Hungary cracks down on BYD plant over forced labor allegations
11 hours ago by tardigrade to c/europe
In March, the Washington Post uncovered court records alleging brutal conditions inside the car-maker’s Brazilian factory. That came just a few weeks before The World first reported on evidence of forced labor at the company’s new factory in Szeged, Hungary.
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An investigation conducted by the labor rights group China Labor Watch said the electric vehicle maker used a complex web of subcontractors that flew in Chinese migrant laborers to build the plant, alleging laborers consistently faced excessive hours, seven-day work weeks, withheld wages and fear of retaliation.
The probe prompted Hungarian officials to conduct their own investigation. The findings haven’t yet been released, but a spokesperson for the county office where the BYD factory is located told The World in an email that authorities have sanctioned three companies associated with the factory’s construction and imposed a fine on one of them.
“The [Csongrád-Csanád County] Government Office continues to regularly monitor compliance with occupational safety regulations and the matters raised in the report by China Labor Watch, and will, if necessary, enforce lawful and safe working conditions through further proceedings,” the spokesperson said.
For labor rights experts, Hungary’s response to the forced labor allegations is the latest example of countries taking a firmer stance against Chinese businesses operating abroad.
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Hungary’s investigation and recent actions by the Brazilian government — which sued BYD and officially added the company to the country’s forced labor list in response to labor issues discovered within the company’s Brazilian plant — mark a potential “sea change” in how nations are treating Chinese investment.
“With these kinds of migrant workers,” [Laura Murphy, a professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom] said, “governments are realizing that they are responsible for those workers, and that, in fact, having exploited laborers from other countries undercuts the labor opportunities for their own workers, and also brings down the labor standards for the workers in their own countries.”
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According to Murphy, labor issues like those at BYD’s international plants are commonplace within China, and real change would have to come at the behest of local officials in Hungary — not Chinese companies themselves.
In recent weeks, there has been some indication that that could happen. Former Prime Minister Victor Orban, who cozied up to China and promoted BYD’s investment in the country, was ousted by voters in April.
The newly-elected Tisza party nowappears to be taking a firmer stance. Officials at the national level haven’t directly addressed labor issues at the BYD plant. But late last month, the country launched an environmental investigation into the factory that could pose a major problem for the company’s European expansion.
You mean besides massive state subsidies?
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I wonder why they can make EVs at a fraction of the cost of western companies....
save