Slave Laborers
Brazilian company fined $2.8 million for slave labor, government says
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A Brazilian agricultural company has been fined $2.8 million for employing 180 slave laborers, among them adolescents, the government-run Agencia Brasil news agency reported Wednesday.
The fine against Lima Araujo Agropecuaria, which amounted to 5 million Brazilian reals, was levied by the government's Superior Tribunal for Labor, the news agency said.
The workers were kept in inhuman conditions that amounted to slave labor, the ministry said.
Lawyers for the company left the courtroom without talking to the media, Agencia Brasil reported.
(Published by CNN – August 18, 2010)