in which they are involved
including in their supply chains.” Said Caio Borges
Coordinator of Development and Socio-Environmental Rights at Conectas
“By failing to establish robust mechanisms to track and monitor the supply chain
as well as failing to participate in victim compensation processes
coffee brands could find themselves in violation of international human rights standards for responsible business conduct
like OECD guidelines and UN guiding principles.” Borges added
The denouncement also presents the efforts of companies and producers to build guidelines for social responsibility
as well as certification of the coffee supply chain
Despite these initiatives of social responsibility
purchasing companies still lack transparency and fail to implement mechanisms for periodic checks
Every year hundreds of workers are convinced by these offers and board clandestine buses
a worker had even called the farm he was destined for and accepted the offer only after they had confirmed the conditions
“So I phoned and asked him how it was: it’s like this and that and everything – all ok
I was going to sign up and we agreed it would be all proper
it was completely different from what he’d said …
So we worked for a bit and nothing he’d promised ever happened.”
(Testimony given during a listening workshop for workers on slave labour on the coffee plantations in Minas Gerais
Conditions on the farms are quite different from what is promised
Few of the lodgings had running water and in some cases
workers describe conditions as like ‘living in a corral’
in precarious structures that were not enough to meet even the most basic needs for dignified survival
On one of the farms where Ministry of Labour inspectors rescued people held in slavery-like conditions
When their food stocks ran out and as they were not being paid
workers had to eat leftover rice and papaya picked on the farm
because they didn’t pay and they didn’t register us either
If those people hadn’t got us out we would have stayed there for ages.”
Exhausting working days also figure in the testimonies and in infraction reports made by inspectors
The working day starts at 4am with a long walk to the place where harvesting takes place and goes on into the night
as well as fatigue are recurrent and continual
which increased health risks to workers from both the machinery involved in harvesting but also from prolonged exposure to pesticides
Workers are paid according to the number of sacks of coffee they harvest
The agreed sum is not always paid in full and it is evident that there is often fraud in counting the sacks
there are records of cases where Record of Employment booklets have been retained and also where people under the ages of 18 and 16 are being employed
The denouncement presented to the OECD is classified by the UN Guiding Principles on Companies and Human Rights
that describes the degree to which a company is involved with human rights violations based on three categories: cause
The highest level of company responsibility is when it ‘causes’ a violation
Followed by those in ‘contributory’ relationships
‘direct relationship’ is the lowest level of responsibility of the three forms of involvement
Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s are directly related to violations through their commercial involvement with companies that practice violations linked to products
These three multinationals acquire coffee via the Canadian distributor Mother Parkers which
The production chain is as follows: Cooxupé buys coffee from another cooperative
that has commercial relations with a producer whose name is on the black list for slave labour
Illy and Dunkin’ Donuts did not respond to the organisation’s questions regarding the transparency of its links to companies that violate rights nor to the fact that farms cited in denouncements continue to appear on their list of suppliers
Starbucks has both direct and contributory links
Nestlé is a signatory of the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labour and informed that
currently 85% of its Brazilian Arabic coffee reserves are acquired by responsible companies
who have a certificate of origin for independent companies or Nestlé’s sustainability programme
the Dutch organisation Danwatch discovered that Nestlé was buying coffee from farms where beans were harvested under slave-like conditions
Nestlé informed that “it does not tolerate violations of workers’ rights
which includes forced labour and/or slave-like labour”
but failed to respond to specific questions regarding transparency in its production chain and its links with farms that violate rights
Danwatch also showed that Jacob Douwe Egberts had purchased
coffee harvested by people working in slave-like conditions
Conectas contacted the multinational who said that they work “actively with governments
agricultural cooperatives and the whole coffee supply chain in order to improve working conditions on the coffee plantations of Brazil and around the world”
Starbucks, in turn, also admitted having purchased coffee from the Cooxupé cooperative, but showed that the coffee had not been harvested on farms that violated rights. However, this year, 18 workers were rescued from one of the farms certified by Starbucks
They had been exposed to degrading working conditions
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Brazil - ZIP: 01032-970 - Phone: +55 (11) 3884-7440