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20 February, 2006
The ICEM is backing a struggle by workers affiliated with Brazilian union SINAP-CUT in the state of Maranhão. Without warning and refusing to engage in dialogue with unions, Brazilian company Group João Santos sacked 227 workers last month in the remote northern town of Coelho Neto at its paper and agricultural enterprises, Itapagé SA and Agrimex SA.
The company has refused to honour social payments due to workers, or to recognise the economic hardships created in the town. Group João Santos is responsible for 90% of the formal jobs in the rural town and controls 90% of the land around Coelho Neto.
The workers and their families, backed by ICEM affiliate SINAP-CUT, together with an agricultural union, established a camp in front of the company’s Coelho Neto offices. The camp’s inhabitants have been threatened by military police, which has been summoned by the company.
Workers and their unions issued “claims guidelines” against Group João Santos, calling for the company to return land to the community, maintain the town’s schools and school personnel, and rehire the workers to employment levels as of November 2005. The ICEM supports such demands, and has expressed such in letters to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the country’s minister of Labour and Employment, and the state’s General Attorney for Labour.