The manufacturing unit was scheduled to be operational by March 2025, and was set to be BYD’s first EV plant exterior of Asia.
The employees, employed by Jinjiang Development Brazil, lived in 4 services in Camaçari metropolis.
At one such facility, employees had been made to sleep on beds with out mattresses, based on prosecutors.
Every toilet was additionally shared amongst 31 employees, forcing them to rise up extraordinarily early to be able to be prepared for work.
“The circumstances discovered within the lodgings revealed an alarming image of precariousness and degradation,” the MPT mentioned.
“Slavery-like circumstances”, as outlined by Brazilian legislation, embody debt bondage and work that violates human dignity.
The MPT added that the state of affairs additionally constitutes “pressured labour”, as many employees had their wages withheld and confronted extreme prices for terminating their contracts.
BYD mentioned affected employees had been moved to resorts.
It added that it had performed a “detailed evaluation” of the working and dwelling circumstances for subcontracted staff, and requested on “a number of events” for the development agency to make enhancements.
BYD, quick for Construct Your Desires, is likely one of the world’s largest EV makers.
It offered extra electrical automobiles than Elon Musk’s Tesla within the final three months of 2023, as the 2 battled for prime spot within the sector.
The corporate has additionally been increasing its foothold in Brazil, which is its largest abroad market by a large margin.
It first opened a manufacturing unit in São Paulo in 2015, producing chassis for electrical buses.
Final 12 months, it introduced that it will make investments 3 billion reais ($484.2m) in Brazil to construct an EV manufacturing plant.
EV gross sales in China have been boosted by authorities subsidies. which encourage customers to commerce their petrol-powered vehicles for EVs or hybrids.
However there’s a rising backlash overseas in opposition to what some see because the Chinese language authorities’s unfair help for home automotive makers.
Main markets just like the US and EU have positioned tariffs on EVs from China, with extra tariffs anticipated through the incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump.