Sunday, February 23rd, 2025

Brazil: 163 workers at Chinese EV company BYD rescued from “slave”-like conditions


Brazilian authorities have rescued 163 workers from “slavery”-like conditions at the construction site of a factory of Chinese electric vehicle company Build Your Dreams (BYD) in Camacari, Bahia.

Workers employed by the outsourced company Jinjiang Group faced abusive living and working conditions, including inadequate housing, poor sanitation, and withheld wages.

The site and residence have been closed until compliance is ensured, the Public Labor Prosecutor’s Office (MPT) said.

In a statement issued on Monday, the MPT said, “The rescue of 163 workers who were being kept in slavery-like conditions and housing and parts of the construction site of the plant where carmaker Build Your Dreams (BYD ) is setting up a factory in the municipality of Camacari in the metropolitan area of ​​Salvador, the company and Jinjiang Group, one of the contractors appointed to carry out the work, reported on Monday morning. The rescued workers will remain in housing, but. They will not be able to work and their employment contracts will be terminated.

“The restricted accommodation and construction sites will also remain inactive until they are fully regularized with the agencies forming the task force,” the statement said.

During the series of inspections, which began in mid-November and will continue for the next few days, 163 workers were identified in slavery-like conditions at the outsourced company Jinjang, a service provider for BYD.

“These workers were distributed in four main residences, two located on Rua Colorado and two on Rua Umbas in the municipality of Camacari. A fifth accommodation built for workers in administrative roles was also inspected, but despite some irregularities being identified, no workers were rescued,” the MPT said.

It added, “The conditions found in the housing paint a worrying picture of uncertainty and degradation. In the first housing on Colorado Street, workers slept on beds without mattresses and had no lockers for their personal belongings, which were mixed with food supplies. Sanitary conditions were particularly severe, with only one bathroom for every 31 workers, forcing them to get up at 4 a.m. to form lines and get ready to leave for work at 5:30 a.m.

All settlements had serious infrastructure and sanitation problems. The bathrooms, in addition to being inadequate, were not gender segregated, did not have enough toilet seats and sanitary conditions were poor.

The condition of some food courts was equally dangerous. The kitchen was operating in deplorable conditions, with not enough cabinets for food storage.

“Conditions at the construction site also revealed serious irregularities,” the MPT said. Coolers were used to serve food in workplace cafeterias, without ensuring minimum sanitary conditions. The chemical toilets, only eight for about 600 workers, were in a deplorable state, with no toilet paper, water or adequate maintenance, not respecting the minimum distances established by regulation.

Workers were also exposed to intense solar radiation, causing visible signs of skin damage.

In addition to the deplorable conditions, the situation was that of forced labor, due to several indicators found during the inspection. “Workers had to pay a deposit, had 60 percent of their wages withheld (receiving only 40 percent in Chinese currency), faced exorbitant costs for terminating their contracts, and were fined by the company. Their passports were stopped. “Early termination of the contract resulted in the loss of the deposit and withheld amounts, in addition to the obligation to pay for the return ticket and reimburse the cost of the outbound ticket,” MPT said.

BYD was founded in February 1995, headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, with its business spanning four major industries – automobile, rail transit, renewable energy and electronics.



Share on:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *