Volkswagen AG spied on Brazilian union activists in the 1980s and passed sensitive information about wage demands and other private discussions to the country's military dictatorship, according to newly uncovered documents seen by Reuters. The company covertly monitored its own workers as well as prominent union leaders of the era. One of VW's targets was Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who went on to become Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010 and remains one of its most influential politicians.
The documents were recently discovered in government archives by a special "truth commission" that, at the request of Brazil's current president, Dilma Rousseff, is investigating abuses that occurred during the 1964-1985 regime. Reuters reported last month that the commission found signs that dozens of companies, including Volkswagen and other foreign automakers, helped the military identify union activists in the 1980s to suppress labour unrest.
Now, according to the commission's leaders, 20 pages of documents marked "confidential" that Volkswagen gave to the military in 1983 and 1984 provide the clearest proof yet that some companies went further - gathering their own intelligence on union activities and sharing it with authorities. In the documents, Volkswagen provided extensive accounts of more than a dozen union meetings in Greater S?o Paulo. The company relayed workers' plans for strikes as well as their demands for better salaries and working conditions.
The company reported the names of Volkswagen workers who attended union events and, in at least two cases, noted the make and license plate numbers of vehicles present. Volkswagen also reported the showing of a socialist-themed film at a union headquarters; the contents of flyers distributed outside its factory doors and the names of those distributing them; and an incident in which "several addicted workers were caught smoking marijuana."
Such information was typically used by police to monitor, harass and detain union activists in the hope of discouraging future unrest, said Sebasti?o Neto, a member of the National Truth Commission. He cited testimony the group has gathered from workers who met with such treatment. "These documents show with exceptional clarity how companies expected the government to help them solve their problems with their workers," said Neto, who is overseeing the commission's research of links between companies and the military.
Companies could face civil lawsuits or demands for reparations if they are found to have contributed to human rights violations of their workers during the dictatorship, some Brazilian prosecutors have said. Others doubt that the evidence uncovered so far would be sufficient to mount a court case. They say the investigation's true value lies in building a fuller account of past abuses so that Brazil, now a stable democracy and economic power, never repeats the mistakes of the dark period. The documents were found in Brazil's national archive by professional historians who were hired by a local union to work in co-ordination with the National Truth Commission. Neto said they would be included in the group's final report, due in December.