Eduardo Cunha, Bill 4330, Bill 666, and parliamentary brazenness.

1. Eduardo Cunha, Bill 4330, Bill 666, and parliamentary brazenness.

The major political issue these days, tumultuous and gray, concerns the approval of Bill 4.330, known as the Outsourcing of Labor Regulatory Bill. It's something like "opening the floodgates to total chaos" in labor relations in our sunny tropical lands. The Congressman and Speaker of the House, Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ), that Tyrannosaurus Rex, possessing the most petty political wisdom among the worst elements of Brazilian politics, has innovated... In a moment of "pure 666 inspiration," he pulled (we don't know why, but we can imagine) from a dusty drawer in Congress a shameful project, dormant since 2004, to make it a panacea for the Brazilian labor market. Immediately embraced by the business sector, the proposal is a disgrace... what kind of debt to businessmen would lead a congressman to vote for this immorality???

2. Listening to Paraíba

To shed some light on what lies ahead, it's worth revisiting the lecture given by Dr. Eduardo Varandas Araruna, Labor Prosecutor for the Labor Public Ministry of the 13th Region, held on April 7th in João Pessoa, a blessed place where one can escape south and stumble upon Coqueirinhos, Tambaba, and Praia Bela...

3. Up to the Labor Court

Regarding the facts surrounding Bill 4330, it fell to the Labor Prosecutor to present data on what this law means in practice. First, it will transform into the "Rule" what is currently treated as an "Exception" in the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws), that is, precarious and unprotected employment contracts.

4. Data on degradation

Outsourced workers become second-class citizens, with the full recognition and acquiescence of society. According to statistics, these people stay in their jobs for an average of 2,6 years less. Of every five fatal accidents, four involve outsourced workers... For the same work, they receive about 27% less than permanent workers and work 3,5 hours more per week. Literally, this measure attacks the constitutional principle of the social value of work, and is therefore subject to legal challenge. Outsourcing undermines our already fragile relationship of protection for the working citizen against the savage and boundless greed of capital.

5. Unworthy Congress

In an article by Sérgio Godoy, published on Viomundo, a revealing fact can be seen: the countries where these processes have deepened are Mexico, Thailand, and Vietnam... None of them, in my limited view, are developed or examples of anything for Brazil. In some European countries, as Dr. Eduardo Varandas pointed out, this bloody mechanism of outsourcing is called "Brazilianization of Labor Relations." This thinking takes into account the current situation with the protection of the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws), imagine what it will be like with the opening of the floodgates proposed by Bill 4330?? Finally, below is the document produced by the National Union of Labor Auditors regarding Bill 4330, the darling of the Tyrannosaurus Eduardo Cunha.

MANIFESTO

Labor Inspectors Reject Outsourcing Bill

The National Union of Labor Inspectors – Sinait – hereby expresses to society and the National Congress its opposition to and repudiation of the approval of Bill 4330/2004, which provides for the broad and unrestricted outsourcing of labor in Brazil, representing an unprecedented setback in the history of workers' rights. The National Congress is about to extinguish all the social assets of workers accumulated over the last 70 years, through much struggle. This legislature, should the bill be approved, will forever be remembered as the one that destroyed the Consolidation of Labor Laws – CLT.

Bill 4330/04, passed in an authoritarian manner in the Chamber of Deputies, removes workers' rights and legitimizes profit for profit's sake, distancing itself from constitutional principles such as the social function of the company and the value of labor. Parliamentarians who should be voting on laws to improve the situation of the people are acting to undermine rights, blatantly and shamelessly.

With the help of the National Congress, the business sector is constructing a cruel instrument to escape its obligations to the workers who produce the country's wealth, in both rural and urban areas. Employers intend to transfer their labor obligations and business risks to outsourced, sub-outsourced, and even fifth-party companies, and to the workers, whose wages and labor rights will be reduced and denied. This situation obscures the real employer, the true beneficiary of the results of the work offered within the production chain and successively outsourced, in an endless process of fragmenting the organization of labor.

Regarding the organization of capital, it follows the opposite path. Companies acquire the stake and controlling interest of another company, which in turn acquires the stake and controlling interest of many others, in an unlimited process of concentration, almost always with public funding.

Through these two mechanisms – the concentration of capital via mergers and acquisitions, and the fragmentation of labor via outsourcing – they intend to distance the employer from the employee, the one who has obligations from the one who has rights. They want to guarantee free enterprise without valuing human labor, both principles of the economic order according to Article 170 of the 1988 Federal Constitution. They try to keep only the benefits, transferring the burden indefinitely, always to the detriment of workers. It will be a legion of millions of workers without rights.

Under the guise of modernization, the practice of outsourcing has been making working conditions more precarious, reducing wages, increasing working hours, fragmenting union organization, and raising rates of workplace accidents and illnesses. These facts have been repeatedly proven by Labor Inspectors in their inspections and by numerous scientific studies that demonstrate the direct relationship between outsourcing, illness, and death.

Outsourcing is frequently associated with forced labor, both rural and urban, as seen in construction, the fashion industry, the meat industry, the ethanol industry, and others. More than 90% of the workers rescued by Labor Inspectors between 2010 and 2014 were outsourced.

Legalize to expand and absolve responsibility. According to data from the Inter-Union Department of Socioeconomic Studies and Statistics – Dieese, outsourced workers are the majority of victims of fatal accidents in the country, and the turnover rate among them is double that observed for workers directly hired by companies. Neither client companies nor suppliers care about safety and training, contributing to the maintenance of the staggering number of workplace accidents that occur annually in Brazil, positioning the country as 4th in the world ranking. Most outsourced workers are dismissed before they are entitled to vacation, salary bonus, unemployment insurance, among many other rights. In numerous cases, companies disappear, leaving workers with nothing, overburdening the Labor Courts with thousands of lawsuits. Most are young people who have no prospects of building a career, as they jump from job to job without qualifications.

To make matters worse, society bears the brunt of the cost of this precarious and debilitating outsourcing process. First, because the State finances or subsidizes a large portion of production, construction, as well as acquisitions, mergers, and capital incorporations; second, because the cost of worker accidents and illnesses overburdens and burdens the public health system, inflating social security spending on benefits, survivor's pensions, and early disability retirements.

There are no positive points, from any perspective. The only acceptable outcome is the rejection of Bill 4330/04, now before the Senate, which will decide on the matter. The State loses revenue. The market loses consumers, as workers with reduced salaries do not buy. Citizens will suffer the consequences of outsourced public services and the lack of civil servants hired through competitive examinations. Outsourcing, as proposed by Bill 4330/2004, will have the effects already foreseen, but could go far beyond what was imagined.

Labor Inspectors join society and the working class in rejecting this affront to the right to decent work.

Rosa Maria Campos Jorge

President of Sinait