120 Years of the Parnahyba Hydropower Plant: The Workers

The individuals behind the history of the Parnahyba Plant, the workers were depicted by the photographs of the construction site. At the time, such pictures would help with the advertisement of the Light company in face of the criticisms directed at their monopolistic practices, earning them the nickname of “Canadian octopus”, with tentacles sprawling over and smothering different public services. 

The size of the stones is as stunning as the number of laborers, having been mobilized, at certain moments of the works, the workforce of up to 1,200 people at the same time.

Despite the practice being forbidden these days, it was commonplace in the early 20th century to employ minors in construction sites and factories. In the lower-class communities, there was no established notion of childhood, and child labor was widely exploited.

In the landscape, workers, stones, and draft animal carts all blend into one another.

The steam drill, a technological advancement of the time. 

Child labor, commonplace at the time, is observable in many images.

Notwithstanding the danger of the labor itself, there was also the imminent threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever.

Access to drinkable water was also an issue to the workforce, with reports of intense diarrhea among the individuals working on site, which forced the Light company to supply mineral water and beverages (beer, for example) to its employees.

  The relationship between workers and employers was also controversial.

An example of it is the case of worker Arthur Nicolini, which took place in 1900. A mason at the Parnahyba Plant’s construction, the Italian immigrant, following a dispute with the head engineer Cooper, suffered physical punishment, was fired, fined, and arrested by soldiers, who were stationed at the Plant’s construction site.

Having his innocence proven, he was released, and when attempting to retrieve the payment for his days of work, he was victim of another aggression, followed by incarceration. Once again acquitted, Nicolini was freed and sought the Italian Consulate and the editorial staff of the Diário Popular newspaper, in order to make the facts known to the public.

Although poorly documented, the workplace accidents at the construction site were not sparse.

There was even the death of some workers, whose memories ended up unknown.

At a point in history in which labor legislation had not been truly developed, an accomplishment to be reached decades from that time, the workplace accidents at the Plant’s construction site were the result of, mostly, lack of proper training in the usage of dynamite in blasts, or in the transportation of the gigantic stones used in the construction.