Employed in metal stamping plant
Hyundai subsidiary in Alabama employed children
07/23/2022, 10:15 am
They belong in school, but are said to have worked in a metal stamping plant instead: A Hyundai subsidiary in the US state of Alabama denies the accusation, as does the South Korean mother. According to one report, employment agencies and employees paint a different picture.
A Hyundai subsidiary has also put children to work at a plant in the US state of Alabama. The minors were at the car supplier Smart Alabama LLC employed in a metal stamping plant, the police report. A girl, who will be 14 this month, and her two brothers, aged 12 and 15, worked at the plant earlier this year.
Reuters had revealed the children’s employment. They did not go to school, according to people familiar with their job and their father who spoke to the news agency.
“We’re hiring,” Smart informs Alabama — more than once, apparently, kids.
(Photo: REUTERS)
“Consumers should be outraged,” said David Michaels, former US Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). “You should know that these cars are being built, at least in part, by workers who are children and should be going to school, rather than risking life and limb because their families are desperate for income.”
isolated cases or not?
Smart Alabama is listed on Hyundai’s corporate records as a controlling interest. It supplies parts for cars and SUVs that the South Korean automaker needs in Montgomery, its main US assembly plant. In a statement, the company says it “does not condone illegal employment practices at any Hyundai entity. We have policies and procedures in place that require compliance with all local, state and federal laws.” The carmaker did not want to answer any further questions.
Smart Alabama said in a separate statement that it complies with federal, state and local laws and “denies any allegation that it knowingly employed persons who are ineligible for employment.” The company said it relies on temp agencies to fill vacancies. It expects “these agencies to obey the law in recruiting, hiring and placing workers on its premises.”
According to Reuters, however, these are not isolated cases. The children, who are enrolled for the upcoming school year, are among a larger group of underage workers who have been employed by Hyundai suppliers in recent years, according to interviews with a dozen former and current plant employees and recruitment agencies.