December 25, 2024, 18:48 PM
December 25, 2024, 18:48 PM
With our correspondent in Rio de Janeiro, Javier Royo.
A total of 163 workers, of Chinese nationality, were rescued from the construction sites of a factory that the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD is building in the Brazilian state of Bahia, in the northwest of the country.
The authorities removed all the workers when they understood that they were in a situation equivalent to the slavery. Their passports had been withheld so that they could not leave Brazil and 60% of their salary was confiscated.
The Brazilian subsidiary of the Chinese manufacturer, BYD Auto do Brasil, announced in a statement that it terminated “with immediate effect” the contract of the company responsible for the work, Jinjiang Construction Brazil Ltda.
The largest factory outside Asia
The work is located in Camaçari, in Bahia, where the largest manufacturing factory is being built. electric cars BYD outside Asia.
According to authorities, employees did not have the necessary protective measures and there were at least two workplace accidents caused by lack of rest. After the intervention of the Brazilian Labor Prosecutor’s Office, the employees are now distributed in hotels waiting for their situation to be regularized. They will not work on the construction site again.
