A BRAZILIAN LABOUR COURT has ordered Cooabriel, the São Gabriel Coffee Growers’ Agricultural Cooperative, which supplies major companies including Nestlé and 3Corações, to take measures to prevent slavery-like conditions and other labour rights violations in its supply chain.
The cooperative, which describes itself as Brazil’s largest in the conilon coffee sector, has approximately 10,000 members. Conilon is commonly used to make instant coffee.
The injunction, issued on 28 October by the 13th Labour Court of Vitória, state of Espírito Santo, partially grants requests made in a public civil action filed a week earlier by the Labour Prosecutor’s Office (MPT). The lawsuit seeks R$10 million (US$ 1.8 million) in damages for collective harm and lists ten cooperative members who were reported to the authorities or investigated in 2025 and 2026 on suspicion of subjecting workers to slavery-like conditions.
Among the cases cited is the rescue of ten workers at Sítio Mata Verde, in Vila Pavão, Espírito Santo, in May 2023, reported in July 2025 by Repórter Brasil, in partnership with Swiss organisation Public Eye. In the lawsuit, the MPT also says its inquiry drew on an investigation by the two organisations that compiled information on slave labour in coffee production.
Asked for comment, Cooabriel said it “has not been formally notified of any labour court ruling in a public civil action” and “reserves the right to comment after receiving formal notification”.
It also said it “regularly checks” the Ministry of Labour’s “Dirty List” — a register of employers found to have subjected workers to slavery-like conditions — and provides training for members, “particularly on slavery-like conditions and child and adolescent labour” (Read the full response here).
Cooabriel supplies coffee to multinationals
Based in São Gabriel da Palha, Espírito Santo, Cooabriel is listed among Nestlé’s suppliers and publicises its participation in the Grown Respectfully programme, which the Swiss multinational describes as “the largest sustainability programme in coffee farming”.
Meanwhile, the Sustainability Report of 3Corações, which describes itself as Brazil’s largest coffee producer, states that the company received “recognition from the São Gabriel Coffee Growers’ Agricultural Cooperative (Cooabriel) as the cooperative’s largest customer” in 2023.
Customs data analysed by Repórter Brasil also indicate that, in 2026, Cooabriel exported coffee to France’s S