A national task force, Operation Resgate VI, rescued 479 workers found in slavery-like conditions during inspections carried out across 19 Brazilian states in August. According to figures from the Labor Inspection Secretariat (SIT) of Brazil's Ministry of Labor and Employment, released on Wednesday and reported by g1, Globo's news portal, the teams carried out 231 enforcement actions between August 1 and 31. Of the workers rescued, 404 were men (84.4%) and 75 were women (15.6%). The operation also identified 15 children and teenagers in child labor, 13 of them also in slavery-like conditions, and 66 migrant workers from countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.
The task force was coordinated by SIT labor auditors, with the Labor Prosecutor's Office (MPT), the Federal Prosecutor's Office (MPF), the Federal Public Defender's Office (DPU) and the Federal Police taking part. The count of 479 rescued workers was also reported by Folha, one of Brazil's leading newspapers, and the Federal Prosecutor's Office released its own report on the operation. In Brazil, subjecting a worker to slavery-like conditions, known as trabalho análogo à escravidão, is a crime under Article 149 of the Penal Code.
Where the workers were found
Minas Gerais state accounted for the largest share of rescues, with 208 workers, or 43.4% of the total. It was followed by Sao Paulo, with 58; Amazonas, with 42; Piaui, with 40; and Rio Grande do Norte, with 37. The Southeast region concentrated 267 rescues, or 55.7%. Rural activities accounted for 61% of the inspections and 292 of the rescued workers, while urban activities accounted for 178. Construction led all sectors, with 85 workers freed, followed by coffee farming (53), onion growing (47) and potato growing (44). In domestic work, 14 employers were inspected and 9 workers were rescued.
Legal consequences and next steps
Employers caught in the inspections were ordered to halt their activities, terminate contracts and retroactively formalize employment ties. So far, 1.47 million reais in severance and labor entitlements have been paid, out of an estimated total of 3.29 million reais. The tally also counts 675,500 reais in individual moral damages and 455,500 reais in collective moral damages. Three conduct adjustment agreements were signed, and four public civil lawsuits are at the filing stage; no filing date has been disclosed. The rescued workers received special unemployment insurance for people freed from slavery-like conditions, worth six monthly payments of one minimum wage each.
The inspections are also expected to produce about 1,836 infraction notices for problems such as child labor, missing formal work registrations and violations of health and safety rules. Authorities ordered 28 embargoes or interdictions of activities, and 1,192 workers were found without formal registration. The report includes no response from the employers inspected, and no criminal conviction has been announced so far.
The Resgate operation has been held every year since 2021, bringing together public agencies to identify and stop slavery-like labor, protect victims and pursue labor, administrative, civil and criminal measures against those responsible. The 2026 edition was the third largest of the series, behind 2024, with 594 rescues, and 2023, with 532, and it came in 123% above the 2025 edition, which recorded 215. According to the survey, the total could have been higher if Brazil did not face a chronic shortage of labor auditors: about 2,800 are currently active.