Contemporary Slavery in Brazil: What Have Companies (Not) Done to Prevent It?

Abstract

Este artigo pode ser copiado, distribuído, exibido, transmitido ou adaptado desde que citados, de forma clara e explícita, o nome da revista, a edição, o ano e as páginas nas quais o artigo foi publicado originalmente, mas sem sugerir que a RAM endosse a reutilização do artigo. Esse termo de licenciamento deve ser explicitado para os casos de reutilização ou distribuição para terceiros. Não é permitido o uso para fins comerciais. TOBIAS COUTINHO PARENTE-64. Submission: January 7, 2017. Acceptance: May 2, 2017. Evaluation system: double blind review. Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Silvio Popadiuk (Editor-in-chief), Silvio Popadiuk (Associate Editor), p. 39-64 ABSTRACTPurpose: Identify the practices adopted by companies to monitor and prevent contemporary slavery and the elements that differentiate companies that adopt monitoring practices for prevention of slavery and those that do not. Originality/value: This question is investigated from the perspective of management, reputation and institutional environment literature, pointing out the reasons that lead companies to adopt or avoid contemporary slavery. Design/methodology/approach: We used secondary data from Melhores Empresas para Você Trabalhar [Best Companies to Work] 2014 on 305 companies, which filled a questionnaire about their management practices and policies to monitor the working conditions in the supply chain in relation to the use of slave labor. Findings: Results show that the practice adopted by most companies is related to sanctions on contracted suppliers who are caught using slave labor, and the element that differentiates groups of companies that adopt monitoring practices from those that do not is the fact of whether they are or not signatories of the National Pact to Eradicate Slave Labor [Pacto Nacional pela Erradicação do Trabalho Escravo].

Multinational enterprises’ narratives about and approaches to modern slavery: an exploratory study

“…Consumers and investors are involved in the complex link between business and slavery (Christ and Burritt, 2018) and, as the two primary sources of firm finance, are essential in changing the prevailing ignorance (Parente et al , 2017). If these stakeholders fail to consider modern slavery when making an investment or purchase decisions, slave labour will persist.…”

Corporate social responsibility in emerging markets: Opportunities and challenges for sustainability integration

“…Damha seems to keep its CSR "conservative", with respect to "Suppliers" and "Collaborators", enforcing rule of the law in its contracts and decent labor standards, which can be categorized as fair-trade standards for managing supply chains. The Brazilian construction sector has also been labelled as one of the focal points of modern slavery, alongside with mining, agriculture and textile sweatshops (Parente et al, 2017;Global Policy, 2021). In 2015, the biggest construction company from Latin America was sued for keeping Brazilians in forced labor conditions.…”