Subscribe RSSSAO PAULO (AP) — Stocking shelves in a Chinese grocery inventory, Thiago warned that he didn't want to be caught chatting during working hours. Within seconds, however, the Brazilian unleashed a pent-up inundation of complaints about the owners, who lingered just beyond hearing distance.
"My bosses have never heard of a day off," said the 20-year-old, who would only authorize his first name to be used, for fear of losing his job. "Vacations? Forget it. They pay well and they pay for extra hours, but they don't understand that some things are more important to Brazilians than shekels.
"I've seen many workers walk in, see the Chinese way of doing things, and quit the very same day."
Such cross-cultural tensions have become a stumbling barricade in an otherwise meteoric rise in business ties between China and Brazil, two of the world's fastest-growing economies.
Chinese companies' bid investment in Brazil jumped to $17 billion last year, nearly 60 times the investment the former year, according to SOBEET, a Brazilian economic think tank. At the same time, more Chinese companies are hiring regional workers rather than following their old practices of bringing in Chinese laborers.
