Reuters: Hyundai Subsidiary in Alabama Used Child Labor

Insiders say siblings ages 12, 13, and 15 were among numerous underage workers
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 23, 2022 10:02 AM CDT
Report: Alabama Hyundai Supplier Used Child Labor
In this file photo, a Hyundai Elantra, left, and Hyundai Sonatas move down the assembly line in the Hyundai manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Ala.   (Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

The use of child labor in dangerous factories isn't a thing of the past, or a thing that only happens in other countries, according to a Reuters report on a Hyundai subsidiary in Alabama. Reuters says that after a 13-year-old Guatemalan girl disappeared from her family's home earlier this year, it learned that the girl and her two brothers, ages 12 and 15, had been working at a Luverne metal-stamping plant that supplies the Hyundai factory in nearby Montgomery. The plant, which supplies parts for the Elantra, Sonata, and Santa Fe models, is owned by Hyundai subsidiary SMART Alabama LLC. The girl was later found in Georgia with a 21-year-old co-worker.

Reuters says it spoke to the siblings' family and local police, who said they didn't have jurisdiction in the case and had referred it to state authorities. Current and former employees said that the siblings were among dozens of underage workers at the plant, which has a history of safety violations. State and federal laws ban people under 18 from working at metal stamping and pressing operations. In a statement, SMART said it obeys the law and it "denies any allegation that it knowingly employed anyone who is ineligible for employment," AL.com reports. Workers and recruiters said the minors had been supplied by staffing firms.

Insiders said the plant—which complained about a severe labor shortage in a 2020 letter seeking a visa for a Mexican worker—let many underage workers go after the girl's disappearance attracted attention. David Michaels, former assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, tells Reuters that consumers should be outraged. "They should know that these cars are being built, at least in part, by workers who are children and need to be in school rather than risking life and limb because their families are desperate for income," he says. The siblings' father, who also worked at the plant, says the family was indeed desperate for income at the time but the children are no longer working and will be in school this fall. (More child labor stories.)

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