São Paulo state prosecutors on Wednesday denounced what they called degrading working conditions at facilities where ethanol is made. Brazil is a global pioneer in the alternative fuel.
In a report on five plants in the Marilia region of the state, labour prosecutors found that 40% of sugar-cane cutters were victims of bad treatment.
The report found that 400 employees out of 1 000 worked in direct sun during the hottest hours of the day with no water, nowhere to eat or bathe, and no safety equipment.
”Of course everything depends on what is deemed degrading, but for us, yes, these are degrading working conditions for the employees,” said labour-law prosecutor Edmundo Jose de Oliveira Neto.
A University of São Paulo study separately found that ethanol-facility workers toiled an average of 12 hours a day for less than $200 a month.
Brazil in 2006 produced about 17,7-billion litres of ethanol made from sugar cane — about 35% of the world’s total. São Paulo state has 60% of Brazil’s plants that make ethanol.
Brazil and the United States on March 9 inked a strategic alliance to promote biofuels, declaring the step important for the environment and global security.
Brasilia and Washington want to standardise the definition of ethanol so it can be traded on global markets, the same way oil is traded.
Brazil produces ethanol from sugar cane, while the US uses corn; together, they account for 70% of the fuel’s production.
More than four out five new cars in Brazil can run on ethanol, either mixed with gasoline or pure.
Brazil’s state oil giant Petrobras said ethanol production can be expanded 15 times over five years, without further destruction of the Amazon or harming food production.
Investment in biofuels production, meanwhile, is soaring, with Brazil’s sugar-cane industry plowing money into distilleries. — Sapa-AFP