{"id":2539108,"date":"2025-05-30T15:52:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2539108\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T15:52:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:52:17","slug":"brazil-sues-chinas-byd-over-slavery-conditions-on-build-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2539108\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil sues China&#8217;s BYD over &#8216;slavery&#8217; conditions on build site"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AFP047462_00.pre.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t      Brazilian prosecutors are suing Chinese electric car giant BYD and two contracting companies for human trafficking and alleged slave labor conditions at a build site, according to legal documents seen by AFP Thursday.<br \/>  The case concerns 220 Chinese workers found last December in conditions analogous to slavery at a BYD plant under construction in Camacari, in the northeastern state of Bahia.<br \/>  Bahia&#8217;s regional ministry for works (MPT) said in December it had found degrading working conditions at the site being built, expected to be BYD&#8217;s largest electric car plant outside Asia.<br \/>  Workers slept without mattresses and, in one case, 31 people had to share a bathroom, it said.<br \/>  Laborers had visible signs of skin damage from working long hours under the sun.<br \/>  The MPT said it also suspected forced labor, with illegal clauses in workers&#8217; contracts, passports confiscated and the employer withholding as much as 70 percent of their salary. Workers were monitored by armed guards.<br \/>  After the allegations were made public, BYD&#8217;s Brazilian subsidiary said it had broken its contract with the Jinjiang contractor responsible for work on the site.<br \/>  Jinjiang denied the slavery allegation.<br \/>  The MPT is now seeking 257 million reais ($45.3 million) for collective moral damages, as well as individual payments for each worker.<br \/>  The civil suit against BYD, Jinjiang and Tonghe Intelligent Equipment (now Tecmonta) was filed after the companies refused to sign a conduct adjustment agreement proposed by Brazilian authorities, the MPT said.<br \/>  On Thursday, BYD said in a statement it had collaborated with the MPT from the beginning, and reaffirms its non-negotiable commitment to human and labor rights, guiding its activities by respecting Brazilian legislation and international labor protection standards.<br \/>  Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters Beijing places great importance on protecting and safeguarding workers&#8217; legitimate rights and interests, and requires Chinese companies to operate in compliance with laws and regulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brazilian prosecutors are suing Chinese electric car giant BYD and two contracting companies for human traffic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2539109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[785160],"tags":[30353,98706,528524,32077,939,1670,98751,73191,11802,200,125020,1656,78392,6798,17757,812,4817,3687,4313,31168,1712,345531,6330,784979,2722,11034,784980,1668,3843,13633,11786,3577,16899,21135,302851,482,14115,577,1669],"class_list":{"0":"post-2539108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brazil","8":"tag-brazil","9":"tag-jiji","10":"tag-topics","11":"tag-topix","12":"tag-939","13":"tag-1670","14":"tag-98751","15":"tag-73191","16":"tag-11802","17":"tag-200","18":"tag-125020","19":"tag-1656","20":"tag-78392","21":"tag-6798","22":"tag-17757","23":"tag-812","24":"tag-4817","25":"tag-3687","26":"tag-4313","27":"tag-31168","28":"tag-1712","29":"tag-345531","30":"tag-6330","31":"tag-784979","32":"tag-2722","33":"tag-11034","34":"tag-784980","35":"tag-1668","36":"tag-3843","37":"tag-13633","38":"tag-11786","39":"tag-3577","40":"tag-16899","41":"tag-21135","42":"tag-302851","43":"tag-482","44":"tag-14115","45":"tag-577","46":"tag-1669"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/wakoka.com\/@news\/114597589962210457","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2539108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2539108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2539108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2539109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2539108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2539108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2539108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}