Brazil’s labor court has ordered Volkswagen to pay 165 million reais (around $30 million) in collective moral damages after workers were subjected to slave-like conditions at a company-owned farm in the Amazon during the 1970s and 1980s. Prosecutors described it as the largest reparation of its kind in the country’s history.
The case stems from an investigation launched in 2019 by the Labor Prosecutor’s Office, based on evidence collected by a local priest who had tracked the abuses for decades. In 2024, prosecutors formally charged Volkswagen, alleging that hundreds of workers between 1974 and 1986 faced degrading conditions at the Para state farm, which was used for cattle ranching and logging.
According to witness testimonies, the farm employed about 300 workers under irregular contracts. They were forced to clear forests and prepare pastures while being closely monitored by armed guards. Workers were not allowed to leave due to debt bondage, were housed in unsafe living quarters, and were provided with inadequate food. Many who contracted malaria and other illnesses were denied medical treatment.
Judge Otavio Bruno da Silva Ferreira ruled that the farm belonged to Volkswagen and that the working environment met Brazil’s legal definition of slave labor. “These practices constituted one of the largest cases of slave labor exploitation in Brazil’s recent history,” the Labor Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. Ferreira noted that slavery remains a “present past” in Brazilian society, shaping today’s labor relations and influencing anti-discrimination judgments.
Volkswagen, in response, said it would appeal the ruling. The company maintained that throughout its 72 years of operation in Brazil, it has consistently respected human dignity and complied with all labor laws. “Volkswagen reaffirms its unwavering commitment to social responsibility, which is intrinsically linked to its conduct as a legal entity and employer,” the company said in its statement.
Brazil, which enslaved more Africans than any other nation during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, was the last country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery in 1888. The court’s decision against Volkswagen underscores how the legacies of slavery continue to shape labor rights struggles in the country.
