China’s giant automaker BYD was sued on Tuesday by Brazil’s Public Labour Prosecutor’s Office (MPT) over “slavery-like” working conditions at the company’s factory construction site.
BYD and two contractors Jinjiang and Tecmonta (former Tonghe) were allegedly involved in human trafficking and in promoting conditions “analogous to slavery” for about 220 Chinese workers.
The MPT is seeking R$ 257 million ($45 million) for collective damage and is pushing for the three companies to be fined R$ 50,000 ($8,800) for every violation, multiplied by the number of workers harmed.
The office demands that workers are paid for moral damages in a value equal to 21 times their contractual salary, plus an additional full salary for each day they were subjected to these conditions.
In December, Brazilian authorities halted production and rescued 163 Jinjiang workers in BYD‘s plant in Bahia, two months after the MPT began investigating the scene in response to an anonymous complaint.
Later on, another 57 workers from Tonghe were rescued over “slavery and human trafficking.”
According to the statement, public officials found the workers in overfilled accommodations detained by the contractors.
The authorities said that they were allegedly under armed surveillance and had their passports witheld.
The authorities concluded that these 220 workers were in the country illegally, as their worked visas named services that didn’t correspond to the activities they were actually involved on.
The contracts contained illegal clauses, and they were reportedly required working hours that exceeded legal limits, while not being granted weekly rest periods.
“In one of the dormitories, only one bathroom was available for 31 people, forcing workers to wake up around 4 a.m. to take care of personal hygiene before starting their workday,” Brazil’s MPT said in a statement.
Workers had 70% of their wages withheld and had to pay a security deposit, which they would lose if they ended the contract early — in which case they had to repay the company for the trip to Brazil and wouldn’t be granted a ticket back home.
Earlier this month, Bahia state labor secretary Augusto Vasconcelos stated that, following the construction halt due to the investigation, BYD‘s plant will be “fully functional” by December 2026.
Last week, Vice-President Stella Li stated that production in Brazil is set to begin in June to serve Latin American markets. The plant will have the capacity to manufacture around 150,000 vehicles yearly.
China’s state-owned GAC Group held last week its launch event in Brazil. The automaker announced last year its intent to invest R$ 6 billion ($1 billion) in the country over the next years.
GAC International’s president Wei Haigang stated that the group is planning to build a plant in Brazil by the end of 2026.
BYD established its European headquarters in Hungary, where it is building its first passenger vehicle factory, it announced earlier this month.
According to data from Jato Dynamics, the company has surpassed Tesla in European sales for battery electric vehicles in April. The automaker aims for 50% of its sales to come from international markets by 2030, according to a report by Reuters.
