BYD construction site in Brazil shut over ‘slavery-like’ conditions
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More than 160 Chinese nationals were found living in ‘degrading’ conditions and working excessive hours. Brazilian authorities have halted construction of a factory for the Chinese electric vehicle company BYD, after they found more than 160 Chinese nationals living in “slavery-like” conditions.
![[Living conditions of some workers building BYD’s factory in Brazil]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ec7541b80802f369560726c96a37687154cb4f4b/0_0_1080_1080/master/1080.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The workers, based in a construction site in Brazil’s north-eastern state of Bahia, were found to be labouring for excessive hours – sometimes for seven days straight – and living in “degrading” accommodation. Workers, who were hired by a contractor called Jinjiang Construction Brazil, were said to be unable to leave without permission, and more than 100 had their passports withheld. The workers were hired in China and brought to Brazil.
![[Living conditions of some workers building BYD’s factory in Brazil]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/403bd9af05db633ee88209313920e02a9e1b699b/0_0_1080_1080/master/1080.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The factory they were helping to build was set to be BYD’s first electric vehicle plant outside Asia, and was due to open and start operating by March 2025. Authorities from the public labour prosecutor’s office had been investigating the site since November. “We found that the work of … these 163 workers, was carried out in slavery-like conditions,” the local labour prosecutor’s office said during a news conference on Monday.
“Minimum safety conditions were not being met in the work environment,” authorities added. In Brazil, slavery-like conditions include forced labour, as well as degrading work conditions, debt bondage – when a person is forced to work to pay off a debt rather than for new pay – and long hours that pose a risk to workers’ health and any work that violates human dignity.
