Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Seized Lumber Sold to Compensate Jobless

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 10 2009 (IPS) - Brazil's ministries of Environment and Social Development will compensate workers who lost their jobs due to shutdowns of illegal charcoal factories and logging companies. They will be paid with revenues from sales of the seized lumber. The measure, to be implemented this month, was announced by Environment Minister Carlos Minc. The upcoming sale of 12,000 cubic meters of lumber seized in the Amazonian state of Rondônia is expected to bring in about eight million reais (4.2 million dollars), he said.

The reparations are a reflection of the workers' “good intentions”, because working in the illegal sawmills and charcoal factories that do not respect labor rights “is the only option that many have for supporting their families,” said Antonio Lucas, of the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers.

These workers “should be trained for other kinds of work, but the government policies are not sufficient to replace the lost jobs,” he told Tierramérica.