The Public Ministry of Labor (MPT) of Brazil announced that it has initiated a civil action in court against the automobile manufacturer BYD for conditions analogous to slavery and human trafficking.
In a statement, the Brazilian MPT informed that the process also involves the construction companies China JinJiang Construction Brazil and Tonghe Intelligent Equipment of Brazil, which provided exclusive services for BYD in the country.
According to the MPT, in December 2024, more than 200 Chinese workers were found in conditions analogous to slavery and victims of international human trafficking. They were hired for the construction of BYD’s factory in the municipality of Camaçari, in the Brazilian state of Bahia.
“The 220 workers entered Brazil illegally, with work visas for specialized services that did not correspond to the activities effectively carried out on the site”, the MPT’s statement highlights.
At the construction site of BYD’s industrial building, public agents found workers crowded into accommodations without the minimum conditions of hygiene and comfort, with the presence of armed guards and retention of passports.
The Chinese workers rescued in Brazil were reportedly kept under work contracts with illegal clauses, exhausting hours with no weekly rest, and were subjected to the risk of accidents due to negligence regarding health and safety regulations at work.
The Brazilian MPT added that, in the action presented, it requested the condemnation of the cited companies to pay R$ 257 million, or €40.2 million, as compensation for collective moral damages, the payment of individual moral damages equivalent to 21 times the contractual salary, plus an amount for each day the worker was subjected to conditions analogous to slavery.
The Brazilian prosecutors also demand that the companies settle the severance payments due, in addition to complying with Brazilian labor protection laws and not subjecting workers to human trafficking and slave labor.
The MPT requests a fine of R$ 50,000, €7,800 for each item not complied with, multiplied by the number of affected workers.
It should be noted that recently, the Secretary of Labor of the state of Bahia, Augusto Vasconcelos, announced that the new BYD factory in Brazil will start operating later than expected, as it is only expected to be fully operational in December 2026, after the construction work on the factory was delayed due to an investigation into abuses against workers.
BYD’s investment in Brazil is the largest made by the brand outside of China and aims to transform an old Ford factory into an industrial complex capable of producing 150,000 electric vehicles per year.
