Another case of child labor at a Hyundai parts plant in Alabama

[JohnnyRingo]

Isn't this supposed to be gone with the age of the robber barons? Sometimes I wonder if this is the same country I grew up in. Hyundai is probably doing this in Alabama because there are laws against it in Korea.

Hyundai, Kia parts supplier in Alabama fined for child labour
The US Department of Labor found workers aged 13-15 at a parts supplier to automakers Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Corp and fined the firm.


Authorities found children as young as 13 working at a Korean-operated parts supplier to automakers Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Corp, and have fined the company and a labour recruiter, the US Department of Labor and the Alabama Department of Labor said on Tuesday.

In August, authorities accused Alexander City, Alabama-based SL Alabama in federal court of violating child labour laws.

The action against SL Alabama, which supplies lights and mirrors for Hyundai and Kia assembly plants in the United States’ South, came following a July Reuters article that documented child labour practices at another auto parts supplier in the state, Hyundai-owned SMART Alabama LLC.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) said in a release that workers aged 13-15 were found at the SL Alabama plant and said it had fined the company, a unit of Korea’s SL Corp, around $30,000. SL Alabama agreed to implement new monitoring and training programmes, the federal regulator said. DOL said it also obtained a court order to prevent the plant from “shipping or delivering” any goods produced in violation of federal child labour laws.

“Our investigation found SL Alabama engaged in oppressive child labor,” said Kenneth Stripling, DOL’s Wage and Hours Division Director in Birmingham, Alabama, in the statement.

More here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/10/11/hyundai-kia-parts-supplier-in-alabama-fined-for-child-labor

The news here is that they finally got their wrist slapped with fines.

Edited to add:

As I understand child labor laws, they prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from working in manufacturing plants where a substantial risk of injury or death is present. Textile mills, plastic molds, and assembly lines are nothing a child should be around. Even if they just sweep up or pack boxes, there is a lot of heavy equipment like towmotors and high lifts moving around.

There is a clause that allows for farm work that can be just as dangerous, but that was put in by lobbyists who argued that privately owned farms may need family members to help out to survive. I believe it's still against the law for Smithfield to hire junior high students to work the bulldozer in the shit pits.

They like to hire children because they don't qualify for minimum wage or benefits. The answer is to offer a decent paycheck and hire adults.