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News > Latin America

Brazilian Luxury Clothing Company Busted for Slave Labor

  • Bolivian immigrants work at a clothing factory in Nova Odessa, Brazil, on Oct. 11, 2011.

    Bolivian immigrants work at a clothing factory in Nova Odessa, Brazil, on Oct. 11, 2011. | Photo: AFP

Published 21 June 2016
Opinion

Brazilian labor officials released five people who had been working in quasi-slavery conditions on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.

Brazilian authorities rescued five Bolivian workers – including a 14 year old girl – from slave-like conditions at a sweatshop factory belonging to Brookfield Donna, one of Brazil’s most famous luxury clothing companies, the BBC Brasil and Brazil Reporter revealed on Monday.

The BBC report detailed flagrant violations of Brazilian labor law that were uncovered by authorities during a labor inspection last May, marking the latest instance of slave labor practices in the Brazilian garment industry.

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"The safety and health conditions of the workers were non-existent, both in the workplace, and in places of residence,” Brazilian labor officials wrote in their final audit report. 

“The labor practices in this sweatshop included limitations on their freedom of movement along with excessive and inhumane working hours,” The report noted. 

Among the most vulnerable workers in Brazil are illegal immigrants, who mainly come from neighboring countries such as Bolivia and Peru.

In Sao Paulo, the country's business center, the number of immigrants from other South American countries more than doubled between 2000 and 2010 to over 23,000, according to the Brazilian statistics agency IBGE. However, unofficial estimates by city officials put the number at between 200,000 and 400,000.

At the Brookfield Donna factory, the rescued employees were compensated US$1 per garment, which were later sold in retail stores for amounts exceeding $200.

Despite the overwhelming evidence uncovered by Brazilian authorities, Brookfield Donna has denied the allegations of the degrading conditions of those workers, claiming that a clothing supplier that outsourced the work was solely responsible.

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Meanwhile, Brazilian prosecutors are also investigating the clothing supplier Via Veneto, which labor inspectors accuse of benefiting financially from unethical labor practices.

Since 2003, the Brazilian government has put an emphasis on trying to eradicate forced labor in Brazil. The government created a running list of companies with exploitative labor practices, also known as the "Dirty List," includes the names of companies that use slave labor.

If after two years a company pays all its fines and proves that it has remedied working conditions, it is removed from the list. Blacklisted employers are blocked from receiving government loans and having restrictions placed on sales of their products.

Brazilian officials have rescued over 50,000 people from working in slavery since 1995, with 10,000 of those between 2011 and 2015 alone, according to government data.

Despite efforts by Brazil's government to prevent labor abuses and the tragedies that stem from them, thousands of immigrants continue to toil in illegal factories supplying clothes and other goods to some of the country's best-known retailers.

Brazil has about 200,000 people working as modern day slaves, according to the International Labor Organization.

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