Media Exposé names Hyundai & Kia as ‘Exploiters of Children’ to build Automobiles

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writers

#USA, February 11, 2023 – One of the US’s largest car manufacturers is being accused of exploitation after coming up on the wrong end of labour laws.  A factory for Hyundai, a South Korean Brand which manufactures its cars in the US was revealed to be exploiting children as young as 12 years old according to a 2022 Reuters investigation.

Now the developer is in meetings to attempt to straighten up its act.

The meetings come after the news agency revealed last year that several children, many of them undocumented migrants, had been funneled into one particular factory in Alabama and were assembling car parts when they were supposed to be in school.  With more digging, more factories were implicated in the illegal and exploitative practice prompting a federal investigation.

The report caused investigations not just into the Korean carmaker, but related brand Kia, which was also implicated.  The United Auto Workers, a labour union representing the US and Canada condemned the actions.

“The UAW is saddened and disgusted to read new reports of child labour at Hyundai and Kia suppliers in Alabama. This is further evidence of a deeply broken system at Hyundai and Kia,” it said.

The union revealed Hyundai was also facing accusations of mistreating its adult immigrant workers by forcing professionals into low-paying jobs as well as racial and gender based discrimination.  It is dangerous to work in these factories, even without the inevitable clumsiness of a child, they come with risks including amputation and worse.

Kia and Hyundai both prohibit child labour on paper with charters that specify age limits on their workers but they are being accused of not doing enough to enforce those laws.