The Brazilian one Public Prosecutor’s Office for Labor Law hat Volkswagen do Brasil because of possible slave labor on an Amazon farm in the 1970s and 1980s sued.
The authority demands in the civil lawsuit Compensation payments in the amount of 165 million reais (around 26 million euros). Volkswagen do Brasil initially did not comment on this when asked. An out-of-court settlement failed in March last year.
The allegations relate to the conditions at the agricultural company Fazenda Volkswagen, which belonged to a subsidiary of Volkswagen do Brasil.
According to investigators, armed guards and a bonded labor system prevented workers from leaving the farm. These are characteristics of modern slave labor.
“Documents and witness statements demonstrate the serious human rights violations on the fazenda during this period,” said prosecutor Rafael Garcia Rodrigues.
“Workers were subjected to slavery-like conditions through exhausting work hours, degrading working conditions and debt bondage.”
At that time, the car company wanted to enter the meat business with Fazenda Volkswagen. The farm was founded in the 1970s and supported by the Brazilian military dictatorship.
It was around 1,400 square kilometers in size and had around 300 workers. The temporary workers responsible for the clearing were not directly employed by the subsidiary.