Workers At Chinas Byd Site Are Victims Of Human Trafficking: Brazil

Chinese workers at a construction site in Brazil for a factory owned by Chinas electric vehicle producer BYD are victims of human trafficking, Brazilian labor authorities said on Thursday in a growing controversy in BYDs biggest overseas market.

BYD 002594.SZ and contractor Jinjiang Group have agreed to assist and house the 163 workers in hotels until a deal to end their contracts is reached, Brazils Labor Prosecutors Office said in a statement issued after meeting representatives from both firms.

The brief statement did not provide details on how prosecutors had reached their conclusion.

BYD and Jinjiang did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Jinjiang rejected the Brazilian authorities assessment on Monday that the workers at the site in the eastern state of Bahia were operating under slavery-like conditions.

Jinjiang said, in a social media post reposted by a BYD spokesperson, that the portrayal of the workers as enslaved was inaccurate and that there were translation misunderstandings.