UOL (Brazil), AP
SAO PAULO – It was a labor rights story that made world headlines — and prompted more than a few winks and one-liners. A Brazilian worker for Latin America’s biggest brewer was awarded 50,000 reals ($25,000) earlier this month after suing his employer for using prostitutes to motivate sales employees.
Now the plaintiff has told Brazilian News website UOL that there was nothing funny at all about what he went through. Elcio Milczwski, 34, recounted how he was forced by his ex-employer at AmBev — Anheuser Busch subsidiary InBev’s Brazilian unit — to rub prostitutes’ bodies with oil and watch porn videos. This was part of motivation sessions promoted by his boss before going to sales.
“I felt like crap,” Milczwski told UOL.
Last Monday, the court released a statement saying Milczwski was once tied up at work and forced to watch pornographic films and a stripper performed in his office, the AP reported. The statement described the plaintiff as a married evangelical Christian.
Milczwski joined AmBev in 2001. His job was visit bars and restaurants to take note of beverage orders.
“The manager started to bring hookers as a way to motivate the crew. But nobody was ever told this was going to happen and, once inside, you couldn’t leave the room,” he recalled of the episodes, which took place in 2003 and 2004. “We were all forced to rub the girls’ bodies with oil and we were pushed against them. Those who didn’t agree were bullied. Those who reached goals got a free night with one of the girls.”
