Brazil

Meat Packing and Processing Industry

Finnish and Brazilian organizations examine consequences of work pace in poultry plants

 

In the framework of the Workshop “The Meat Packing and Processing Industry. Challenges for the IUF and its affiliates in Brazil,” organizations from that country and from Finland gathered to exchange experiences and identify ways to support and contribute to the International Campaign Against the Work Pace in Poultry Plants.

 

“Thousands of women suffer daily under appalling working conditions. They bear the pain in their bodies, bodies that cannot endure the work pace in the poultry plants of Brazil. Our country is world champion of chicken exports, but to win that title it has also turned into the world champion of victims of Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI),” CONTAC Health secretary Geni Dalla Rosa declared at the 25th Congress of the IUF (March 2008).

 

These accusations, made by the Brazilian labor organizations CONTAC and CNTA during the last IUF Congress, have had results. A delegation of the Trade Union Solidarity Center of Finland (SASK) and the Federation of Food Industry Workers (SEL) of that Nordic country has traveled to Porto Alegre to find out more about the work conditions in meat packing and poultry plants that our affiliates have been speaking out against.

 

In 2007, Brazil exported more than 3 million tons of poultry meat, which represented a 21 percent increase with respect to the previous year, bringing in almost 5 billion dollars in sales, 55 percent more than in 2006, and setting a new record for the sector. During that same period, exports to the European Union grew by 36 percent in volume and 77 percent in sales value.

 

In the last few years, Brazil has positioned itself as the world’s leading chicken exporter, while 25 percent of the nearly 400 thousand workers in the industry suffer from Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI), according to the latest estimates.

 

The objective of the Workshop, held from June 11 through 12, is to coordinate the capacities and resources of the participating organizations, and define how they can work together to support and intensify the International Campaign Against the Work Pace in Poultry Plants.

 

Photos of the June 11 session

Janne Ronkainen (SASK), Henri Lindholm (SEL General Secretary), Virpi Turene (Interpreter), Eira Ylitalo (SEL Vice President), Eila Kämäräinen (SEL - International Affairs)

 

 

Jorge Villada (UNAC-IUF), Artur Bueno de Camargo (CNTA President),
Neuza Barboza de Lima (CNTA International Affairs Secretary)

 

Siderlei Silva de Oliveira (CONTAC President)

 

Beatriz Sosa Martínez (IUF Latin American Regional Office), Jorge Villada (UNAC-IUF),
Artur Bueno de Camargo (CNTA President), Neuza Barboza de Lima
(CNTA International Affairs Secretary)

 

From Porto Alegre, Gerardo Iglesias
Rel-UITA
June 11, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

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