Work and risk experience among Northeastern migrant works in sugarcane plantations in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Every year thousands of workers from the Brazilian Northeastern states move to the sugarcane plantations in the state of São Paulo to work in sugarcane mills. Most of them are young with little schooling and come from peasant families. Among other things, researchers call attention to the risks to which these workers are submitted, related to transportation conditions, housing and work environment. The organization of work is always focused on increasing the surplus value, which has resulted in the deterioration of the labor force, expressed by several diseases and countless deaths of migrant workers. In the scope of this article, it is our intention to define “risk” concept and relate it to the processes of subjectivities and to understand the meanings that migrant workers attribute to the risks to which they are exposed during the trip and also in workplaces (sugarcane plantations). Regarding methodology, we used a qualitative approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with a sample of 12 migrant workers from the city of Santa Cruz da Baixa Verde (Pernambuco), in the Pajeú microregion, and also of cities located in the microregion of Serra do Teixeira (Paraíba), especially the surrounding areas of Princesa Isabel (state of Paraíba). The data allow us to assert the existence of an intrinsic relationship between the risks they run and the affirmation of the gender identity of the subjects investigated.