Workers rights and immigrant advocacy groups are among several calling on Hyundai to guarantee new job standards and equity measures in the aftermath of the company’s use of child labor in auto manufacturing in Alabama.
The groups, in an Aug. 27 letter to Hyundai Motor America CEO José Muñoz, are urging the Korean automaker’s American operations to enter a community benefits agreement with the groups. A CBA is a private contract between community groups and an employer which calls for certain measures from a developer or company toward members of the community. Its provisions could be enforced through binding arbitration.about several issues, including “Hyundai’s recent track record with child labor in its supply chain in the U.S.”
Among the groups included are the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, Alabama Arise, Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, Alabama Forward, Coosa Riverkeeper, Faith in Action Alabama, Greater Birmingham Ministries, Central Alabama Labor Council, Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution, Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, Alabama Interfaith Power and Light and others.
Two suppliers, SL Alabama and SMART, have terminated their relationships with third-party staffing agencies which, the company said, falsely certified that they had screened and cleared children as being eligible to work.