Elements for discussion of modern slave labor as a Management practice

Contemporary slavery is embedded in market relations between global organizations and their suppliers, and involves people management practices that injure human rights such as curtailing freedom, degrading conditions of work and exhausting journey. The article analyzes the slave labor in Brazil and provides empirical support for a theory of contemporary slavery as a practice management. Two main aspects justify this contribution. First, the debate draws attention to the dynamics of social responsibility and the social impact of business activities in emerging countries. Secondly, it puts in evidence the discussion of poverty and its interrelations with the global system of production and consumption. The paper suggests that the field does not have the understanding of the fundamentals of poverty and how management is implicated in its reproduction and relief. The research agenda emphasizes the unsustainability aspects of the globalized production and consumption, and prioritizes the problem.

Slave labor; Brazil; contemporary slavery; labor relations; sustainability