BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, is being accused of forced labor after an employee at a factory in Hungary reported the company to China Labor Watch (CLW).
According to Canadian outlet CBC News, the worker is one of many Chinese migrants sent to Szeged, Hungary, to help build BYD’s first European factory, which received a US$6 billion investment from the company to supply its electric vehicles to the European market.
After receiving the complaint from the unidentified worker last year, the nonprofit organization launched an investigation and provided CBC News with an advance copy of its findings, with publication expected later this month.
“It is important that consumers know what is really behind some of these electric vehicles and the working conditions behind the production of these cars. Chinese workers being brought to work at these sites are being employed under terrible conditions,” said Elaine Lu, project officer.
CLW interviewed 50 workers. To protect their safety and reduce the risk of retaliation, no names appear in the report. Many of those interviewed by CLW field researchers were construction and installation workers recruited through subcontractors or other intermediaries.
The report, first covered by the American public radio news program The World, describes possible violations of Hungarian labor and migration laws, including 7×0 work schedules—meaning no weekly day off.
In addition, workers described 12- to 14-hour workdays, with short meal breaks and no overtime pay. Wages were also frequently delayed, with some delays lasting up to three months or until workers returned to China.
Recruitment fees were also charged to workers. In a practice known as “debt bondage,” low-income workers said they were forced to stay despite poor conditions because they could not afford to break their contracts.
At the same time, workers entered Europe on business visas instead of authorized work permits, leaving them vulnerable to abuse and unable to access basic services such as healthcare for workplace injuries.
CLW also found that complex layers of subcontracting blurred lines of legal responsibility for poor working conditions, potentially allowing BYD to evade accountability.
Lu said local Hungarian media began reporting safety concerns at the site after the death of a Chinese worker in February. Last month, CLW met with local authorities to share its findings.
“We hope that BYD takes these violations and findings very seriously, because they are […] violations of local laws and international standards,” Lu said.
+ Pilot investigated after performing low-altitude flyby in Iceland to celebrate his retirement
Photo: Unsplash. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
