- Brazilian authorities recently found 163 Chinese workers being employed by a contractor.
- Workers released a statement, saying there had been misunderstandings.
- BYD has cut ties with the contractor and has moved workers to nearby hotels.
A contractor for Chinese carmaker BYD in Brazil, Jinjiang Group, has vehemently denied claims it’s keeping employees “enslaved” at a construction site where a new BYD factory is being built. As is so often the case, there are two sides to this story.
On December 24, Brazilian authorities said they had found 163 Chinese nationals working in “slavery-like conditions” at the factory. Authorities suggested these employees were working long hours in excess of those permitted by local laws and working up to seven days a week. It was also claimed there was just one toilet for every 31 workers and that the employees were being housed in dorms with no mattresses and sparse cooking facilities.
Read: 163 Workers Rescued From Shocking Slave-Like Conditions At BYD Construction Site In Brazil
The local labor prosecutor’s office added that the conditions at the site were dangerous and that 107 of the workers were having their passports withheld by the contractor.
However, both Jinjiang and BYD have denied the claims. Workers have also gathered and released a statement, claiming there had been misunderstandings and stating they want to continue working at the site.
“In the matter of smearing Chinese brands, smearing China, and attempting to undermine the friendship between China and Brazil, we have seen how relevant foreign forces maliciously associate and deliberately smear,” BYD spokesperson Li Yunfei said, according to ABC News. In a separate statement published to its Weibo account, Jinjiang said “being unjustly labeled as ‘enslaved’ has made our employees feel that their dignity has been insulted and their human rights violated, seriously hurting the dignity of the Chinese people.”
The contractor also shared an online video showing its workers. In the clip, a group of workers read a letter they jointly signed. They say reports of “slave-like” conditions had violated their human rights, adding, “We cherish this work and want to stay and work here.” They said they had provided their passports to the company to assist in applying for temporary work permits that they couldn’t do on their own, due to local language barriers.
Nevertheless, after news of the alleged poor working conditions emerged, BYD said it had terminated its contract with Jinjiang and that workers would be housed in nearby hotels for the time being. Moreover, it stated that it had been changing working conditions at the construction site and had informed its contractors that “adjustments” had to be made.
Which, naturally, raises the following question: if things at the site were not the ones described by Brazilian authorities, the workers are actually happy there, and that’s all a part of a smearing campaign, why did BYD have to cancel its contract with Jingjiang, change working conditions and make “adjustments”?
