Public Prosecutor of Brazil sues BYD for slave labor and trafficking in people
The Labor Prosecutor’s Office (MPT) of Brazil announced on Tuesday that it began a civil action in court against the Chinese automotive builder Build Your Dreams (BYD). The MPT accuses the BYD of slave labor and trafficking in persons.
In a statement, the Brazilian MPT reported that the process also extends to construction companies China Jinjiang Construction Brazil and Tonghe Smart Equipment in Brazil (now Tecmonta Smart Equipment Brazil). These companies provide exclusive services for BYD in the country.
According to the MPT, in December last year, 220 Chinese workers were found in a situation analogous to slavery and victims of international people trafficking. The workers were hired to build the BYD factory in the municipality of Camaçari, in the Brazilian state of Bay.
« All 220 workers entered the country (Brazil) irregularly, with work visa for specialized services that did not correspond to the activities effectively developed in the work, » said the MPT.
At BYD’s industrial building shipyard, public agents found workers huddled in accommodation without the minimum conditions of comfort and hygiene, with the presence of armed surveillance and passport retention.
Chinese workers rescued in Brazil would have been maintained with employment contracts with illegal clauses, exhaustive and weekly rest hours and subject to risk of negligence for health and occupational safety standards.
The Brazilian MPT added that, in the action presented, it requested the conviction of the companies to pay 257 million reais (40.2 million euros) as collective moral damages, the payment of individual moral damage equivalent to 21 times the contractual salary, plus a value per day to which the worker was subjected to a condition analogous to that of slave.
