Corporate social responsibility

Employment and Labor Relations

The Global Compact’s labor relations dimension covers four principles dealing with basic values, such as concern for collectivity, diversity, eradication of slave labor and child labor. The adoption of specific policies and practices on these themes is encouraged by both the Global Pact and SA 8000, and the following four practices are mentioned in both documents.

• Practice 1

Support freedom of association and the effective right to collective agreement.

Which means: recognizing the individual right to trade union membership and rejecting any practice that discriminates against trade union members or representatives and managers in the category. It also means recognizing the representativeness of these institutions by collectively negotiating benefits to workers represented by trade unions.  

• Practice 2

Elimination of all forms of forced labor.

Which means: that the company must fight and condemn any form of forced labor, respecting and practicing the employment and labor relationship in an assertive manner. The company must guarantee the worker’s right to freedom, preserving his right to come and go. The company shall not withhold personal documents from employees, withhold wages as a security measure and shall respect the worker’s freedom to leave after the end of his work shift.

In Brazil, slave labor is a crime, foreseen in article 149 of the Penal Code and transcribed below:

“Art. 149: To reduce someone to a condition analogous to slavery, either by subjecting him/her to forced labor or to exhaustive days, or by subjecting him/her to degrading working conditions, or by restricting, by any means, his/her locomotion due to a debt contracted with the employer or the employee”.

It is worth mentioning that forced labor includes compulsory labor to pay previous debt or prisoner labor.

• Practice 3

Effective abolition of child labor.

Which means: fighting and condemning any form of child labor, paid or unpaid, preserving the child’s time for his or her education, training and leisure rights.

Under Brazilian law, the minimum age for adolescents to work is 14 years old, supported by Federal Law 10,097, enacted in 2000 and known as the Learning Law. This law is aimed at low-income young people and aims to value them, train them and prepare them for the future job market. The workload is reduced and their rights to remuneration based on the minimum wage and to study are guaranteed. Get to know the essence of this Law in the wording of Art. 428 and its First Paragraph, which we transcribe below:  

“Art. 428. Apprenticeship contract is the special employment contract, adjusted in writing and for a fixed term, in which the employer undertakes to ensure to those over fourteen and under eighteen years of age, enrolled in an apprenticeship program, methodical technical-professional training, compatible with their physical, moral and psychological development, and the apprentice, to perform, with zeal and diligence, the tasks necessary for such training”.

“Paragraph 1 – The validity of the apprenticeship contract presupposes annotation in the Work and Social Security Cards, enrollment and attendance of the apprentice at school, in case he/she has not concluded elementary school, and enrollment in an apprenticeship program developed under the guidance of a qualified entity in methodical technical-professional training”.

• Practice 4

Eliminate discrimination related to employment and occupation.

Which means:  

• Ensure equal pay, access to new career opportunities in the company based on skills and merit, and regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation of the employee;
• Encourage the adoption of institutional guidelines that prohibit discriminatory practices in the work environment, ensuring and promoting equal conditions for all;  
• Determine standards and principles of conduct in the relationship between employees and partners of the company, disapproving any demonstration of prejudice and discrimination;
• Recognize the merit of each individual and offer equal access to new opportunities for professional and intellectual development in the organization;
• To concretely favor access to job vacancies for people with disabilities, establishing a culture of respect and appreciation for this public, as determined by State Law 11.867 / 1995, whose menu is a percentage reserve of public positions or jobs, within the scope of public administration of the State, for people with disabilities.

“Article 1 – The direct and indirect public administration of the State is obliged to reserve 10% (ten percent) of public positions or jobs, at all levels, for people with disabilities”.

What do we do at Cemig to align with the four principles of EMPLOYMENT dimension of Global Compact and SA 8000:

• We respect trade union initiatives and value other forms of voluntary organization of our professionals;
• We recognize the legitimacy of unions, and other union entities representing our employees, and negotiate with all of them the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the category and Specific Agreements on issues relevant to workers. Currently, 100% of Cemig’s Professionals are represented by unions.
• We develop internal and external campaigns addressing safety and health at work.
• We do not allow the exploitation of workers, nor do we maintain commercial relationships or hire the services from organizations that engage in any form of forced labor.
• Nor do we hire any direct or indirect employees who have not reached legal working age.
• Together with civil society organizations, we contribute to the training of hundreds of low-income young people who benefit from Young Apprentice Programs. They receive vocational training, fair remuneration, meal vouchers and the opportunity to enter the formal labor market.
• We seek partnerships with specialized organizations to develop training programs.
• Our supplier registration process and the contracts signed to provide services are clear about the prohibition of the use of any form of forced labor or child labor in the company’s supply chain.
• We have the Electronic Purchasing Portal, with information for registration, bidding, documentation and forms, available to the company.
• Cemig’s Declaration of Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Conduct clearly addresses the responsibilities that the company assumes towards valuing diversity, not allowing any form of discrimination based on race, sex, color, appearance, nationality, religion, age, physical and mental condition, marital status, political ideology, veteran or novice status.

To learn more, please visit:

Superior Labor Court

International Labor Organization

United Nations Children’s Fund

State Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents of Minas Gerais

Statute of the Child and Adolescent

The Global Compact addresses four major thematic groups. In addition to the thematic group dealing with Employment and Labor Relations, included in the first block of this booklet “Common themes of the Global Compact and SA 8000”, we will learn about the three thematic groups that complement the principles of Global Compact: Human Rights, Environment and Fight against Corruption.

Human Rights

This area covers two principles dealing with the recognition and respect of human rights, as well as the commitment to ensure that they are not violated.

• Practice 5

Companies should support and respect internationally proclaimed human rights protection in their sphere of influence.

Which means: companies must respect and protect human rights.

They are fundamental rights of the human person, which guarantee the ability to develop and participate fully in life.

The right to life, food, health, housing, education, the right to affection and the free expression of sexuality are among the fundamental human rights.

There is no right more important than the other. To respect human rights is to promote life in society without discrimination of social class, culture, religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation. To have equal rights, differences must be respected.

Article 5 of the Brazilian Constitution guarantees fundamental human rights, which are, in essence: the right to life, equality, security and property.

• Practice 6

Ensure non-complicity with human rights abuses.

Which means: working to prevent human rights from being violated.

As human rights are based on the preservation of life and its physical, moral and social integrity, anyone can have their right violated. But in general, the violation of human rights affects far more those who are socially excluded or belong to ethnic, religious or sexual minorities.

Torture, racism, forced labor, domestic violence, discrimination against women and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation are all forms of human rights violations.

What do we do at Cemig to support human rights principles?

• We work towards development.
• We act in a transparent manner, respecting diversity, the right to life, individual choices and freedom.
• We invest in and encourage social initiatives aimed at improving the communities where we operate and the quality of life of their residents.
• We support the Program for Allocation of Resources to Municipal Councils for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, according to the Statute of Child and Adolescent – Federal Law 8.069/90.

To learn more, please visit: 

United Nations in Brazil

Special Secretary for Human Rights (SEDH)

Environment

There are three principles of the Global Compact which address the relationship with the environment.

• Practice 7

Support the precautionary principle regarding environmental challenges.

Which means: care for business impact on the environment must be examined and companies must adopt preventive strategies and processes aligned with the principles of sustainability and environmental challenges. Companies are expected to be proactive in preventing pollution and reducing consumption, minimize waste generation and encourage recycling of used materials.      

• Practice 8

Take initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility.

Which means: incorporate its business strategy and processes, policies and practices that encourage environmental responsibility of all employees and suppliers, disclose practices to be adopted in favor of the environment, support preservation projects and present the concern for the environment through environmental preservation practices in the communities where it operates, aiming at strict compliance with current laws.  

• Practice 9

Encourage the development and diffusion of clean technologies.

O que significa: o engajamento da empresa na busca e utilização de novas tecnologias e fontes de energia limpa, como a disseminação do uso da energia solar, o uso de frotas com biocombustíveis, energia eólica, etc.

What do we do at Cemig to support this practice?

• The preservation of the environment is one of the themes of Cemig’s Declaration of Ethical Principles and Code of Professional Conduct.
• We recognize and strongly emphasize environmental protection in all of our processes and facilities.
• We invest in the development of new clean technologies, such as wind energy.
• During our planning and activities, we consider the need to protect the environment and contribute to the social development of the populations in the communities where we operate.
• We acknowledge that it is our responsibility and that of our employees to act in accordance with legislation and environmental policy.
• Cemig bases its actions on national and international standards, ISO 14000, and it also maintains a transparent relationship with the inspection agencies.

To learn more, please visi: 

Ministry of Environment

Secretary of State for Environment and Sustainable Development

Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development

Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources

Fighting Corruption

The fourth dimension of Global Compact deals with the fight against corruption in all its forms and instances, including extortion and bribery.    

• Practice 10

Fight against corruption

Which means: guiding the behavior of the internal and external public to minimize ethical conflicts, reinforcing the conduct guided by transparency and ethics. To guarantee the existence and support of the Ethics Committee responsible for the management of the ethical culture in the company, contributing to the dissemination of good practices and the existence of procedures that define and make possible the penalty that may be imposed in case of violations to this principle.       

What do we do at Cemig to support this practice?

•  We strictly forbid our employees from accepting, offering, promising, soliciting gifts, gratuities or personal advantages from customers and partners in order to gain illegitimate advantage or to induce that rules and laws are violated.
• We protect the ideas, programs and projects developed by the company and respect the right to ownership of ideas developed by partners.
• We rely on the Anonymous Reporting Channel to receive, submit and process reports of irregular practices.    
• We have an Ombudsman‘s Office, a service channel available on the Internet, to establish the between society and the company in search of improvements to the services delivered.
• We have our Information Security Policy that defines a set of standards and procedure instructions based on NBR ISO/IEC 17.799, aiming at reducing and managing risks related to security and information protection.

To learn more, please visit 

Nations Development Program

Institute of Business and Social Responsibility

Cemig’s Communication Policy with the Community sets forth guidelines that conduct its communication strategy in relationship initiatives with communities in which it operates.

This policy is part of the compilation of communication strategies adopted by Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais – Cemig and the company’s Communication Plan, and are thus submitted to the Superintendent for Corporate Communication (CC).

It is an instrument that reaffirms the Company’s commitment to management transparency, making public the assumptions and fundaments that guide the definition of strategies and communication practices, and details the principles that guide decisions regarding communication initiatives in Community Relations.

Click here to learn more about our Communication Policy with the Community

Any person under the age of 15, unless the local minimum age law stipulates a higher age for work or compulsory education, in which case the higher age prevails. If, however, the local minimum age law is set at 14 years of age, according to the exceptions of emerging countries under ILO Convention 138, the lower age between the two conditions shall prevail.

The totality of any organization or business entity responsible for implementing the requirements of the standard, including all employees (i.e., directors, executives, managers, supervisors and other employees, whether directly employed, contracted or otherwise representing the company).

A form of management that is defined by the ethical and transparent relationship of the company with all the publics with which it relates and by the establishment of business goals that drive the sustainable development of society, preserving environmental and cultural resources for future generations, respecting diversity and promoting the reduction of social inequalities. (Ethos Institute)

A business entity supplying the company with goods and/or services needed and used in/for the production of company goods and/or services.

Individual or group interested in, or affected by, the company’s social performance.

All the support and actions necessary to ensure the safety, health, education and development of children who have been subjected to child labor as defined above and are dismissed.

A business entity in the supply chain that directly or indirectly provides the supplier with goods and/or services needed and used in/for the production of goods and/or services of the supplier and/or company.

Any work or service that is extracted from any person under the threat of any penalty for which that person has not voluntarily offered him or herself.

Any work done by a child under the age specified in the above child definition, except as provided for in ILO Recommendation 146.

Any worker over the age of a child, as defined above, and under the age of 18.