Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD is under investigation for using “irregular visas” to ship workers to Brazil, where they were kept in what Brazilian inspectors described as “slavery-like conditions.”
The Brazilian government stopped issuing work visas to BYD last month after 163 Chinese nationals were rescued from deplorable conditions at a BYD factory under construction in the city of Camacari.
The Brazil Public Prosecutor’s Office said on December 23 that construction work on the factory was halted after the discovery. According to local inspectors, BYD contracted with a firm called the Jinjiang Group to import workers who labored under “degrading” conditions, lived in unsanitary dormitories, and were robbed of over half their wage under threats of severe retaliation if they attempted to quit.
Brazil’s inspectors deemed these conditions analogous to “forced labor,” and described the Chinese workers as victims of “international human trafficking.”
On Tuesday, a labor inspector told Reuters that about 500 Chinese workers were brought into Brazil by the Jinjiang contractor using “irregular visas.”
The chief investigator on the BYD case, Liane Durao, said all of those workers have left Brazil, or are in the process of departing.
Durao said BYD would be fined for every worker whose employment violated Brazil’s labor laws, without disclosing what the total amount of those fines might be.
BYD claims it did nothing wrong and initially claimed it would terminate its relationship with Jinjiang, although later a BYD executive dismissed the entire slave-labor story as a scurrilous effort by “foreign forces” to smear Chinese companies and undermine “the relationship between China and Brazil.”
BYD has invested about $620 million in the Camacari plant, which was intended to begin producing 150,000 vehicles a year in 2025. The company has not clarified whether the current controversy will delay the opening date for its factory.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Beijing has urged all companies working overseas to obey local labor laws.
“As we’ve stressed more than once, the Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting the lawful rights and interests of workers and has all along asked our companies to abide by laws and regulations in their operation,” said foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun.
“China stands ready to continue working with Brazil under the principle of equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation to further enhance exchanges and cooperation in various fields,” Guo said.
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