Chinese workers saved from 'slave-like conditions' in Brazil

By AFP

More than 160 Chinese workers have been saved from "slave-like conditions" in Brazil, where they had been building an electric car factory for Chinese giant BYD, officials said Tuesday.

BYD's Brazilian subsidiary said in a statement late Monday it has "broken with immediate effect" its contract with the company responsible for the work on the site, Jinjiang Construction Brazil Ltd.

The site is located in Camacari, in the northeast state of Bahia and, when completed, will be BYD's biggest electric car plant outside Asia, with a production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year.

Work on part of the site was suspended by order of Bahia's public ministry for works (MPT).

Since November that state ministry and other authorities have been conducting inspections which the MPT said identified "163 workers who appeared to be in slave-like conditions with the Jinjiang company providing services for BYD."

An MPT spokesperson told AFP that all those workers identified were Chinese nationals.

In a statement, the MPT said it had found "an alarming situation of precariousness" where employees were being kept in "degrading working conditions."

"In one of the accommodations, workers slept on beds without mattresses and had no wardrobes for their personal effects, which were mixed together with food supplies," it said.

The MPT also found there was just one bathroom per 31 workers, "which forced them to get up at 4:00 am to line up to be able to get ready before leaving to start work at 5:30 am."

Once on the site, "the workers were exposed to intense solar radiation, presenting visible signs of skin damage."

The MPT said it suspected "forced labor" had been occurring, with the workers' passports confiscated and their employer "retaining 60 percent of their salary, and them receiving the other 40 percent in Chinese money."

Authorities have organized an online hearing Thursday so that BYD and Jinjiang "can present the necessary provisions guaranteeing minimal accommodation conditions" and the rectification of the violations detected.

BYD's Brazilian subsidiary said in its statement that "it does not tolerate violations of Brazilian law and human dignity," adding that it had immediately transferred the 163 workers to stay in hotels in the region.