Brazil expenses Volkswagen unit with treating farm employees like slaves many years in the past

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian labor prosecutors charged Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p)’s native unit with subjecting farm employees to situations akin to slavery many years in the past and are searching for 165 million reais ($27.5 million) in damages, they mentioned on Thursday.

Volkswagen do Brasil mentioned in a press release it had not been formally notified of the costs but.

Volkswagen dedicated human rights violations on the farm it owned from 1974 to 1986 in northern Brazil, the prosecutors alleged. A labor choose will evaluate the costs and resolve whether or not the case in opposition to VW will transfer ahead.

The Brazilian federal labor prosecutors began to research after experiences by Ricardo Rezende, a priest and a professor on the Federal College in Rio de Janeiro, in 2019 from paperwork and testimonials by the farm employees.

The labor prosecutors discovered “critical violations of human rights” occurred on the farm, with employees subjected to “slavery-like” situations via exhausting working hours, degrading working situations and debt bondage, prosecutor Rafael Rodrigues mentioned in a press release.

The fees, which embody the request for collective ethical damages, observe failed talks with Volkswagen do Brasil aimed toward a settlement, the prosecutors mentioned. They mentioned the agency give up the negotiations in March 2023 and “confirmed no curiosity” in signing an settlement with them.

($1 = 6.0018 reais)