USA: Child labourers found in Hyundai factory with documented history of health & safety violations
摘要
日期: 2022年7月22日
地点: 美国
企业
Hyundai Motor (part of Hyundai Kia Motor) - Buyer , ITAC Alabama (previously SMART) - Employer其他
Not Reported ( 职业介绍所 ) - Recruiter受影响的
受影响的总人数: 数字未知
外劳和移民工人: ( 1 - 危地马拉 , 制造业：综合 , Women , Unknown migration status ) , 外劳和移民工人: ( 2 - 危地马拉 , 制造业：综合 , Men , Unknown migration status )议题
童工 , Dismissal , Occupational Health & Safety回应
已邀请回应：是，由Reuters
回应的外部链接： (查看更多)
后续行动: In a statement sent after Reuters first published its findings on Friday, Hyundai said it "does not tolerate illegal employment practices at any Hyundai entity. We have policies and procedures in place that require compliance with all local, state and federal laws." It didn't answer detailed questions from Reuters about the findings. SMART, in a separate statement, said it follows federal, state and local laws and "denies any allegation that it knowingly employed anyone who is ineligible for employment." The company said it relies on temporary work agencies to fill jobs and expects "these agencies to follow the law in recruiting, hiring, and placing workers on its premises." SMART didn't answer specific questions about the workers cited in this story or on-the-job scenes they and other people familiar with the factory described. An investigation was launched in response to Reuters reporting. The children were enrolled for the upcoming school term. In May 2024, Reuters reported that the US Department of Labor sued Hyundai Motor for the use of child labour. It also sought the companies to relinquish profits related to the use of child labour.
信息来源: News outlet
摘要
日期: 2022年7月22日
地点: 美国
企业
ITAC Alabama (previously SMART) - Employer其他
Not Reported ( 职业介绍所 ) - Recruiter受影响的
受影响的总人数: 40
外劳和移民工人: ( 40 - 墨西哥 , 制造业：综合 , Gender not reported )议题
Contract Substitution回应
Response sought: 否
后续行动: SMART in court documents called the allegations in the suit "baseless" and "meritless".
信息来源: News outlet
摘要
日期: 2022年12月16日
地点: 美国
企业
Hyundai Motor (part of Hyundai Kia Motor) - Buyer , Ajin Industrial - Employer其他
Not Reported ( 职业介绍所 ) - Recruiter受影响的
受影响的总人数: 10
外劳和移民工人: ( 10 - 地点未知 - 未知行业 , Gender not reported , Unknown migration status )议题
童工回应
已邀请回应：是，由Reuters
回应的外部链接： (查看更多)
后续行动: Ajin said their policy forbid the hiring of any worker not of legally employable age. The company said “to the best of our knowledge,” they hadn't hired underage workers. Hyundai said it has canceled its plans to cut off suppliers where minors have worked. Two of its suppliers, SMART and SL, have taken “corrective actions” to fire staffing agencies they found problematic, it said. Noting the “important economic role” that parts makers play in many small Alabama towns, Hyundai added, “additional oversight is a better course at this time than severing ties with these suppliers.”
信息来源: News outlet
"Exclusive: Hyundai subsidiary has used child labor at Alabama factory", 22 July 2022
A subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co has used child labor at a plant that supplies parts for the Korean carmaker's assembly line in nearby Montgomery, Alabama, according to area police, the family of three underage workers, and eight former and current employees of the factory.
Underage...have recently worked at a metal stamping plant operated by SMART Alabama LLC, these people said. SMART, listed by Hyundai in corporate filings as a majority-owned unit, supplies parts for some of the most popular cars and SUVs built by the automaker in Montgomery, its flagship U.S. assembly plant...
... Hyundai said it "does not tolerate illegal employment practices at any Hyundai entity. We have policies and procedures in place that require compliance with all local, state and federal laws." It didn't answer detailed questions from Reuters about the findings.
SMART...said it follows federal, state and local laws and "denies any allegation that it knowingly employed anyone who is ineligible for employment." The company said it relies on temporary work agencies to fill jobs and expects "these agencies to follow the law in recruiting, hiring, and placing workers on its premises."...
Reuters learned of underage workers at the Hyundai-owned supplier following the brief disappearance in February of a Guatemalan migrant child from her family's home in Alabama.
The girl, who turns 14 this month, and her two brothers, aged 12 and 15, all worked at the plant earlier this year and weren't going to school, according to people familiar with their employment. Their father, Pedro Tzi, confirmed these people's account in an interview with Reuters.
Police in the Tzi family's adopted hometown of Enterprise also told Reuters that the girl and her siblings had worked at SMART. The police, who helped locate the missing girl, at the time of their search identified her by name in a public alert...
Pedro Tzi's children...were among a larger cohort of underage workers who found jobs at the Hyundai-owned supplier over the past few years...
Several of these minors, they said, have foregone schooling in order to work long shifts at the plant, a sprawling facility with a documented history of health and safety violations, including amputation hazards...
After the disappearance generated local news coverage, SMART dismissed a number of underage workers, according to two former employees and other locals familiar with the plant. The sources said the police attention raised fears that authorities could soon crack down on other underage workers...
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