Chinese electric cars of electric cars and two of their subcontractors were attacked by a complaint in Brazil for “international traffic in humans”, according to a document consulted on Thursday by AFP.
The complaint was presented by the Public Procurement (MPT) of the state of Bahia (Northeast), after inspections that allowed to “rescue” 220 Chinese workers who work in “conditions similar to slavery” on the site of a byd factory in December.
The site in question is located in Camçari, about 50 km from Salvador, capital of Bahia. Byd builds its largest electric car factory outside Asia.
The MPT claims 257 million reais (around 40 million euros) for collective moral damage, as well as individual compensation for each worker.
The organization explains in a press release that an anonymous complaint has allowed its agents “to find workers stacked in homes without minimal conditions of comfort and hygiene.”
According to the MPT, the workers were confiscated their passports, they were monitored by armed guards and their work contracts contained illegal clauses.
They had arrived in Brazil irregularly, with work visas that do not correspond to the activity carried out on the site, the press release details.
Beijing response
The workers slept in beds without mattresses and had to get up at 4 am to start exhausting the business days, denounces the MPT.
The complaint specifies that employers retained up to 70% of their salaries.
It was deposited after a refusal of interested companies to “sign a driving adjustment agreement” with the Brazilian authorities, specifies the MPT.
A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MAO NO, said Thursday at a press conference that his government “gives great importance to the protection and guarantee of the legitimate rights and interests of workers.”
According to her, Beijing has always “demanded that Chinese companies operate in accordance with the laws and regulations” of the countries where they are established.
The two Byd subcontractors attacked by the complaint are Jinjiang and Tonghe (currently known as Tecmonta).
After the first complaints of the MPT in December, Byd announced the termination of his contract with Jinjiang, a construction company.
Byd did not immediately respond to the AFP reaction requests on Thursday on the complaint.
Source: BFM TV
