Cooperalfa, the largest shareholder of the food giant Aurora, this Friday (28) failed to comply with the recommendation of the MPT-SC (Public Ministry of Labor of Santa Catarina), which urged the company to void a statement allowing employees to wear T-shirts. or prop “allusive to the Brazilian homeland”, elements that have been linked to the reelection campaign of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
According to the MPT, communication between the company and its employees could configure irregular electoral propaganda and also characterize the practice of electoral harassment, according to a document signed by labor prosecutors Gisela Sousa and Mariana Casagranda.
The case of Cooperalfa, which earns around R$7 billion a year and is headquartered in Chapecó, adds to more than 2,000 complaints of alleged electoral harassment received by the national MPT against more than 1,600 companies, according to data updated to date. this friday.
A week ago, the MPT of Santa Catarina issued a similar recommendation to João Rodrigues, mayor of Chapecó, for allegedly apologizing for electoral harassment. Rodrigues asked businessmen in the city to guide the vote of employees, which is prohibited by law.
In the recommendation made to Cooperalfa, issued on Thursday night by the MPT, the company was specifically asked to refrain from “suggesting, inducing, guiding or demanding the use of clothing or any other equivalent object by its employees or outsourced workers, with colors and characteristic symbols of election campaigns.”
The company contests the MPT.
Ricardo Felk, legal adviser, told Reuters by telephone that he had received the prosecutors’ recommendation, but said he did not comply because the cooperative had not broken the law. When contacted, Aurora declined to comment.
“If the person feels comfortable with the nationalist gesture, the traditional uniform will be dispensed with,” said the statement from Cooperalfa’s board, signed by three company executives, including president Romeo Bet. The waiver of the uniform would only be allowed this Friday.
After the cooperative failed to comply with the MPT’s recommendation, the agency said that employees who feel harmed could file a complaint.
CASES IN MINAS GERAIS
Election harassment investigations in 2022 represent an 879% increase from 2018.
In Minas Gerais alone, the MPT signed more than 60 terms of conduct adjustment with companies involved in complaints of electoral harassment at work. The state concentrated 496 cases of the type until this Friday, almost a quarter of the total in the country.
Minas is considered a crucial state for Sunday’s fierce dispute between Bolsonaro and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). According to the main polls of voting intentions, the PT has between five and six points ahead of the current president.
This week, opposition senators presented the petition with enough signatures for the creation of the CPI on electoral harassment, which will investigate complaints of pressure for employees of companies and even the public service to vote for the current president of the Republic. The Presidency of the House expects the opinion of the Senate’s lawyer for the installation.
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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