In its article "In the Land of the Sugar Loaf Mountain: Filth-belchers become paragons", the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published a song of praise to the German multinational concerns, which, allegedly, are just as environment-conscious in Brazil as they are in Germany.
The FAZ obviously relied solely on press releases of the companies involved. Evidently, the author, Martin Gester, did not talk to local employee representatives or environmental organisations. "Ideological fiction" is the term he uses to describe the statements of employees of German companies in Brazil, who visited Germany this summer as part of an exchange.
It is not fiction but fact that last year a state inquiry was ordered into the Bayer factory in Belford Roxo, near Rio de Janeiro, because several accidents, incidents and complaints by residents and the trade union could no longer be swept under the carpet.
"The testimony and reports make evident that the company: continuously violated basic regulations on industrial health and safety; refused to recognise occupational diseases and industrial accidents, used the highest limits and enforced working hours above the legal maximum; contracted specialised and hazardous work to third parties; and restricted inspection and monitoring by authorised commissions." (Extract from the decree of the district attorney at the Rio de Janeiro Labour Court, June 3, 1994.)
In 1993 environmental organisations awarded Bayer fourth place among the "dirty half dozen" in the federal state of Rio de Janeiro and handed over a dossier to the German consulate outlining a multitude of accusations and complaints about "double standards".
All ideology? Or is it true that the Brazilian law on waste reduction was violated and emissions were not reduced to the same extent as in Germany? The dossier also contains reports on illegal discharges into a river. Wolfgang Muhlhaus, who was works manager at the time this happened, admitted that Bayer had polluted the river Sarapui and thus Guanabara Bay. There would have been no point in lying anyway, as it was documented in a study of the environmental authority.
Modern plants?
Martin Gester could also have spoken about the Bayer paragon to relatives of two victims who were killed in lethal accidents last year. Although the two chemical workers suffocated in a tank truck on the company's premises, Bayer relocated the deaths to a place outside the works to avoid investigations and compensation claims.
Eight people have died in the last six years in a factory with 2500-2600 employees, three as a result of sulphuric acid burns. There have also been cases of contamination with phosgene, chromium and very toxic phosphoric esters. Even the giant Leverkusen complex, with its 30,000 employees, cannot compete with such figures.
As recently as the end of September there was a fire in Belford Roxo involving parathion. The WHO classifies this chemical in category 1a, extremely hazardous. Readers may wonder where the contaminated fire-fighting water went to. Is there separate drainage or a collecting basin, such as were constructed in Bayer's German factories after the Sandoz catastrophe? The simple answer is no.
The FAZ claim that only modern equipment is used in Belford Roxo was contradicted by Bayer in a recently concluded wage round, in which it reported that the chromate plant was substantially less modern and therefore less profitable than the one in Argentina.
Another paragon, the Bayer subsidiary Tibras, was rightly described in the FAZ as "Leverkusen's disgrace". Whether the improvements in the environmental situation are a result of Bayer's increased commitment or the enormous local protests is a matter of opinion. But the fact remains that children burnt their feet in sulphuric acid on the beach near the factory.
In a press release, employees drew attention to the contradiction between the PR-effective nature reserve for turtles, sponsored by Tibras and other companies, and their own working conditions. Under the headline "Turtles to protect petrochemical workers", they reported on their occupational diseases and poisoning, which hardly anyone seems interested in.
Human 'factors'
Although the period of notice for employees suffering from occupational diseases is one year, Tibras just throws them out. The one year's wages, the minimum entitlement of the dismissed person, is as often as not beaten down. In the wave of dismissals at the beginning of the '90s, 40% of the dismissed workers had to be reinstated because they "happened" to be suffering from an occupational disease. The workers had to go to court to enforce their right of seeing the results of their company medical examinations.
Last year 280 employees and ex-employees mounted a factory gate protest against another injustice. For 14 years parts of their wages, such as overtime bonuses and shift payments, had been withheld even after they had won court cases at all levels.
In February Tibras showed once again what a paragon it is. Two employees suffered burns, some of them third degree, whilst repairing equipment which operates with X-rays. The first doctor to examine them demanded that this accident be reported, as is the statutory requirement. Five days later he was dismissed after another member of the medical staff had said that the injuries were common allergic reactions.
"What applies to Bayer should also apply to the Hoechst and BASF factories in Brazil", the FAZ wrote. How true! In 1990 the BASF subsidiary Glasurit contravened the standard which prohibits asbestos. Members of German works councils, who had just attended asbestos clearance in their local factories, were told by works manager Roth during a tour of the factory that Brazilian law did not prohibit asbestos and that he therefore saw no need for action.
Unionists not welcome
Only after prolonged protests did Bayer and BASF grant their employees the opportunity of electing a works council with minimal rights. To this day, Hoechst still refuses to do this. The company is not interested in the long list of trade unionists punished by dismissal.
During the Brazilians' visit, the head of the delegation and general secretary of the chemical union in the industrial belt of Sao Paulo said: "We would like to become social democratic like you, but they just won't let us. The repression keeps reminding us that we are not considered partners."
For example, during the strike at Bayer Belford Roxo in 1989, the military police were called, and shortly afterwards the head of company security was decorated with a military medal. Furthermore, the entire union leadership was dismissed. Glasurit also dismissed union activists. [Abridged from Keycode Bayer, newsletter of the Coordination Against Bayer Dangers (Germany). Free subscriptions to the newsletter can be obtained by writing to CGB, Postfach 15 04 18, 40081 Dusseldorf, Germany.]