Forced labor in Brazil: BYD is criticized as an e-car giant!

Forced labor in Brazil: BYD is criticized as an e-car giant!

The construction site of the Chinese E-Auto-Verfirma byd in the state of Bahia, Brazil, is criticized for serious allegations. There were reports on "forced labor" and inhumane conditions under which the workers lived and worked. Over 160 workers from the Jinjiang Construction Brazil company were found under alarming hygienic conditions, which the Brazilian public prosecutor referred to as "slavery".

The employees lived in "humiliating" accommodations in which there was a lack of basic amenities. For example, 31 workers had to share a bathroom, while eight toilets without water and toilet paper were available for 600 workers. Their passes and wages were retained by the construction company, which further tightened the Situation. Workers who ended their job received only 60 percent of their wages while they had to pay their return flights themselves. The Brazilian public was alerted about these "shocking" conditions, which were classified by the MPT (public working lawyer) as "alarming" and "precarious".

measures against BYD

The planned factory in Camaçari, which was to go into operation by March 2025, would have been the first BYD EV system outside of Asia. Brazil is a strategically important BYD market that is one of the largest manufacturers of electric vehicles worldwide. According to reports from Heidelberg24 and BBC The current incidents were classified as "forced labor", since many workers did not have to receive wages and have to bear high costs when completing their contracts.

The Chinese brand has quickly established itself in Brazil in recent years and is pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy. In 2015, BYD opened a factory in São Paulo for the production of chassis for electric buses and recently announced an investment of 3 billion reais (approx. $ 484.2 million) to build an EV factory. At the same time, however, the company also faces challenges, since it is confronted with negative reports on working conditions, while the competition in the USA and the EU is restricted in the competition by tariffs to electric vehicles from China.