Thousands protest labor abuses in Brazil

The fight for labor rights continues in Brazil, where a coalition of groups has almost succeeded in forcing an amendment to the country’s constitution which will “allow authorities to expropriate lands from owners who exploit workers” according to the AP.

This comes after a wave of land occupations directed at multi-national and local corporations, but it is also derived from a long standing and thriving grassroots culture of resistance, spearheaded by rural landless campaigners and homeless squatters.

About 2,000 activists joined government officials Wednesday to pressure Brazil’s Congress to pass a constitutional amendment aimed at stopping slave-like labor conditions in Latin America’s biggest nation.

Human rights groups, landless workers movements, unions, religious groups and even Brazil’s labor minister participated in the protest in the nation’s capital.

They called Congress to approve a constitutional amendment that would allow authorities to expropriate lands from owners who exploit workers.

Labor ministry figures show that 28,000 people have been freed from slave-like working conditions since 1995, usually from farms, sugarcane plantations and coal factories across the country.

Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.

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