Brazil: 163 workers rescued from ‘slave-like’ conditions

Work stopped at Chinese EV company BYD’s factory under construction

Brazilian authorities have rescued 163 workers from conditions similar to “slavery” at a construction site for a factory of Chinese electric vehicle company Build Your Dreams (BYD) in Camacari, Bahia. The workers, employed by the outsourced company Jinjiang Group, faced degrading living and working conditions, including inadequate lodging, poor sanitation, and withheld wages. The site and accommodations have been shut down until compliance is ensured, the Public Labour Prosecutor’s Office (MPT) said.

In a statement issued on Monday, MPT said, “The rescue of 163 workers who were being held in conditions analogous to slavery and the closure of the lodgings and parts of the construction site of the plant where the car manufacturer BYD is installing a factory in the municipality of Camacari, in the metropolitan region of Salvador, was communicated on Monday morning to the company and to Jinjiang Group, one of the contractors hired to carry out the work. The rescued workers will remain in the lodgings, but will not be able to work and will have their employment contracts terminated.”

“The embargoed accommodations and construction sites will also remain inactive until they are fully regularised with the agencies that make up the task force,” the statement added. During the series of inspections, which began in mid-November and will continue over the next few days, 163 workers were identified in conditions analogous to slavery at the outsourced company Jinjang, a service provider for BYD.

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