by Samuel Messidor
The Department of Labor has accused Hyundai, Smart Alabama (one of its parts suppliers), and a temp agency of “oppressive child labor” and has ordered the three to turn over “profits generated by this oppressive labor.” It is unclear how the DOL differentiates ill-gotten profits from rightfully exploited profits. Hyundai made $13.5 billion in pre-tax profits in 2023 according to the UAW, with their worldwide profit growing 54% that year.
The children worked for Hyundai by proxy, assembling auto parts at Smart Alabama, and were “recruited” by the ironically-named Best Practices Services temp agency.
The UAW announced in February they’ve reached the 30% union authorization signature threshold at Hyundai in Alabama, though they have yet to initiate a vote as the union generally shoots far above this mark to solidify support for unionizing. The union is seeking to organize over 150,000 unorganized autoworkers, mainly in the US South. In Alabama alone there are roughly 50,000 autoworkers.
A recent vote to unionize workers under UAW at a VW plant in Tennessee succeeded in breaking the anti-union seal in the South. The latest union vote at a Mercedes plant in Alabama failed, though the workers’ fight to get organized continues.
Alabama’s largest export, automobiles, has seen a massive boom since its beginnings in the 1990s, propelling the state among the top 5 auto-producers in the country. Southern states have been courting industrial capitalists over the last few decades, providing state bribes in the form of tax cuts and low-paid, non-unionized workers—what union activists call the “Alabama Discount.” Child labor and 50+ hour weeks—including mandatory weekend shifts and last minute schedule changes—are apparently part of the Discount.
Hyundai is fighting the lawsuit, saying it is unprecedented over-reach of the government agency to hold the corporation accountable for “the action of its suppliers”—in other words, for what the companies in the sway and the pay of the monopoly do.
US capitalists have been pushing to defend and expand their exploitation of child labor both in the US and internationally. Earlier this year, tech monopolies Apple, Alphabet Inc. (parent company of Google), Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla have successfully defended their rights to exploit child labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a US court deciding unanimously in favor of the monopolies by arguing that they bear no responsibility for the actions of their suppliers. The case was brought forward by former cobalt miners and lawyers representing child miners who died or suffered major injuries in mining operations in the DRC.
In the US, at least ten states have pushed to loosen child labor laws over the last few years, while in agriculture child labor is legal from the age of 12.
Photo: Hyundai manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Alabama. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama/Facebook
