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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
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Janne
Ronkainen (SASK), Henri Lindholm (SEL General Secretary), Virpi
Turene (Interpreter), Eira Ylitalo (SEL Vice President), Eila
Kämäräinen (SEL - International Affairs) |
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Jorge Villada (UNAC-IUF),
Artur Bueno de Camargo (CNTA President),
Neuza Barboza de Lima (CNTA International Affairs Secretary) |
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Siderlei Silva de Oliveira (CONTAC President) |
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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) |
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