VW rejects agreement on possible slave labor in Brazil

Volkswagen do Brasil left the negotiating table during a hearing about possible slave labor on a subsidiary’s Amazon farm in the 1970s and 1980s, Brazilian prosecutors said.

The company said it was not interested in signing an agreement with the prosecuting authority responsible for labor law, the Brasília authority said in a statement on Wednesday (local time). In Germany, such an agreement is roughly equivalent to a pre-trial agreement.

Prosecutors deplored Volkswagen’s position, which contradicted the company’s commitment to the land and human rights. She announced that she would take all judicial and extrajudicial measures necessary for effective compensation for the damage allegedly caused by the company.

“Volkswagen do Brasil rejects all allegations in the logs of this investigation about Fazenda Vale do Rio Cristalino and disagrees with the one-sided presentation of facts by third parties,” a Volkswagen do Brasil spokesperson said on request. The Brazilian prosecutor did not inform the company until three years after the investigation began.

The Brazilian public prosecutor subpoenaed VW do Brasil in May 2022. The hearing in June 2022 also discussed possible compensation for the workers on the farm and for Brazilian society. It is a very serious violation of human rights, which, according to the statement of the public prosecutor, has taken place for more than ten years with the direct involvement of Volkswagen.

Prosecutor Rafael Garcia Rodrigues had spoken of inhospitable farm accommodation in Santana do Araguaia in the state of Pará, known as “Fazenda Volkswagen”. In addition, the workers could not have left the farm. The workers and Brazilian society itself deserve more respectful treatment and compensation for the harm caused, the investigating prosecutors said.

The prosecution’s proposal called for compensation for workers already identified as allegedly aggrieved, as well as a program to search for other workers who were also similarly treated at the farm.

According to researchers Garcia Rodrigues, the “Fazenda Volkswagen” was one of the largest companies in the rural Amazon and the car company wanted to get into the meat business at the time. It was founded in the 1970s and was supported by the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985).

The farm was about 1390 square kilometers and had about 300 workers. The agency workers responsible for the eviction, who are primarily the subject of the slave labor allegations, were not directly employed by the subsidiary.

According to the prosecutor’s office, compensation from the Brazilian company is necessary because the company could count on public funds and tax benefits. (sda/dpa)