More than 160 workers have been rescued, according to local prosecutors.
  • normal_user [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    1 day ago

    Just to make things more clear for people, this is about subcontractors, employed by what looks to be a local building company that is making a new factory for BYD EVs.

    I think the article’s title really makes it look like BYD is the one withholding passports and wages, but actually they are not and inside the article they say BYD has already asked the subcontractor to improve working conditions before it became news, but they didn’t comply.

    The article doesn’t specify how much BYD’s executives knew or if they had the ability to change things by their own choise.

    • graymess [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      6·
      13 hours ago

      I think it’s BYD’s responsibility to know such things. This feels like the argument Hershey’s made when they got caught using slave labor to source their cacao.

      • lud@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        8 hours ago

        Yeah, absolutely. They can’t simply shift all responsibility to someone else.

  • zante@slrpnk.netEnglish
    223·
    2 days ago

    EV sales in China have been boosted by government subsidies. which encourage consumers to trade their petrol-powered cars for EVs or hybrids.

    But there is a growing backlash abroad against what some see as the Chinese government’s unfair support for domestic car makers.

    Just the bbc doing BBC things

    • Logi@lemmy.world
      1·
      7 hours ago

      Congratulations, you found the second and third last paragraphs of the article where they tack on a slightly wider view in case you’ve missed it. It’s far from being the meat of the story.

    • esa@discuss.tchncs.de
      33·
      2 days ago

      No, there really is talk of tariffs several places to neutralise the price advantage that the Chinese subsidies result in. The Chinese want to promote their domestic auto industries, but so does any other country with an auto industry.

      • TowardsTheFuture@lemmy.zipEnglish
        147·
        2 days ago

        Right but it reads very “omg communism Bad cuz it leads to… affordable electric vehicles… please ignore every other country that produces cars also having subsidies.” The US changed its subsidies to only US built EVs and then complains that the Chinese government is making EVs affordable.

        • zante@slrpnk.netEnglish
          71·
          2 days ago

          When they do it, it’s “subsidies” When we do it, it’s “investment”

          The list of government incentives in the UK is long but If china is doing even more , that’s up to them right ? But it’s always implied it’s some kind of foul play.

    • 1984@lemmy.today
      105·
      2 days ago

      I mean, it’s because they are cheap and decent. But I guess it’s impressive since other car makers have failed to do the same thing.

      Where I live, electric cars are much more expensive than fuel cars. We do have these Chinese low cost cars too though but they are probably not great for winter. I don’t trust things not to break.

      It’s like Teslas, also not known for their quality, despite their high price.

      If it’s one thing I want to have good quality, it’s my car, since my life can depend on it.

        • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          1·
          8 hours ago

          Because they subsidized the technology and industry in China. If Apple bids out a contract to build a manufacturing plant in the U.S. and someone makes a bid that looks good, they take it. If it got halted because the company was using minors and paying illegal migrants under the table to build it, it is a terrible thing, but it wasn’t Apple that did those things, and in ruth I would say Apple may have grounds to sue for the impact it would have on their image. The company that made the bid and did illegal acts should not have done those things.

          Apple and BYD don’t construct manufacturing plants… They bid them out to companies that do. They should come down hard on those companies if they are using illegal practices to make cheaper bids to encourage companies to go with them. The biggest fault they would have is if they found out it was going on and didn’t bring it to authorities.

        • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
          6·
          2 days ago

          We have evidence now, but I could have told you this years ago. Cheap products have been the product of environmental and human rights abuses for a long, long time.

          • peoplebeproblems@midwest.socialEnglish
            2·
            2 days ago

            Oh, I’m well aware of that. The part that grabbed my attention is that it appeared these were migrant workers brought in to Brazil.

            Essentially the cheap Chinese factories are diversifying where they are located, but not how they staff them.

  • marcos@lemmy.world
    9·
    2 days ago

    had their passports and salaries withheld by a building company

    Usually “conditions similar to slavery” in Brazil doesn’t imply the people can’t quit their jobs. This is fucking “literal”, not “similar”.

    Also, WTF, importing cheap workers to a job in Brazil is close to absurd. They aren’t allowed to pay less than they would pay a local.