international labor rights case 4 (2018) 52-55 brill.com/ilarc

4 Federal Supreme of Brazil: Workers in Metalurgic Industries, Machines Mechanical Industries, Material, Electrical Industries, Automotive Industries, Components and Parts for Vehicles Automotives Industries of the Great Curitiba Trade Union, General Repercussion on the Extraordinary Appeal, 23 February 2017

Decision-making body: Federal Supreme Court of Brazil Case details: Workers in metalurgic industries, machines mechanical industries, material, electrical industries, automotive industries, components and parts for vehicles automotives industries of the great curitiba trade union, General reper- cussion on the extraordinary appeal, 23 February 2017. Primary legal issues: The interpretation of Article 6 of the American Conven- tion on , which prohibits slavery, involuntary servitude, and forced or compulsory labor; prohibition on slavery and slave-like; human traf- ficking; forced labor Applicable legal provisions: Article 513 Labour Code (clt); Article 5, line xx, and Article 8, line v of the 1988 Federal of Brazil Link to case [in Portuguese]: http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/processo/verProces soPeca.asp?id=311360091&tipoApp=.pdf

Summary

In 2017, the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil (stf) determined that unions are not legally allowed to impose trade union dues on non-union employees even if the contribution is a result of collective bargaining and is used to finance collec- tive bargaining expenses. The winning vote confirmed the decision of the Superior Labor Court (tst), the highest specialized labor court in the country, emphasiz- ing that it is “unconstitutional, by agreement, collective agreement or normative

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Federal Supreme Court of Brazil 53 ruling, having contributions that were compulsorily imposed onto non-union employees”­ (11).

Decision [Unofficial Translation from Portuguese1]

GENERAL REPERCUSSION ON THE EXTRAORDINARY APPEAL 1.018.459 PARANÁ RAPPORTEUR: MIN. GILMAR MENDES RECIPIENT (S): WORKERS IN METALURGIC INDUSTRIES, MACHINES MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES, MATERIAL, ELECTRICAL INDUSTRIES, AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES, COMPONENTS AND PARTS FOR VEHI- CLES AUTOMOTIVES INDUSTRIES OF THE GREAT CURITIBA TRADE UNION

Extraordinary Appeal. 1. General Repercussion. 2. Collective agreements. Impo- sition of compulsory negotiated trade union dues to be deducted from employ- ees not affiliated with the respective trade union. Impossibility. Non-tributary nature of the dues. Violation of the principle of tributary . . 3. Extraordinary appeal not provided. Reaffirmation of the of the Court. Decision: The Court, by unanimous vote, deemed the question. The Court unanimously acknowledged the existence of repercussions of the con- stitutional question. On merit, for majority, reaffirmed the dominant case-law on the matter […] p. 3

[…] The Superior Labour – tst settled on the issue of trade union dues and of the extension of the respective discounts to non-members – was established in the Collective Conflicts Section sdc No. 119 and sdc Jurisprudential Ruling n° 17.

[…] pp. 4–5

1 Translation from Portuguese by Ana Virginia Moreira Gomes, of the editorial board of the International Labor Rights Case Law, who is associated with the University of Fortaleza.

international labor rights case law 4 (2018) 52-55