На заводі BYD у Бразилії виявили сотню китайців, які працювали в умовах рабства. Коллаж: ITC.UA
The Brazilian government has halted construction work at the new BYD factory in the northeastern state of Bahia, after discovering 163 Chinese workers living and working “in conditions of slavery,” reports Bloomberg.
Jinjiang Construction Brazil Ltd. managed the construction process, which BYD has immediately severed ties with. The automaker stated that it will “protect the rights of all its subcontractors” going forward and promised to relocate the workers to hotels.
According to the local prosecutor’s report, the construction workers from China had their passports taken away and a significant portion of their salaries withheld. In one case, a man worked for six months and ended up completely broke because the company deducted the cost of his round-trip flights to Brazil from his salary; in another, an employee had an accident after working non-stop for 25 days.
The quarters where the builders stayed housed up to 31 people, had beds without mattresses, and only one bathroom. They were also forced to wake up at 4 AM daily so that work could start by 5:30 AM.
Currently, the Brazilian authorities have closed the premises until they are brought up to appropriate standards. Meanwhile, BYD has stated that they have conducted a “detailed inspection” of the workers’ living conditions over the past few weeks and “repeatedly” asked the contractor to improve them.
BYD’s new electric car factory in Brazil is set to start operations next year. This year, the company sold 66,000 vehicles in the country (by November) — essentially making the largest economy in South America the top-selling market for BYD’s electric and hybrid vehicles.