Production and use of fuel ethanol in Brazil - BAFF

C1.3.
What are the unions in the sugar and ethanol
industry?
The industry’s trade and labor unions are set forth in a list contained in article 577
of the CLT:
Group 01 – Food Industries (sugar production)
Group 10 – Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries (ethanol
production)
In rural areas, sugar-cane suppliers and farming businesses (related to the industries)
are represented by the Rural Trade Unions and the State Federations of Agriculture.
Workers are represented by Unions of Rural Workers or Employees.
Despite the principle of uniqueness, the Brazilian legislation admits of representation
through “distinct categories”. Such categories, in theory, exist on account of the
peculiarities involved in certain groups of employees, such as drivers.
C1.4.
What is the mechanism in use in Collective
Bargaining Instruments?
The law allows the parties to enter into collective bargaining instruments. Today,
those instruments can be summed up as Collective Employment Agreements (Trade
Union vs. Labor Union) and/or Collective Bargaining Agreements (companies and
labor entities). Those instruments must be filed with the Regional Labor Offices and
can be effective for up to 2 years.
On a given category’s reference date, salary clauses, which follow the free
negotiation criterion, and social clauses are determined. A refusal to negotiate
or the impossibility to enter into a Collective Employment/Bargaining Agreement
may lead the parties to commence a collective bargaining procedure (according
to the latest labor statutes, provided that the procedure is commenced by mutual
agreement between the parties).
C. Sugar-cane and ethanol production: social impacts
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