“Chinese automaker BYD has fired a subcontractor building its plant in Brazil after local labor authorities said they rescued 163 workers from slavery-like conditions.”, — write: epravda.com.ua
Chinese automaker BYD has fired a subcontractor building its factory in Brazil after local labor authorities said they rescued 163 workers from slavery-like conditions. The Financial Times writes about it. BYD, China’s largest electric car maker and rival to Warren Buffett-backed Tesla, is renovating an old Ford plant in the northeastern state of Bahia as part of plans for rapid global expansion. According to Brazilian officials, workers at Chinese subcontractor Jinjiang Construction lived in “extremely degrading” conditions in dormitories at the construction site, which featured overcrowding, beds without mattresses and insufficient sanitary facilities.Advertisement: Unsafe working conditions and long working hours were also reported, which led to construction accidents. Officials claim to have found evidence of forced labor: workers’ passports were confiscated and 60% of their wages were withheld. BYD said it was terminating the contract with Jinjiang, while a company representative took to its social media pages to share the subcontractor’s denials of any wrongdoing. BYD’s Brazilian office said the company has “zero tolerance for any violation of Brazilian law and human dignity.” Advertisement: “Therefore, the company has decided to immediately terminate the contract with the contractor for part of the construction work and is evaluating other appropriate measures.” – added in BYD. Other contractors continue to work on the site. In a statement in Chinese on its Weibo platform, Jinjiang called the allegations of “slavery” or “rescue” of workers “absolutely untrue.” Jinjiang, based in southwest China’s Sichuan province, added that cultural differences, translation and interpretation errors had led to “inaccuracies” in Brazil’s official statements. To remind you: Brazilian officials found 163 Chinese nationals working in slave-like conditions at the construction site of a factory owned by Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Jinjiang Group, a contractor for Chinese electric car maker BYD, said Brazilian authorities’ portrayal of its workers as “slaves” was inaccurate and that there had been a translation misunderstanding.