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The Joint
Committee that is preparing draft Regulations for the Poultry and Meatpacking
Sector met in Brasilia this past November 23. The committee reviewed the work
accomplished so far and concluded that significant progress had been made, but
there is work still to be done to finish the draft.
-What decisions
were adopted at this last meeting?
-After going
over what we had done and confirming that there had been advances, we saw there
were still issues to be resolved. We scheduled a new meeting for the second half
of February 2011, with the hope that by then we’ll have completed the document
so that we can put it to the consideration of the Joint Committee formed by the
government to approve the Regulations.
-What will
happen after the approval process?
-The
Regulations for the poultry and meatpacking sectors are one of the priorities
set by this official federal government committee for the year 2011, so we
expect that discussions will begin quickly, after the new year.
-What issues of
the regulations are being negotiated with the companies?
-These
regulations cover several work aspects, in particular, the work pace, breaks,
and ergonomic conditions at work.
Precisely one
of the most important advances we’ve made is that management has agreed to
include in the Regulations mandatory 10-minute breaks for every 50 minutes
worked. That means that the work hour in the poultry sector will be 50 minutes
long instead of 60.
Special
attention will be given to the ergonomic conditions of all the machinery used in
the sector, as many of the injuries caused in this industry are due to the use
of machines that are designed to obtain the greatest profit, but leave no room
for decent work.
-What are the
issues that have not been agreed on yet?
-There are
still quite a few issues to discuss, but we must highlight that the issues that
CONTAC and the IUF have been working on for years are now being
incorporated into these Regulations, which means all our sacrifice,
struggling, and commitment are finally paying off.
In this, the
IUF has played a decisive role, as its denunciations and visits have gone a
long way to raise awareness among companies, and the partnerships and joint
activities conducted with Finland’s Federation of Food Industry Workers (SEL)
have also been instrumental.
All of these
efforts have been a key contribution that has helped workers come this far, just
months away from having a law that will regulate work in Brazil’s poultry
industries.
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