Brazilian authorities have halted the construction of a factory for the Chinese electric vehicle company BYD, after they found more than 160 Chinese nationals living in “slavery-like” conditions.

The workers, based in a construction site in the north-eastern Brazilian state Bahia, were found to be labouring for excessive hours – sometimes for seven days straight – and living in “degrading” accommodation.

The workers, who were hired by a contractor called Jinjiang Construction Brazil, were said to be unable to leave without permission, and more than 100 had their passports withheld. The workers were hired in China and brought to Brazil.

The factory they were helping to build was set to be BYD’s first electric vehicle plant outside Asia, and was due to open and start operating by March 2025.

Authorities from the public labour prosecutor’s office had been investigating the site since November. “We found that the work of … these 163 workers, was carried out in slavery-like conditions,” the local labour prosecutor’s office said during a news conference on Monday.

“Minimum safety conditions were not being met in the work environment,” authorities added.

In Brazil, slavery-like conditions include forced labour, as well as degrading work conditions, long hours that pose a risk to workers’ health, debt bondage – when a person is forced to work to pay off a debt rather than for new pay – and any work that violates human dignity.

The living conditions of some workers building BYD’s factory in Brazil. Photograph: Ministry of Labour and Employment, Brazil

The investigation found that workers were forced to sleep on beds without any mattresses, and more than 600 workers had been sharing eight portable toilets which were in a “deplorable state”, lacking toilet paper and water.

A lack of kitchen space also meant food was being stored near bathrooms and in unsanitary conditions, and prepared meals were found left open on the floor, exposed to dirt and without being refrigerated. Most workers were forced to eat their meals in their beds.

“The conditions found in the lodgings revealed an alarming picture of precariousness and degradation,” the prosecutors said.

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Living conditions of some workers building BYD’s factory in Brazil. Photograph: Public Ministry of Labour, Brazil

BYD said it “does not tolerate disrespect for Brazilian law and human dignity” and that it had immediately terminated the contract with Jinjiang for part of the work at the factory and was considering “other appropriate measures”.

BYD, short for Build Your Dreams, was originally founded as a battery company in 1995 but has since become one of the world’s largest EV makers. It is led by Wang Chuanfu– often described as China’s Elon Musk – and headquartered in Pingshan, on the outskirts of Shenzhen.

It said all the workers would be transferred to hotels in the region and the company has launched a detailed review of working and living conditions of all employees hired by contractors working on the project.

BYD added that the company had been operating in Brazil for 10 years, “always strictly following local legislation and maintaining its commitment to ethics, respect and human dignity”.



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