As far as workers are concerned, the situation has been very difficult because of
labour sub-contracting, whereby they were contracted for the minimum period, were
constantly moved from plantation to plantation and were therefore denied their legalrights to social security coverage and profit-sharing bonuses. After the approval of
'Mandate 8' by the CorreA government2
, conditions for workers have improved, but
the legislation has not resolved everything; indeed the legacy of labour subcontracting
and its impact on workers is still being felt. One of the legacies concerns
pension rights: if the law remains as it is, then the years spent working for subcontractors
will not be taken into account when calculating pensions. It is like having a
blank in your working record, where nothing was registered.