Forced labor used in Lollapalooza Brazil preparations, inspectors find

Photo: Facebook/Lollapalooza Brazil

Labor Ministry inspectors rescued five workers trapped in slave-like conditions during preparations for Lollapalooza, one of the country’s largest music festivals. Concerts kick off on Friday, with Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X the headliners on the first night.

Carrying beverage crates at the Interlagos racetrack where the festival takes place, the men were forced to work for more than 12 hours a day. Employers prevented them from leaving the festival grounds and forced them to sleep on cardboard boxes.

The cheapest one-day ticket for Lollapalooza sold for BRL 1,300 (USD 246) — equal to Brazil’s minimum wage. Last year, the festival generated more than BRL 400 million in revenue.

The five men worked for Yellow Stripe, a company contracted by T4F, the festival’s organizer. Listed on the stock exchange, T4F prides itself on “valuing human rights.” After the inspection, T4F terminated its contract with Yellow Stripe.

The Brazilian Report this week showed that a recent outsourcing boom is a contributing factor to the skyrocketing number of modern slavery cases in Brazil.

Prior to a 2017 labor reform, companies could only outsource labor unrelated to their core business. The reform changed that, opening the floodgates for companies to outsource any and all services.

It’s a loophole for big companies to protect themselves from scandal, and blame labor violations on their suppliers. T4F, unsurprisingly, said it was unaware of its subcontractors’ conditions.

Amanda Audi

Amanda Audi is a journalist specializing in politics and human rights. She is the former executive director of Congresso em Foco and worked as a reporter for The Intercept Brasil, Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo, Gazeta do Povo, Poder360, among others. In 2019, she won the Comunique-se Award for best-written media reporter and won the Mulher Imprensa award for web journalism in 2020