Five workers rescued from slavery-like conditions at recycling plant in Rondonópolis, Brazil

Labor auditors from the Superintendência Regional do Trabalho e Emprego in Mato Grosso (SRTE‑MT) and the Ministério Público do Trabalho (MPT) rescued five employees from a recycling company in Rondonópolis, 218 km from Cuiabá. The inspection, triggered by a denunciation, found workers operating obsolete machinery without personal protective equipment, frequent electric shocks, and exhausting shifts that began at 5:30 a.m. and often ended after 10:00 p.m. Living quarters lacked ventilation, basic furniture, regular water supply and sanitary conditions; a couple and a father‑son pair were among those rescued.

Following the operation, the victims were entitled to unemployment insurance and other labor rights. The company signed a Termo de Ajuste de Conduta (TAC) committing to 16 obligations, including ending forced‑labor practices, registering workers in the employment record (CTPS), paying FGTS deposits, severance, moral‑damage indemnities and covering transport and lodging for return to their hometowns. Non‑compliance will incur a fine of R$ 20,000 per breach. A report by SRTE‑MT will determine whether the firm will be added to the Ministry of Labor’s “dirty list” of employers that subject workers to slavery‑like conditions.