Position
The company deeply regrets what happened, repudiates and does not tolerate any irregular labor practices.
por bp_bunge_admOn March 14, BP Bunge Bioenergia was surprised by an accusation of slave labor, involving the hiring of 112 workers at the place of work, and not at the place of origin, under the responsibility of a service provider (SS Nascimento) who had recently been hired to provide manual planting and crop handling services in the Company’s areas in the state of Goiás. In relation to this fact, the Company:
- Acted swiftly in defense of the workers to guarantee labor priorities and, on March 17, promptly paid all the severance payments found by the inspection authorities, in the amount of BRL 2 million, for the immediate return of the workers to their places of origin.
- Notified and terminated SS Nascimento, the service provider responsible for the workers.
- Requested clarification from other providers of manual planting and crop handling services regarding the hiring and working conditions of their labor, in addition to carrying out extra audits, which were added to the regular audits, in areas served by providers of manual planting services and crop handling to require compliance with the Regulatory Standards applicable to the work and, in case of irregularities, take the appropriate measures.
- Provided additional communication to workers hired by manual service providers about human and labor rights and how to access the company’s reporting channels.
- Terminated all the manual planting service providers as a preventive measure and reviewed the activity model for the next harvest.
- We would like to emphasize that we have a process for selecting, approving, auditing, developing and continuously improving our service providers. Unfortunately, these procedures were not sufficient in this case and are being reviewed and improved in order to ensure that similar occurrences do not happen again.
- As part of our relationship of trust and transparency, we communicated with employees and other stakeholders to inform them of what had happened and of the company’s position, which is published on the company’s website in Portuguese and English.
- Collaborated with the authorities in the rigorous investigation of the facts and the appropriate responsibilities in order to take the appropriate measures.
- Reinforced relationship and monitoring actions with sugarcane suppliers aimed at developing the entire production chain and adapting it to the company’s best practices related to the topic.
It is worth highlighting that this situation was handled rigorously by the internal executive committees and the Board of Directors, in accordance with established corporate governance processes.
The company deeply regrets what happened, repudiates and does not tolerate any irregular labor practices. It complies with the law and has strict standards for carrying out its activities, based on human rights and the health and safety of workers, and is committed to doing everything in its power to ensure that this does not happen again, demanding the same of its entire production chain.
BP Bunge Bioenergia