Brazilian Workers "Rescued" from "Enslavement" on MSC Ship

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-26896483

Just thought I would post it here.... I won't get into the tons of cultural factors in play , but thought it would be fodder for the boards.

I don't know all the facts, so I cannot say that some of the workers were not treated properly, but sorry, enslavement sounds like PC overload.

Gosh, some workers had to work 16 hours a day. You know, I have done that during my life, for weeks at a time.

I totally agree...I think they were getting a glamorous " cruise " job and when reality hit , they decided to make a big stink.

And the Brazilian govt loves to point fingers at others without looking at its own serious problems.

I have a friend in Salvador who, to survive due to lack of jobs there, left her young son with her mother in order to take a job as a live-in maid (6 days a week, on call 24 hours, usually working 16 hour per day) for R$240 (currently = U$106) per month (under the table, like most jobs in that area, and not subject to official minimum wage). Eventually the situation took its toll on her both physically and emotionally (being separated from her child) until she could no longer continue.

This is not an uncommon situation (in that area of the country, the area I am most familiar with). The government should put attention and funding toward educating the public school population for something other than manual labor, and to developing good jobs for the workforce they educate. The booming economy that the media has been touting is still a myth to many, esp. in the northeast of the country.

I totally agree...I think they were getting a glamorous " cruise " job and when reality hit , they decided to make a big stink.

 

And the Brazilian govt loves to point fingers at others without looking at its own serious problems.

I don't know about MSC but Princess workers know when they sign their contract that 13-plus hour days are the norm. Most are happy to get the work and eager to sign additional contracts because their wages far exceed what they could earn at home.

Your second point is spot on!

If Brazil wants to address the issue of "slavery" they should begin by stopping the labor practices of those who run the charcoal/iron ore smelting operations in the Amazon. Indigenous workers are recruited to work in camps with promises of large salaries....once in the camps they are virtual slaves, paid wages that are less than the amount the company charges them for room/board. Brazil has known about this problem for at least a decade and has yet to stop the practice.