A reinvenção do trabalho escravo no setor sucroalcooleiro: a região sudeste no período de 2008 até 2016

Abstract

The cultivation of sugar cane is directly intertwined with the socioeconomic formation of Brazil, from the colonial period where the cultivation of it served as the basis for and the economy of the colony to the present day, where we are a world reference in the cultivation of the same, constituting one of the most representative sectors in the Brazilian economy, mainly for its role in the process of economic internationalization of Brazil in monopoly capitalism. Thus, the sector has received, and still has received, a torrent of public and private investments that boost its technological development, which in turn is predominantly restricted to a part of the production chain. It can be seen that the work fronts at the base of the production chain are those that receive less technological investments, that is, workers who deal directly with cutting cane are not benefited by such incentives to the sector. There is then an apparent contradiction within this chain, which is one of the most developed and received investments, the base worker who is responsible for keeping it working has degrading working conditions. Still, there is the use of labor analogous to the condition of slavery in the sugar cane harvesting process, especially in the southeastern region of the country, here we have the apparent dialectical contradiction of capitalism, at the same time that its dynamism is invested in technological dynamism. The productive base is founded on slave labor reinvented, in addition, we will seek to investigate the recent changes to labor legislation and infer about their motivations that led to such changes. The present work is the result of a Scientific Initiation, with support from CNPQ, being carried out between the years 2016 and 2017. The main objective was to analyze the working relationships in the cutting of sugarcane and its use of work analogous to that For this purpose, a bibliographic search was carried out on primary sources, with class entities that investigate and denounce cases of slave labor such as the Pastoral Land Commission, the Slave Labor Clinic, Repórter Brasil, and entities related to the sector, such as the União das Usinas de Cana-de-Açúcar, as well as reading and analyzing secondary sources such as periodical articles and headlines and important newspapers. It was possible to conclude that even with the reduction in the number of reports of slave labor in the southeast region, their presence is superior to that of other regions in Brazil, a factor that exemplifies yet another contradiction of the capitalist system, since the The southeastern region is historically known as the most developed in the country, it was also possible to prove that the changes in labor legislation and in the recognition of slave labor in the country have undergone advances and setbacks over the years, as is characteristic of the historical and dialectical movement. Subsequent research is recommended to verify the factors that influence recent advances and setbacks in terms of the reinvention of slave labor and the population's perception of the existence of this working condition today.