Interim Report - Report No 241, November 1985

Case No 1294 (Brazil) - Complaint date: 13-JUL-84 - Closed

1. 708. The complaint of the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (CONTAG) is contained in a communication dated 13 July 1984.
2. 709. In the absence of observations from the Government the Committee was obliged to adjourn examination of this case on three occasions, for the last time at its May 1985 meeting, when it observed with regret that, in spite of the time which had elapsed since the complaint was presented, the information and observations awaited from the Government had not been received. The Committee therefore appealed to the Government to transmit its observations as a matter of urgency, drawing its attention to the fact that, in conformity with the procedural rules set out in paragraph 17 of the Committee's 127th Report, approved by the Governing Body, it might present a report at its next meeting on the substance of this case even if the Government's observations had not been received by that date. (See 239th Report, para. 15, approved by the Governing Body at its 230th Session (May-June 1985).) The Office has since sent the Government of Brazil a cable, dated 27 August 1985, to remind it of this urgent appeal.
3. 710. Since it has still not received the Government's information and observations on this case, the Committee regrets that the Government has not yet sent them, and in view of the time which has elapsed since the complaint was presented, it feels obliged to examine the case without taking these observations into account.
4. 711. Brazil has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), but has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 712. The National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (CONTAG) has submitted a complaint of violation of freedom of association in Brazil on behalf of the Federation of Agricultural Workers of the State of Pernambuco (FETAPE), an organisation which is affiliated with it. The complainants allege that the employers resorted to violence against militant workers in the sugar-cane plantation area of the State of Pernambuco and that the government authorities were ineffective in putting an end to it.
2. 713. The complainants explain that in 1979, following a general strike, the 240,000 rural workers of the above-mentioned sugar-cane cultivation area had secured a collective agreement on wages and labour standards and a guarantee that land would be made available to them for food crops. From 1979 to 1983 other collective agreements were signed under the aegis of the Regional Labour Court, and the workers became aware that they could resort to the labour courts to secure observance of these agreements. Parallel with these developments, the regional labour delegation was at the same time maintaining systematic supervision of the region, in particular keeping checks on clandestine labour and ensuring respect for the rights of the workers enshrined in the law and collective labour agreements.
3. 714. In the middle of 1982, however, the employers began to sabotage these agreements by recruiting unemployed labour in the regions affected by the drought which, at the time of the complaint, had been affecting the Sertao and Agreste for five years. They got rid of the regular workers, replacing them by large numbers of underpaid, non-unionised clandestine workers from these regions. This involved no great risk to the employers, explain the complainants, since the workers concerned returned to their administrative districts after the harvest and had no means of upholding their rights before a labour court. The employers also hired temporary workers residing in the administrative districts of the sugar-cane area, but they contrived to employ them in districts far from their homes, so that the union in their workplace was not that of which they were members and could therefore not demand the application of collective agreements before the courts.
4. 715. According to the complainants, these illegal manoeuvres by the employers were facilitated by the inertia of the regional labour delegation, which relaxed its supervision after the elections towards the end of 1982.
5. 716. The complainants explain that, when the various press media gave wide publicity to the campaign launched by the employers to recruit 55,000 workers from the semi-arid region for the 1983-84 harvest, the Rural Workers' Union drew the attention of the Government of the State of Pernambuco to the irresponsibility of the project from the social point of view and to the benefits that it concealed for the employers, since it was obvious that if workers were recruited from the semi-arid zone, this would be to the detriment of the manpower traditionally available on the spot. Its sole aim was to exploit the agricultural workers of the Sertao and Agreste to the maximum, and the union reminded the State Government of its duty to find viable solutions to the problems of these workers in their home areas.
6. 717. Although the Secretary of State for Social Welfare of the Government of the State of Pernambuco agreed, and stated his opposition to the employers' project, saying that he would authorise it only if they were first able to guarantee the full employment of the workers of the Meta area, no concrete measures were taken to prevent the manoeuvres of the planters and refinery owners. On the contrary, administrative supervision was relaxed.
7. 718. In order to evade responsibility for unjustified dismissals, the employers then resorted to illegal or even brutal manoeuvres. Not content with reducing thousands of organised workers to unemployment, the employers went to the lengths of denying them the payment of the indemnities to which they were entitled by accusing them of leaving their employment or threatening them with physical violence when they wanted to approach the labour courts or their union.
8. 719. The complainants also explain that, in order to secure the departure en masse of the regular workers of the Meta zone, the employers suddenly imposed a substantial increase in the workload, doubling or trebling the volume of the daily tasks provided for in the collective agreements. Parallel with this, they brought private armies on to the sugar-cane plantations, composed of hired ruffians armed with revolvers and rifles, whose job it was to "visit" the inhabitants and "supervise" payment of the workers. At the same time, the workers who had been granted land for their own use were no longer allowed to grow food crops on it; their lands were laid waste and transformed into cane-brakes.
9. 720. At the same time the employers forbade the workers to mention the trade union and the standards for the tasks stipulated in the collective agreements and ceased deducting from the workers' wages the trade union contributions the latter had authorised. The private militia denied trade union officials access to the plantations, and workers who attempted to complain to the labour courts or who, like the union delegates, remained in contact with their unions, were subjected to exemplary punishment by the militia: they were beaten up or shot in the middle of the night, and threats and even murders were common.
10. 721. This was the climate of intimidation and terror that developed in a number of plantations, in particular at Caraúbas, in the Paudalho administrative district, for which Geraldo Guerra had held the concession since 1983. In this connection, the complainants mention the inspection report of the regional labour delegation for this plantation, dated 7 November 1983.
11. 722. According to this report, out of a payroll of 140 workers, 40 were clandestine workers receiving a wage lower than that stipulated in the collective agreement. The report noted that the workload for sugar-cane strippers had doubled (from 80 to 144 bundles), that only 20 of the 100 regular workers were receiving six days' wages and remuneration for the weekly rest day, whereas the remaining 80 were receiving less than six days' wages and no remuneration for the weekly rest as a result of the doubling of the workload. Finally, the employer, his steward and the four men accompanying them were armed with rifles and revolvers, according to the inspection report.
12. 723. In addition, say the complainants, a 72-year-old agricultural worker on the same plantation, António Rodriguez dos Santos, who had been living on the estate for over 40 years and had refused to leave his home and his plot of land, was shot dead by a plantation supervisor on 10 January 1984. The first official version of the affair spoke of a crime of passion, a later version of an accident with a firearm. As it happened, the victim was related to the President of the Union of Rural Workers of Sao LourenUo da Mata and of the President of the Union of Rural Workers of Paudalho.
13. 724. On this plantation, according to the complainants, the employer no longer deducts the workers' trade union contributions, giving as a pretext the need for "free and spontaneous communication". Some workers complained to the Limoeira Court and 18 of them told the court that they had signed their request for cancellation of the check-off under pressure. Following the murder of Rodriguez dos Santos, about 40 workers appeared before the same court, accompanied by the employer, Geraldo Guerra, and confirmed that they had signed the request for cancellation on their own initiative, after which the workers who had complained to the Paudalho police were taken by the employer, Geraldo Guerra, to the same police station to withdraw their complaint "spontaneously".
14. 725. Finally, still on the same plantation, controllers of the Institute of Weights and Measures who were making a visit were forced at gunpoint to return the scales and gauges which they had seized on the suspicion that they had been tampered with.
15. 726. Similar manoeuvres are also reported from other plantations, including Taquarinha in the administrative district of Maraial, where José Ribeiro da Silva holds the concession and where, on 19 March 1983, an attempt was made on the life of the agricultural worker António Pedro da Silva by the employer's son-in-law, one Renato de Tal, because he had complained to his union, which is a member of the Federation of Agricultural Workers of the State of Pernambuco (FETAPE) about the invasion of his plot of land and the damage done to it.
16. 727. Likewise, at Jacunde, in the administrative district of Ferreiros, on the plantation conceded to José Barbosa Pereira, an attempt was made on the life of the agricultural worker José Francelino Gomes on 17 March 1983 by the employer, who fired four shots at his house while he and his family were in it. The victim was forced to abandon the harvest of his 2-hectare plot and to change plantation, thus losing his rights to 17 days' paid leave and his severance pay.
17. 728. Finally, at Araújo, in the administrative district of Sao LourenUo da Mata, on the Bulhoes concession, the union delegate was threatened on 2 February 1984 by the plantation supervisor who, revolver in hand, set fire to the premises of the union delegation, totally destroying its roof, in order to prevent the workers from meeting there.
18. 729. The complainants consider that impunity encourages violence. They denounce the escalation of this violence which, they say, is particularly affecting the administrative districts of Carpina, Lagoa, Itaenga and Paudalho, and the fact that the federal inspectors of the Ministry of Labour and controllers of weights and measures have been prevented at gunpoint from carrying out their tasks.
19. 730. They object to the unofficial power of the employers, who use force to back up their claims to flout the law and make attempts on the physical integrity and the lives of the workers, attacking the right to organise guaranteed by the Constitution and making a mockery of the federal supervisory institutions and the labour courts.
20. 731. The complainants add that, on 20 May 1983, they went to see the Governor of the State of Pernambuco to hand him a document denouncing the violence in the Meta area and demanding the adoption of measures to punish the guilty parties. The Governor stated that it was necessary to ensure respect for law and order, and the FETAPE communicated to its council of representatives consisting of 152 unions the assurances it had received in this connection. However, FETAPE and CONTAG observe with regret the inefficacy of the police investigations conducted since that time, given the bias of the investigators who interpret cases of violence as disputes between workers.
21. 732. In conclusion, the complainants demand that the private militias should be disarmed; that the police investigations should be placed in the hands of delegates capable of elucidating the facts in order to establish responsibilities and punish the guilty parties; that the Government should take a clear and unequivocal stand on respect for the rights of the rural workers of the sugar-cane growing area of Pernambuco, and in particular that the regional labour delegation should exercise systematic supervision accompanied by penalties; that the Sugar and Alcohol Institute should supervise the observance of the law respecting plots of land (Decree No. 57.020); and that the federal highway police and the Transport Department should supervise the observance of the highway code.

B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 733. The Committee recalls that at its May-June 1985 Session the Governing Body advised the Government that, in conformity with its procedure, it might present a report on the substance of the case at its next meeting even if the Government's observations had not been received. The Committee has still not received these observations.
2. 734. In these circumstances, and before examining the substance of the case, the Committee feels it necessary to recall the considerations set forth in its First Report (paragraph 31) which it has had cause to repeat on a number of occasions: the purpose of the whole procedure is to promote respect for trade union rights in law and in fact, and the Committee is confident that, if it protects governments against unreasonable accusations, governments on their side will recognise the importance of formulating for objective examination detailed factual replies to such factual charges as may be put forward.
3. 735. The Committee deeply regrets that the Government has not sent a reply; because of the time which has elapsed it is obliged to examine the case without taking account of the Government's observations.
4. 736. The Committee observes that this case concerns acts of violence committed by sugar-cane plantation employers in the Meta region of the State of Pernambuco against workers who are only seeking the application of collective labour agreements. In particular, it notes the prohibition by these employers of access by trade union officials to plantations, the obstacles placed in the way of trade union activities, the burning of trade union premises, the stoppage of check-offs of trade union contributions demanded in advance by the workers, threats to kill rural workers and relatives of trade union officials which are sometimes even put into practice, and finally acts committed by certain planters against representatives of the public authorities carrying out inspections in these areas.
5. 737. It appears from the information furnished by the complainants that the authorities exercised systematic supervision in these areas until the end of 1982, but that since then, despite the good will of the Governor of Pernambuco, certain planters have been behaving in a violent and illegal manner and are no longer subjected to penalties, since according to police investigations on the plantations such acts are allegedly due to disputes between workers.
6. 738. Given the extreme seriousness of the allegations, which mention reprisals against workers in the sugar-cane plantations of the Pernambuco region who are simply demanding respect for the rights obtained in collective agreements, the Committee must recall the importance it attaches to the unimpeded exercise of trade union activities.
7. 739. It accordingly urges the Government to take all necessary measures to guarantee a climate favourable to the exercise of trade union rights by the workers in this area and also requests it to indicate what measures have been taken to restore the trade union situation to normal and secure respect for collective agreements on these plantations.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 740. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve the present interim report, and in particular the following conclusions:
   • a) The Committee deeply regrets that, despite the many requests addressed to it, the Government has sent no written information on this complaint presented by the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers of Brazil in July 1984.
   • b) It draws the Government's attention to the fact that the purpose of the whole procedure is to promote respect for trade union rights in law and in fact, and that the Committee is confident that, if it protects governments against unreasonable accusations, governments on their side will recognise the importance of formulating for objective examination detailed factual replies to such factual charges as may be put forward.
   • c) Regarding the substance of the case, given the extreme seriousness of the allegations, which mention reprisals against sugar-cane plantation workers in the Pernambuco area who are simply demanding respect for the rights obtained in collective agreements, reprisals which include forbidding trade union officials access to plantations, obstacles placed in the way of trade union activities, burning of trade union premises, the stoppage of check-offs of trade union contributions and threats to kill persons connected with trade union officials which are sometimes put into practice, the Committee must recall the importance it attaches to the unimpeded exercise of trade union activities.
   • d) The Committee accordingly urges the Government to take all necessary measures to guarantee a climate favourable to the exercise of trade union rights by the workers in this area and also requests it to indicate what measures it has taken to restore the trade union situation to normal and secure respect for collective agreements on these plantations.