January 28, 2022

17:01

Victória Sales – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Created to honor three labor inspectors murdered during an inspection to investigate a complaint, the National Day of Combat Against Slave Labor, celebrated this Friday, 28th, brings with it much more than just a tribute, but a warning. In the Amazon, a labor activity has become the target of both federal and state labor prosecutors: the piaçaba workers, who make their living from extracting the fiber of the piaçaba palm, also popularly known as piaçava.

The use of this palm tree has progressed to the making of domestic and industrial brooms, house covers, leisure areas, and civil construction, among others. In the Amazon, the city of Barcelos, 399 kilometers from Manaus, concentrates this activity. The workers need to stay for medium to long periods, due to the productive activity, in the places where the piassaba palm trees are found.

According to the National Commission for the Sustainable Development of Traditional Peoples and Communities (CNPCT), in some cases, the families accompany the men in the collection, camping with them and participating in the work. Most of the piaçaba workers have little or no education, and piaçaba extraction is a predominantly male activity. Broom making, on the other hand, is an eminently feminine task, but occurs with little incidence in the extractivist communities.

According to the article “The extraction of piaçava and contemporary slave labor in the Amazon”, published by the prosecutors in 2014, the legal characterization of contemporary slave labor in the country encompasses four hypotheses: forced labor, exhausting workdays, degrading conditions, and restriction of locomotion. Also according to the study, the work done in a forced way is characterized by the person who did not volunteer, but was coerced into doing such an act.

“In the region of the Middle Rio Negro, which involves the municipalities of Santa Isabel do Rio Negro and Barcelos, piaçava extraction is one of the most important activities, involving several social agents, including indigenous people. The piaçava extractors have specific knowledge about how to extract and process the piaçava fibers, besides knowing the region, with its immense number of rivers and stream”, reports the article.

Histories

The study “Barcelos’ piaçaba workers: life and work history”, published in 2007, by the Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam), shows the story of Mrs. Afonsa, a former piaçaba worker and resident of Barcelos. She reports the difficulty of access to basic resources such as water, electricity and telephone. “To get news, you had to go to the places where it was easiest to receive something, through conversations or letters that you received. The bosses only went there from time to time. If the ranch ran out, you had to wait”, he said.

“When the children were small, we went hungry in the placements, because some placements are plentiful and others are starving. We didn’t even have documents, because we didn’t have time to get them. The piaçabeiros don’t have time to go out for these things, if they don’t get organized. I went hungry with my children still small. However, piassaba is still what you can do, because the syringe and the sorva fell”, Afonsa declared to the research.

Rescue

In April 2014, the Public Ministry of Labor (MPT), together with the Federal Public Ministry of Amazonas (MPF-AM) and the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), carried out an operation in which it was possible to rescue 13 workers in conditions analogous to slavery only in the municipality of Barcelos. According to information released by the agencies, the workers extracted piaçaba from Monday to Friday, all day long, and on weekends they worked on processing the fiber.

Also according to the complaint, the piaçaba workers were in improvised buildings in the middle of the Amazon forest, without the minimum conditions of safety and hygiene, for example. In the lawsuit, the businessman Luiz Cláudio Morais, one of the main defendants of the crime, was ordered to pay the amount of R$ 125,472.94 in labor compensation, in addition to R$ 10,000 for each worker for moral damages.

Subsidy

In 2021, the Government of Amazonas included piaçaba in the support plan for the State’s fiber producers, which benefited hundreds of families that make their livelihood from this activity. As of May, the product became part of the Amazonas’ subsidies, along with jute, malva, natural rubber, and the managed pirarucu. With this, the product started to be commercialized in the market, besides receiving the subsidy of R$ 0.50 per kilo sold.

“The governor promised and now fulfills the support to the piaçaba trees of the Rio Negro with the inclusion of piaçaba among the products supported by the state subsidy, with the value of R$ 0.50 per kilo. This will generate income to a population that has been forgotten for a long time”, said the Secretary of the State Secretariat of Rural Production (Sepror), Petrucio Magalhães Júnior.

Piaçaba

The product is known as a fiber extracted from some palm species and is widely used for the production of handicrafts, besides strengthening commerce in the Amazon region. According to its age, piaçaba has a name. Up to the age of three, the product is called patioba. At the age of 12, when it produces fruits and fibers, it is called banana tree, and from 12 to 15 it is called young coconut tree. From 15 on, the plant is called the old coconut tree.

The collection is done manually, when the biodegradable fibers are untangled, arranged, cut, and then tied. The leaves of the piaçaba tree grow in an upright position and protect, feed, and host animals. In addition, the plant’s canopy absorbs solar radiation and keeps the soil and air from getting too hot.

National slavery

A research made by the Labor Public Ministry (MPT), released this Thursday, 27th, showed that 1,671 workers were rescued from slavery situations in 2021. But, according to the agency, this number can be even higher, since this data was computed with the joint operations in which the MPT participated. In one of them, in October 2021, approximately 116 people were rescued.