Worker is rescued from conditions similar to slavery in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul

He has no record in the Work and Social Security Card (CTPS), regular salary, vacation or 13th salary. (Photo: Disclosure/MT)

A 57-year-old worker was rescued, last Friday (19), from a situation similar to slavery on a property in the interior of Encruzilhada do Sul, in Rio Grande do Sul. The man, born in Montenegro (RS), had been working for 10 years in the production of charcoal and firewood on a farm. He has no record in the Work and Social Security Card (CTPS), regular salary, vacation or 13th salary.

The salary was still not paid monthly, but at intervals of two or three months, and items purchased for the employee by the owner were deducted from this salary, mostly alcoholic beverages and tobacco, when the CLT, in the caput of its article 458, prohibits in any case this type of product from being considered salary in nature. The worker also did not enjoy regular vacations and, according to his testimony, had gone on vacation twice in 10 years, but without receiving payment.

A widower, he mainly carried out logging and coal burning activities, activities considered unhealthy. In addition to the irregularity in their payments, the task force found that the conditions of the housing provided by the employer were degrading, with unplastered walls and a bed that had been assembled from old wood fillets by the worker himself.

The owner did not provide bedding, and what was available on site was left there by other workers who had passed through the property years before in a poor state of repair. The water consumed by the worker came from an open source on the land, and the owner of the site admitted that no assessment of the quality of the water or his property for consumption was ever carried out.

The mobile operation to Combat Slave Labor included the participation of the Federal Public Defender’s Office (DPU), the Public Ministry of Labor (MPT), the Federal Highway Police (PRF), the Federal Police (PF) and labor inspectors. .

After the rescue was made, an agreement was signed with the employer. Under the Conduct Adjustment Term (TAC), he will pay the amount of around R$55,000 to the worker, with a deposit and 10 installments; plus compensation in the amount of R$1,500, for individual moral damage, and R$5,000, for collective moral damage.

After taking statements at the headquarters of the State Public Ministry (MP-RS) in Encruzilhada, the worker was sent back to Montenegro, with guaranteed payment of severance pay.