Trabalho escravo contemporâneo no Turismo: o caso das empresas Bob´s e batata no cone no Rock in Rio

Abstract

The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 10% of the total of 15 million victims of contemporary slave labor are workers in the restaurant and hotel sector (ILO, 2017). Although food is an almost irrelevant sector among those most commonly involved in the exploitation of slave labor in Brazil, two cases in snack bars gained notoriety for having been fined for slave labor by the Ministry of Labor within the Rock in Rio event, in 2013 and 2015. The mega event Rock in Rio is a music festival created by businessman Roberto Medina, and had its first edition in January 1985 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. At Rock in Rio 2013, the fast food chain named “Bob’s” was fined by the Ministry of Labor for keeping ninety-three workers in conditions analogous to slavery, one of them a teenager under the age of 18. The workers were hired through illegal outsourcing and did not receive any support from the assessed company. The infraction notices highlight the unhealthy conditions of housing and work environment and the fact that the workers did not receive credentials to enter the event. After the inspection action, Bob's signed a Conduct Adjustment Agreement (TAC in the Portuguese acronym) with the Public Ministry of Labor (MPT in the Portuguese acronym) and paid severance pay in the amount of R$102,485.57 in a preliminary agreement. At Rock in Rio 2015, a French fries snack bar known as “Batata no Cone” was fined by the Ministry of Labor for keeping seventeen workers in conditions analogous to slavery. There was grooming, exhausting working hours, withholding of documents, degrading working conditions and debt bondage. After an inspection action, three Terms of Adjustment of Conduct were signed between the parties and the MPT, with the intention of establishing obligations to do and not to do. Given this context, the objective of this research is to analyze the aforementioned cases of contemporary slave labor at the Rock in Rio event in 2013 and 2015. The research techniques to be used were: bibliographical research (books and scientific articles) and documental research (infraction notices, Conduct Adjustment Terms and official Rock in Rio documents).The results showed that the discussion about contemporary slave labor is of great urgency, as it is unacceptable that there are people subjected to degrading working conditions and exhausting journeys, going through humiliating situations, where the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution are disrespected.