After flagging Chinese electric vehicle giant for modern slavery, Brazil fired labor inspector
Brazil’s top labor inspector was fired just days after he added Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD to the country’s official registry of companies linked to slave-like labor conditions. The dismissal has fueled allegations of political interference to protect powerful corporations from accountability for exploitation and human trafficking
April 6: BYD added to Brazil’s “list of shame” for severely exploiting workers
On April 6, Brazil’s labor inspection authority formally added BYD to its “list of shame.” This official registry flags employers that have subjected workers to conditions of modern slavery.
According to a report by Reuters,
The list, published by Brazil’s Labor Ministry, carries further reputational risk for the automaker in its biggest market after China. It also bars BYD from obtaining certain types of loans from Brazilian banks, but does not affect the operation of its sole auto plant in the country that the workers were hired to build.
Inspectors placed BYD on the list following a major 2024 investigation. Findings exposed severe abuses at the construction site of its factory in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Investigators found that BYD bore direct responsibility for the exploitation of more than 200 Chinese workers.
According to a labor contract seen by Reuters,
Chinese workers hired by Jinjiang in Brazil had to hand over their passports to their new employer, let most of their wages be sent directly to China, and fork over an almost $900 deposit that they could only get back after six months’ work.
When labor inspectors raided the site in 2024, they described the living and working conditions as “slavery-like.” They found the workers crammed in lodgings without mattresses, with 31 workers crammed in a single house with only one bathroom, and food piled up on the ground.
The inspector rejected BYD’s defence that subcontractors were responsible, concluding the company itself was accountable.