Construction at BYD’s new EV plant in Brazil was suddenly halted Monday after authorities found Chinese workers in “slavery-like”
Authorities say workers slept on beds without mattresses, ate dirty food, and had to share one bathroom among 31 people
A task force led by Brazilian prosecutors says it has rescued 163 Chinese nationals working in “slavery-like” conditions at a construction site in northeastern Brazil, where Chinese electric vehicle company BYD is building a factory.
The Chinese automaker is known for using cheap labor to reduce the price of its EVs, with Brazil becoming its largest overseas market.
"Slavery-like conditions", as defined by Brazilian law, include debt bondage and work that violates human dignity. The MPT added that the situation also constitutes "forced labour", as many workers had their wages withheld and faced excessive costs for terminating their contracts. BYD said affected workers had been moved to hotels.
After Jinjiang Group, a contractor for Chinese automaker BYD (BYDDY, Financial), strongly denied accusations that there had been mistreatment at the automaker's electric vehicle (EV) factory in Brazil,
Beijing: A contractor for Chinese EV giant BYD denied on Thursday there were slave like conditions in a Brazil factory, where local officials said
Construction at BYD’s new EV plant in Brazil was suddenly halted Monday after authorities found Chinese workers in “slavery-like”
Jinjiang Group, a contractor for BYD, has denied accusations of mistreatment at a Brazilian EV factory, calling them baseless and pointing to cultural misunderstandings as tensions grow over worker rights.
BYD Co Ltd's contractor Jinjiang Group on Thursday said that the Brazilian authority's portrayal of its employees working at the Chinese EV giant's factory in Brazil as "enslaved" is "completely inconsistent with facts.
Scores of Chinese construction workers were rescued from slavery-like conditions at a BYD factory site in Brazil, according to authorities. BYD plans to terminate its contract with Jinjiang Construction.