Conditions close to slavery for Chinese employees in Brazil

(Rio de Janeiro) Brazil's Labor Ministry said it had rescued 163 Chinese nationals working in “slavery-like” conditions at a construction site in northeastern Brazil, where the Chinese electric vehicle company BYD is building a factory.

On Tuesday, the ministry's office released videos of the dormitories where construction workers were staying. It showed beds without mattresses and rooms with nowhere for workers to store their personal belongings.

In a statement released Monday, the ministry said the workers were hired in China by Jinjiang Construction Brazil, one of the construction contractors, which is located in Camaçari, a city in the Salvador metropolitan region.

Officials said Jinjiang Construction Brazil confiscated the workers' passports and withheld 60 percent of their wages. Those who quit would be forced to pay the company for their plane ticket from China and their return ticket, the statement said.

Efforts to reach Jinjiang Construction in Brazil were unsuccessful, a contact phone number and email address were not immediately available.

BYD, which stands for “Build Your Dreams,” is one of the world’s largest producers of electric cars. The company said late Monday that it would “immediately terminate the contract” with Jinjiang Group and was “studying other appropriate measures.”

BYD said Jinjiang workers will be accommodated in nearby hotels for the time being and will not be harmed by the decision to stop work at the site. The company said that in recent weeks it had reviewed working conditions at the site and informed its subcontractors that adjustments needed to be made.

The ministry said the sanitation situation at BYD's Camaçari site was particularly critical, with only one toilet for 31 workers, forcing them to get up at 4 a.m. to queue and prepare to leave for work at 5 30 p.m.

According to Brazilian law, slavery-like conditions are characterized by submission to forced labor or grueling working hours, submission to degrading working conditions, and restriction of the worker's freedom of movement.