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Trade Union Action
Against Child Labour
Brazilian Experience
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Introduction
Child labour is one of the worst forms of exploitation, since it denies the perspective of a better future to children prevented from the right of studying and playing. In general children work for their living or to increase their family's income and do not study. Many of children carry out activities at risk conditions that jeopardize their physical, psychological, moral and emotional development.
Relying on ILO's constituents efforts - government, employers and workers' organizations - and on NGOs, the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour - IPEC - has been successfully implemented in Brazil.
Since the launch of the Programme in Brazil, in 1992, ILO/IPEC's main objectives have been thoroughly incorporated into trade unions programmes. This booklet gives an overview of the workers' organizations action in the combat of child labour in the country.
CONTENTS
The role of trade unions in Brazil
92-96 - Main outputs achieved
Workers' organizations actions to combat child labour in Brazil
CUT
Franca: A positive experience
CGT
Tackling mineral prospecting sites
Força Sindical
The Moleque Network
Conclusion
The Role of Trade Unions in Brazil
Brazilian trade unions have helped to make public the discussion on child labour issue and to have it included in the national agenda.
Central trade unions have contributed decisively to promote an attitude change of its members and the society concerning child labour.
In fight against child labour trade unions have guaranteed the inclusion of specific clauses concerning the children's rights and protection in collective bargaining agreements. These organizations are engaged in a close analysis of the situation of working children, thus preparing trade union members to combat child labour and ultimately promote community and children's awareness. This is a way to guarantee the enforcement of applied labour legislation.
To definitely incorporate child labour issue into their policies and action plans, the workers' organizations have mainly addressed their efforts considering five lines of actions: - awareness raising;
- social mobilization;
- studies and researches;
- defense of rights;
- direct actions.
92-96 - Main outputs achieved
- Inclusion of the child labour issue in the agenda of national campaigns, and also in collective bargaining agreements, action plans, trade union demands and salary campaigns. Trade union members are encouraged to participate in councils and commissions that discuss and address this subject;
- Training, awareness raising and mobilization of 3,459 unionists in 64 training courses and seminars;
- Assistance to 456 working children in the areas of sisal and fruit crops and in the informal sector; 45 children who worked in hazardous conditions in sisal cultures were withdrew from the workplace;
- Conduction of studies and surveys on: child labour in lumber mills in Pará State; street conditions in the cities of Belém (Pará) and Mossoró (Rio Grande do Norte); salt-works in Natal; and distilleries in Sonora, Mato Grosso do Sul, sugarcane plantations in Sertãozinho (São Paulo); quarries in Imperatriz (Maranhão); babassu coconut in Esperantina (Piauí); tea plantations in Registro (São Paulo); orange crops in Araraquara (São Paulo); in the shoe manufacturing in Franca (São Paulo). Research on children who study and work in Porto Alegre, Osasco, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Goiânia, Recife and Belém;
- Production and broadcasting of radio programmes, publication of several booklets, posters and folders to train and raise awareness of community agents;
- Photograph exhibition and mobilization campaigns.
Workers' organizations actions to combat child labour in Brazil
Central Unica dos Trabalhadores - CUT
In 1991, CUT created the National Commission for the Defense of the Child and Adolescents' Rights aiming the education and labour issues. It has provoked changes in the union routine action, since through debating and including the rights of the child population in its agenda CUT has promoted bargaining of its social, collective and salary policies, social clauses among others.
CUT's main effort consists in working to enforce the Statute of Children and Adolescents, to promote the ratification of the ILO's Convention 138 and Recommendation 146, targeted at ensuring to the child the right to be a child.
To face the reality of child labour exploitation, CUT conducted case studies in eleven Brazilian States. Such studies promoted a deep understanding of living and working conditions of hundreds of boys and girls. Results were discussed in meetings and seminars with the participation of children themselves, trade unions and the society in general.
The incompatibility of child labour with school success and attendance and with the integral development of the child's personality was demonstrated. Children working in orange and tea harvests, babassu coconut extraction, sugarcane plantations, shoe making, charcoal production and in the informal sector are the victims of such abuse. This reality was verified in CUT's field researches.
Ever since then, CUT has been sponsoring several events in the process of raising Brazilian society's awareness. Among these one can highlight training courses for trade union members, social mobilization, meetings of working children, publications.
CUT has also campaigned to eliminate child labour aiming at mobilizing Brazilian and international public opinion. These campaigns focus on demands for basic social policies, particularly education, capable of fostering the construction of children's citizenship. It is worth highlighting campaigns such as Children Belong in School: No to Child Labour and Children and School: Made to One Another (this latter in partnership with the National Confederation of Education Workers), with the distribution of thousands of posters, booklets and stickers.
CUT has been concerned with documenting all this process and disseminating it through leaflets, booklets, notebook series, texts, cassette tapes, videos, posters, newspapers and magazines. CUT has occupied space in the media and established agreements with TV and Radio stations through unions to disseminate the work regarding denounces and demands to relevant public bodies.
Besides the partnership with IPEC/ILO, CUT established other partnerships with several social institutions, non-governmental organizations, universities, study and research centers, national and international trade unions, confederations, federations, and entreprises foundations.
Franca, a positive experience
CUT was able to carry out intensive work in this field with IPEC's support. The area of coverage was the region of Franca, in the interior of São Paulo State, a true shoe industry pole in the country. First of all, research was conducted in partnership with the Interunion Statistics and Social Economic Studies Department (DIEESE) to identify the focus of child labour exploitation. The Shoe and Clothing Industry Workers' Union also contributed decisively for the completion of this work. As Franca's main income source, the shoe industry stood out immediately in this research. In 1994 alone, 1,561 children were working in this area.
In 1995, with CUT's support, the Union launched a massive campaign with the objective to mobilize and raise society's awareness to this problem. Radio broadcasts, seminars, posters and several other types of resources were employed for this purpose. The practical result was general support to this struggle as well the local employers' engagement. Assistance programs and complementary actions contributed to keep children out of the workplace and ensure school attendance.
The CUT-headed fight against child labour in the fields was strengthened by the affiliation of the National Rural Workers' Confederation (CONTAG). It is well known that the agricultural sector concentrates a large portion of children and adolescents performing activities at risk conditions.
CONTAG's contribution involves guidance to parents, union members, governments and society as a whole in the search for a mechanism to protect working children, thus eliminating any type of work for children under 14 years of age.
A hundred and fifty radio stations in most Brazilian States broadcast the Programa da Criança series produced by CONTAG. The target public - rural workers and their families - has been successfully reached. Since 1995, CONTAG has been sponsoring the annual National Meeting of Rural Working Boys and Girls. Recently, during Pope John Paul II's visit to Brazil, CONTAG handed him a folder on the situation of child labour in the country. Besides these actions, the rural trade unions have promoted the inclusion of child labour clauses in their collectives bargaining agreements. Rural trade unions are also active in developing pilot-project aiming to assist children and their families including income generation programmes.
Another important action to analyze child labour has been undertaken by another CUT affiliate: The National Confederation of Education Workers - CNTE in partnership with IPEC/ILO and DIEESE. Working children up to 14 years old were the research subjects. Six Brazilian capitals were chosen for this work: São Paulo, Belém, Recife, Goiânia and Belo Horizonte.
A fact identified early in research development drew attention to one problem: while activities such as sugarcane harvest or work in charcoal yards are condemned by society, urban child labour is reasonably tolerated.
DIEESE found out that in this sector the old and dangerous mentality that states that "better for a child to be working than to be in the streets" is still in force. As action programs do not address this issue, the research sought to demonstrate - and ultimately reality confirmed - that work and study are not compatible activities, especially in development stages.
In all capitals surveyed failure rates of students who work were considered high. Most of these students work all day long and can only attend school at night. This is an unfavorable period of time taking into consideration minimum conditions that should be available to children at this stage of development. A picture of these children's situation shows the inevitable reality: exhausted, most of them do not make use of time available for classes. Absence and drop out rates grow higher and, as a result, failure rates also increase. School performance is practically nil.
The work of children under 14 year of age is illegal in Brazil as foreseen by the Statute of Children and Adolescents. As child labour appears as an element of family support for children interviewed, a large number of those children consider working a positive factor - even if they are unduly exploited. A large portion of children involved in urban work earn less than half a minimum wage/month.
Based on the research data, CUT and CNTE are designing a booklet on child labour aiming a nationwide mobilization of teachers.
Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores - CGT
CGT has also been playing an important role in fighting children's exploitation. Following the examples of other central trade unions, this action is being developed in partnership with IPEC/ILO.
CGT's work was straight to the point, mobilizing groups to closely analyze the living conditions of children who are working irregularly in agricultural areas, mineral prospecting sites, lumber mills, pottery, salt-works and free markets. This work has been developed since 1992, with emphasis in cities of the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Rondônia, Rio Grande do Norte, Pará and Santa Catarina.
To undertake this action, members of trade unions affiliated with CGT in several states got mobilized to fight child labour. One of CGT's strategy to mobilize local support is being to foster the creation of committees constituted by union leaders and partners.
The unionists worked directly with families of working children, involving other sectors of society. Discussions, seminars and site visits were part of this work. Concrete figures were presented portraying the situation and evil consequences brought about by child labour not only to children but to their families as well.
Tackling mineral prospecting sites
One of the areas chosen by CGT were the Rondonia State mineral prospecting sites. Notorious niches of slave work for thousands of people deceived by the promise of easy wealth, mineral prospecting sites represent a degrading work condition for adults and a cruel threat for children. To arrive there, however, would be of no use if the local society was not mobilized. That's when the work of CGT began. Due to the local mobilization, the Regional Labour Department and the Government of Rondônia, the Brazilian Tin Company (EBESA), the Miners' Cooperative (COPERSANTA), the Commission to Combat Child Labour, the City Hall of Ariquemes and CGT's signed an agreement to withdraw children from work, to enroll them in school and to improve the living conditions of the families.
One of the first practical results was the commitment made by the State Government of Rondônia to implement, with the Ariquemes City Hall's support, the bolsa escola (primary school scholarship) guaranteeing that families that manage to keep their children aged 7-14 enrolled in schools receive a monthly allowance. The entreprises assigned a nearby area for the construction of a school, donated construction material and made available equipment and personnel to work in construction sites, and also to help build a health post in the neighborhood.
FORÇA SINDICAL
Since its foundation, in 1991, Força Sindical has been engaged in the cause of children and young. This central trade union has even created a National Secretariat of Women, Children and Adolescents, which has been providing training courses, with IPEC's support, for union leaders and unionists to promote and defend the rights of children.
As other central trade unions, Força Sindical is concerned about the enforcement of the Statute of the Children and Adolescents, particularly addressing education issue and the combat of child labour. Also, Força Sindical has managed to insert the child labour issue as an item in the agenda of its member unions.
As a result, many of its affiliates have succeed in including specific clauses concerning the rights of children in their collective bargaining agreements.
Among Força Sindical's main accomplishments during the last six years, one can highlight the participation of unionists in social movements, councils, local associations working for the improvement of living conditions and protection of working children.
In addition, its members are already engaged in providing assistance to children in their units. On the other hand, Força Sindical has gathered additional support to implement projects aiming to withdraw children in hazardous work and enroll into regular schools.
Força Sindical has carried out with IPEC's support important events such as the I National Seminar on Children and Adolescents in the Job Market (1992), the launch of the "Brazil, School Now" campaign, the I and II National Children and Adolescents' Week (1996 and 1997), the I Meeting of Força Sindical of Pará State on Child Labour.
In 1997, a new strategy has been adopted by Força Sindical, aiming at implementing concerted actions through the mobilization of local partners to eliminate child labour in a specific region. Agreements have been made to ensure the necessary funds to finance such actions.
To implement these actions Força Sindical is carrying out a situational working children analysis in order to raise the society awareness and to guide the negotiation of the concerted actions.
The Moleque Network
Força Sindical headed to another centre of children's exploitation: the outskirts of São Paulo's South Zone. The Steel Workers, Seamstresses and Sales Unions joined Força Sindical and created the Moleque Network, a programme that develops sports, educational and cultural activities. The Municipal Culture Secretariat, the State Employment and Work Relations' Secretariat and SESC Interlagos participated in the support network.
The original idea - enroll working children from that region in school - evolved into this project. The Moleque Network works in three community centres assisting children aged 7-14, who are engaged in activities four hours a day. This is a pilot project that Força Sindical intends to extend to its member unions all over the country. A distinguished methodology allows the Moleque Network to function as a school-supplementing activity. The Moleque Network's dynamics is based on constructivism, building these children and adolescents' capacity to develop and consolidate learning process. For that purpose it is enough to provide them with the necessary opportunities. It is well known that such open ideas do not belong to the scenario unveiled in the world where these children and so many others have lived. This is a structural issue that precedes and fundaments the issue of child labour.
CONCLUSION
To include the child labour issue in the national agenda is one of the main objectives of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour - IPEC. Such objective is already consolidated in Brazil as proven by the results obtained with diverse campaigns and action programmes implemented by workers' organizations and other social actors involved in IPEC.
Eradication of child labour cannot be seen separately, as it is part of a rather complex structure. Partnership is the key word to achieve this objective. In this context, IPEC has been supporting the implementation of national, regional and interregional action programmes. Interdisciplinary activities prompted by awareness and development of the most different sectors of society point the way to eradicate child labour. This becomes possible as each individual influences his peers and works at the community level.
In Brazil the process of informing and mobilizing society around the danger represented by child labour is due mainly to the action of trade unions.
Today the issue of child labour is part of the concerns of Brazilian citizens. The set of actions resulting from partnership has raised a new national consciousness. This guarantees individual and collective capacity to fight and denounce the exploitation of children. The road is long and the time is now.
Updated by TH. Approved by GQ. Last updated: 6 May 1998.
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