The Public Ministry of Labor (MPT) attributes the leadership of Minas Gerais in the complaints of electoral harassment in 2022 to a possible coordinated action by businessmen and associations in the state, which has been the target of a final onslaught by votes considered decisive.
Ana Cláudia Nascimento Gomes, labor prosecutor in Belo Horizonte, says that the rivalry in the elections has not spared the environment within companies across the country, but that the situation is aggravated in Minas by the importance of the dispute – the state has 16 million people eligible to vote, the second largest college in the country.
“In national terms, we see that society is very divided and polarized, and this obviously permeates labor relations. It shouldn’t be like that, but it has happened. Now, this need to conquer Minas Gerais has imposed an overload of electoral harassment”, he says.
“We see that the business community has taken this pressure to work as if the worker were their long manus [executor de ordens], and it’s not. It is not because he is a worker and receives a salary that he sells his freedom of conscience, that he sells his political freedom. He is not an object of power, he is a subject of rights.”
Of the 1,734 complaints received by the MPT until this Thursday (27), 474 were registered in Minas Gerais, which corresponds to 27% of the total. Paraná, the second state with the most cases (190), has less than half.
“[Isso ocorre] in a very articulated way. There are many complaints that are plural, that is, they involve hundreds of companies. Because? Because there was an articulation in that economic sector to commit electoral harassment. Harassment has not been practiced in isolation,” he adds.
More than 120 complaints from the state came from the municipality of Sete Lagoas after dozens of merchants promised to take a break on Monday (31) if President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) is reelected.
The illegal action was organized and publicized on social media with the motto “A day of recess and four years of progress” and mobilized dental clinics, stationery stores, driving schools, ice cream parlors, mechanical and real estate workshops.
It is a harmful practice because it uses the fragility of the worker who is subject to a relationship of private power, who is subject to a need for subsistence
Some of the businessmen from Sete Lagoas have already signed an agreement with the MPT with the commitment not to offer any advantage to employees, and to make it clear that voting is free and secret.
Another case that demonstrates organized action in the state occurred in the municipality of Passos. The union of retailers, the trade and industrial association, in addition to the club of directors and shopkeepers in the municipality were sued by the MPT for a video published on social networks in which they ask for votes for Bolsonaro.
Until this Thursday (27), across the country, 123 agreements were signed with businessmen and public managers through TACs (Conduct Adjustment Term). Another 31 cases without a deal ended up in court in public civil actions.
Gomes says that, in general, micro and small entrepreneurs have shown a willingness to recognize the mistake and try to correct it. The biggest problem, according to her, has occurred in large companies, which prefer to face the Public Ministry in the Judiciary.
“[Os médios ou pequenos] normally they have never even been to the MPT and want to resolve it immediately. Often they were not aware of the size of the problem they were taking on for themselves. So, the vast majority, in good faith, retracts or celebrates the Conduct Adjustment Term”, he says.
“The big companies are the ones that are more complicated. They are companies with greater economic power, which even feel more empowered in legal terms to litigate with the Public Ministry and postpone the problem.”
Faced with the increase in cases, labor prosecutors from all regions were summoned to act on the weekend of the elections and try to prevent, for example, employers from withholding the document of employees.
Voters must also call the agency on Sunday (30) if they are prevented from leaving work to vote – workers have the right to be absent for as long as necessary, and do not need to make up the hours before or after.
“The entire institution is frightened by the amount of complaints. We are having to work, let’s say, in the middle of the tidal wave. This implies a series of internal measures as well. And we are being squeezed by time. That’s why the importance of this awareness [da sociedade]”, says the prosecutor.
“It is a harmful practice because it uses the fragility of the worker who is subject to a relationship of private power, who is subject to a need for subsistence and maintenance of his employment contract, for an objective other than the contract. your work obligation.”
HOW AND WHERE TO REPORT ELECTORAL HARASSMENT
The MPT suggests that workers file complaints with as much material evidence as possible, such as documents, images and text or audio messages. They can be made all over Brazil and anonymously through the website of the Public Ministry of Labor.
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