Norwegian Group Violates Labor and Environmental Righs in Chile

Mainstream Company – a member of the Norwegian group CERMAQ – is being accused before the PPT of human rights violations and of damaging the environment in Chile. The company that operates in the Chilean food industry – salmon culture - is being questioned mainly for the ecologic and labor impacts caused by its operations. Unlike the water pollution and the intervention on the wild marine flora and fauna, which are widely known, the exploitation of the workers has not yet been widely publicised.

A report published at the end of 2007 by the Committee on Fisheries of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, claims that the salaries are so low that there is social dumping. There is no health insurance in case of accidents at work. The employers do not recognize professional illnesses, and if the employees become ill they lose their bonus for assitance. The “professional illnesses” generated by the work in salmon industry’s processing plant are numerous, including arthritis in hands and arms, cuts with knives and colds for working in wet places and freezers.

Mainstream is well known for its anti-union practices. It persecutes both the leaders that represent the workers and the people who become members of trade unions. There is a systematic practice of firing workers who are union members.

Mainstream is a classic example of the neoliberal model, through a model of industrial relations that intensively exploits labor and natural resources under a lenient legal framework (it is worth noting that a powerful business partnership called “Salmon Chile” was created in the country, which gathers transnational corporations like Mainstream and renowned national businessmen that jointly defend the corporate interests).

Given the complicity of the Chilean State, the pressure of international agencies such as the PPT can have effects that other mechanisms have not achieved.

Key issues: Precarization and exploitation of labour

Denouncing organizations: Instituto de Ciencias Alejandro Lipschutz (Chile)