Abstract

FRANCO-BENATTI, Dathiê de Mello; NAVARRO, Vera Lucia  and  PRAUN, Luci. Exploitation and precariousness in new productive dynamics in the sugar cane fields and the persistence of wear and illness at work. Cad. psicol. soc. trab. [online]. 2020, vol.23, n.1, pp. 29-50. ISSN 1516-3717.  http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/issn.1981-0490.v23i1p29-50.

In the last few decades, the labor process in the Brazilian agricultural sector underwent important transformations. These changes, triggered to a great extent by the insertion of technology and mechanization of stages of the productive process, imposed new dynamics to labor in sugarcane fields, articulating old forms of organization and working conditions with the imperatives of mechanization. In this context, situations of susceptibility to the occurrence of accidents and different health problems that are quite present in the daily life of labor in sugarcane have been renewed. Exposure to pesticides, new practices of sugarcane burning, as well as the handling of machines and working tools in a context of increased productivity and intensification of work exemplify this situation. This article analyzes such labor conditions and situations, as well as the circumstances of occurrences of typical accidents and diseases resulting from labor relations in the sugarcane agribusiness segment of the Araraquara (SP) region. The considerations developed here are supported by field research developed between 2013 and 2014. Fourteen workers were interviewed, which allowed to understand the different articulations between the life stories of these men and women and the daily work in the cane fields. The data obtained indicate that the pace and intense working hours associated to lack of protective equipment, exposure to pesticides and other risks present in rural areas are the basis for the occurrence of accidents, marks of the expansion of exploration and precariousness with the advancement of neoliberal measures.

Keywords : Rural workers; Sugarcane cutter; Sugarcane industry; Worker's health; Accidents at work.

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