SLAVE LABOUR IN ARGENTINA

ARGENTINEAN AUTHORITIES FOUND
WOMEN ILLEGALLY WORKING IN SAWMILL

www.telam.com.ar - A joint inspection of the Ministry of Labour’s Office and the Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP) identified 9 women hidden and almost dehydrated in a small piece of a sawmill in the city of General Roca Rio Negro, under the operations for the detection of illegal employment. The delegation of the Labour Ministry from General Roca city reported that inspectors went to the sawmill workshop, located on National Route 22, due to an anonymous tip about illegal working conditions of a group of female operators.  When the staff of the Ministry of Labour and other AFIP’s authorities were at the place they found 25 men working, but there was no visible presence of women. For more than two hours, authorities verified the working conditions found in the shed, where operator assemble drawers for fruit and the documentation of workers located there was confirmed. But that was not the end of the story.

At one point, one of the inspectors observed a closed door of a small side room where he found many women inside who were in poor health conditions. Authorities immediately ordered the charge of the establishment as to facilitate access to the place and there they found 9 adult women, very heated and showing signs of dehydration.  One victim reported that the manager had locked the place when the official delegation of inspection arrived at the workshop.  A fine due to legal infringement under the current law on registered labour was imposed.  This is a common practice in which companies hire temporary employees.  The authorities reported that more than 150 operational researches have being made in the province, and have verified the situation of more than 2,000 workers, as a result of this research the percentage of unregistered workers is around 45%.

While authorities made a control of unregistered employment in a sawmill in Río Negro, Argentina, some women were found locked and hidden as were hired under inhumane conditions.  This is very common in the fields and many children under 17 years are working in the harvest of fruits in farms and cooperatives under those conditions.  Such situations are also detected in sweatshops in Buenos Aires, in brothels around the country, and even in brick factories in the suburbs of the capital.  Be slave to a cruel boss or slave to our mind, senses or capricious desires, is an inauspicious slavery.  We only can be happy slaves when we are truly engaged in God service.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The highest qualification within us is our acceptance of the slave mentality to the Absolute. ... We are not independent.  Constitutionally we are slaves of the slave, and there we thrive.  We are to appreciate that slavery is our fortune.  But this is a hard nut to crack, to accept this.  How can slavery be for our gain, for our fortune? Krishna is so great that His slavery is of a high, noble order.  He is so good, so great.  Without that sort of disposition it is impossible for us to approach Him, to have any intimate connection.  He lives in such a high sphere that it is impossible to meet Him.  Only by the acceptance of His intimate slavery can we hope to enter that domain.  It is so high for us, so very high.  We should really try to understand how slavery is the highest attainment.  Just calculate how much higher is the position that Krishna holds.  Divine slavery is spontaneous and happy.

Śrīla Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Mahārāja :
“Follow the Angels”
“The Path of Dedication - Slave of the Slave”
http://bvml.org/SBRSM/FtA.html - Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library