Chinese workers in BYD Brazil factory worked under abusive clauses, investigators say

Record ID: 1954437

  • Title: Chinese workers in BYD Brazil factory worked under abusive clauses, investigators say
  • Date: 31st January 2025
  • Summary: CAMACARI, BAHIA, BRAZIL (JANUARY 02, 2025) (REUTERS) (MUTE) VARIOUS DRONE SHOTS OF BYD FACTORY CONSTRUCTION SITE CAMACARI, BAHIA, BRAZIL (JANUARY 03, 2025) (REUTERS) GIANT SIGN ON HIGHWAY READING (Portuguese): 'CAMACARI' CAMACARI, BAHIA, BRAZIL (JANUARY 02, 2025) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LODGING WHERE THE CHINESE WORKERS WERE LIVING VARIOUS OF ROOMS IN BUILDING CAMACARI, BAHIA
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2025 10:44
  • Keywords: BYD Bahia Brazil China slavery workers
  • Location: CAMACARI, BAHIA, BRAZIL
  • City: CAMACARI, BAHIA, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,South America / Central America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001291413012025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:The workers who traveled from China to northeast Brazil to build a new factory for electric car maker BYD earned roughly $70 per 10-hour shift, over twice the Chinese hourly minimum wage in many regions. For many, that made signing up an easy decision - but getting out would be much harder.
    The Chinese workers hired by BYD contractor Jinjiang in Brazil had to hand over their passports to their new employer, let most of their wages be sent directly to China, and fork over an almost $900 deposit that they could only get back after six months' work, according to a labor contract seen by Reuters.
    The three-page document, signed by one of 163 workers who labor inspectors said were freed from "slavery-like conditions" last month, includes clauses that violate labor laws in both Brazil and China, according to Brazilian investigators and three Chinese labor law experts.
    Other previously unreported clauses gave the firm the power to unilaterally extend the labor contract for six months and issue 200 yuan fines for conduct such as swearing, quarreling or walking around shirtless at the site or in their living quarters.
    "The Labor Prosecutor's Office, with the Federal Police, rescued 163 Chinese in conditions analogous to slavery. One bathroom for every 34 people, having to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. Imagine the inhumane conditions they were being treated in," said Alan Sanches, a Bahia state representative.
    Jinjiang, which works on BYD factory construction across China in cities such as Changzhou, Yangzhou and Hefei, has disputed the allegations, saying the findings by Brazilian labor inspectors are inconsistent with the facts and the result of confused translations.
    "The claim that Jinjiang's employees were 'enslaved' and 'rescued' is totally off base," said Jinjiang in a statement last month.
    Two weeks later, a raid by labor inspectors found the laborers living crammed in lodgings without mattresses. Thirty-one workers were crammed in a single house with only one bathroom and food piled up on the ground alongside personal belongings, in what inspectors said were "degrading conditions."
    Inspectors have provided no evidence that BYD knew of the violations, but BYD is "directly responsible," said Matheus Viana, acting chief of Brazil's Division of Inspection for the Eradication of Slave Labor, because the carmaker is responsible for the actions of a third-party contractor on its site.
    (Production: Joa Souza, Renato Spyrro, Nina Lopez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register