4 ms·

TIL there's child labor happening in the US. It is extremely unusual for this kind of labor abuse to be carried out by American companies. As the articles note

TIL there's child labor happening in the US. It is extremely unusual for this kind of labor abuse to be carried out by American companies. As the articles note, these are Korean-owned and Korean-operated companies. FTA: "Korean-operated SL Alabama, finding children as young as age 13." There are hundreds of foreign owned and operated factories in America that are run like independent kingdoms, staffed with people from other countries with their own restaurants and dorms so the workers are never exposed to the outside world, so that the company can put the all important "Made in USA" label on the product. There's at least one all-Chinese factory outside of Las Vegas. There was a Chinese-run industrial marijuana farming operation shut down in Arizona last year. And this is not unique to the United States. There are similar operations in Italy, Germany, and elsewhere. There are multiple Chinese factories in Italy churning out "Made in Italy" leather good for the luxury market. Lots of newspaper articles about it over the last ten years or so.

outside1234 4y ago
How do they get visas for the workers for this?
- galangalalgol 4y ago
  And how haven't we jailed the people who got paid off to not notice this?
  - ajsnigrutin 4y ago
    This is the saddest part... from bribes to lobbying (legal bribes, a true WTF in it's own sense)... Criminals are going to bribe, sure, undestandable.. but people, government employees, who should be working for 'us', the taxpayers, are taking bribes... the punishment for them should be a vastly higher than for someone just offering a bribe... and somehow, (usually) nothing ever happens to them... maybe someone loses their job, but that's it.
  - moralestapia 4y ago
    Absolutely, it is impossible for no one to notice this. That factory should have a managers at least. They should be in jail.
- reaperducer 4y ago
  These aren't H1B people. Labor and agriculture visas are a lot easier to come by. Or, in some cases, they use illegal labor. I doubt that the federal government gave a work visa to the 13-year-old in the article.
- ralph84 4y ago
  For the ones doing it legally, L visas. For the ones doing it illegally, B or F visas.
Jolter 4y ago
In this case the child seems to have been from Guatemala so I’m not sure this is exactly the situation you’re describing.
- reaperducer 4y ago
  It's not. And I'm not trying to excuse what was done. I'm merely pointing out that this is a very large and complex problem.
tcmb 4y ago
> There are hundreds of foreign owned and operated factories in America that are run like independent kingdoms, staffed with people from other countries with their own restaurants and dorms so the workers are never exposed to the outside world, That doesn't make it ok, does it? What you're describing sounds a lot like the conditions that migrant workers in Qatar and Saudi Arabia are working in. The US shouldn't tolerate such conditions for workers in factories on its soil, no matter who operates them and where the workers are from. In fact, no country caring about human rights should. I'm from Germany and in the early Covid phase in 2020 it became clear that there are a lot of east European workers in our slaughterhouses, with them living in very tightly packed quarters (for which they had to pay exaggerated prices to their employers) leading to a massive spread of the disease. At the time, many politicians cried that something will have to change, but of course nothing happened and the whole thing was forgotten as quickly as it had come to light.
- reaperducer 4y ago
  That doesn't make it ok, does it? At what point did I say it was OK? You're railing against a comment that agrees with your position.
  - tcmb 4y ago
    I'm sorry if I misinterpreted the thrust of your argument. The way you pointed out this was a Korean-run factory and that it was 'extremely unusual' to be carried out by American companies sounded to me like relativizing what was (or is) going on here.
- cinntaile 4y ago
  What he's saying is that it's only a US company in the legal sense and that they're not necessarily operated with "American values".
  - cinntaile 4y ago
    Why the downvotes? I'm just paraphrasing what the GP said because the parent misunderstood.
hayst4ck 4y ago
> run like independent kingdoms, staffed with people from other countries with their own restaurants and dorms so the workers are never exposed to the outside world I find this incredibly interesting and somewhat surprising, can you substantiate the scale of this problem a little bit more, or link 3-5 map locations?
DrewADesign 4y ago
It's probably pretty common in American-owned industries known to use human trafficking, but trafficking exploits populations our society isn't concerned enough about to proactively monitor. The agency Hyundai used for workers is not Korean– it's Guatemalan– and it likely supplies farms, food processing plants, and other businesses that need lots of low end labor. Check out the Frontline documentary on human trafficking in food processing plants. The worst offender was an egg processor based in Maine. A friend who worked for a union that organized poultry plant workers said some of these plants– all large, American companies with names you see in every grocery store— essentially ignored labor laws entirely. One actually had a jail cell in the factory used as a disciplinary measure for misbehaving employees.
- ghufran_syed 4y ago
  "One actually had a jail cell in the factory used as a disciplinary measure for misbehaving employees." This seems like a fairly easy thing for the media (or the union) to expose - so is there any evidence this is true? Seems more likely to be union FUD if the union doesn't expose the evidence
  - DrewADesign 4y ago
    Public evidence? No. Do you have public evidence of everything your proven trustworthy friends tell you? Luckily, my anecdote isn't supporting a legal action or news story. He said the union absolutely used it to pressure management into a more favorable stance towards Unionization, and the plant is now unionized.
    - lupire 4y ago
      Your anecdote is supporting a forum post that you expect readers to believe is true. It's a news story.
      - DrewADesign 4y ago
        Good lord. Get a hobby.
Melting_Harps 4y ago
> There are multiple Chinese factories in Italy churning out "Made in Italy" leather good for the luxury market. The one's in Milan are terrifying, and often have some mafia (often southern) and triad affiliations, an Italian movie about the Camorra briefly goes into he detail of just how dark that part of the fashion industry is. I lived in Italy during the later end of the financial crisis and it was pretty common to see hordes of Han-Chinese come to Emilia Romanaga who had fled Milan and look for work on farms and restaurants. Seeing tons of refugees living in parks and waiting all day in the piazzas made it feel like I was living in the 21st century version of Salo, which is a fucked up sordid tale from the 20th Century.

outside1234 4y ago

How do they get visas for the workers for this?

galangalalgol 4y ago
And how haven't we jailed the people who got paid off to not notice this?
- ajsnigrutin 4y ago
  This is the saddest part... from bribes to lobbying (legal bribes, a true WTF in it's own sense)... Criminals are going to bribe, sure, undestandable.. but people, government employees, who should be working for 'us', the taxpayers, are taking bribes... the punishment for them should be a vastly higher than for someone just offering a bribe... and somehow, (usually) nothing ever happens to them... maybe someone loses their job, but that's it.
- moralestapia 4y ago
  Absolutely, it is impossible for no one to notice this. That factory should have a managers at least. They should be in jail.
reaperducer 4y ago
These aren't H1B people. Labor and agriculture visas are a lot easier to come by. Or, in some cases, they use illegal labor. I doubt that the federal government gave a work visa to the 13-year-old in the article.
ralph84 4y ago
For the ones doing it legally, L visas. For the ones doing it illegally, B or F visas.

Jolter 4y ago

In this case the child seems to have been from Guatemala so I’m not sure this is exactly the situation you’re describing.

reaperducer 4y ago
It's not. And I'm not trying to excuse what was done. I'm merely pointing out that this is a very large and complex problem.

tcmb 4y ago

> There are hundreds of foreign owned and operated factories in America that are run like independent kingdoms, staffed with people from other countries with their own restaurants and dorms so the workers are never exposed to the outside world, That doesn't make it ok, does it? What you're describing sounds a lot like the conditions that migrant workers in Qatar and Saudi Arabia are working in. The US shouldn't tolerate such conditions for workers in factories on its soil, no matter who operates them and where the workers are from. In fact, no country caring about human rights should. I'm from Germany and in the early Covid phase in 2020 it became clear that there are a lot of east European workers in our slaughterhouses, with them living in very tightly packed quarters (for which they had to pay exaggerated prices to their employers) leading to a massive spread of the disease. At the time, many politicians cried that something will have to change, but of course nothing happened and the whole thing was forgotten as quickly as it had come to light.

reaperducer 4y ago
That doesn't make it ok, does it? At what point did I say it was OK? You're railing against a comment that agrees with your position.
- tcmb 4y ago
  I'm sorry if I misinterpreted the thrust of your argument. The way you pointed out this was a Korean-run factory and that it was 'extremely unusual' to be carried out by American companies sounded to me like relativizing what was (or is) going on here.
cinntaile 4y ago
What he's saying is that it's only a US company in the legal sense and that they're not necessarily operated with "American values".
- cinntaile 4y ago
  Why the downvotes? I'm just paraphrasing what the GP said because the parent misunderstood.

hayst4ck 4y ago

> run like independent kingdoms, staffed with people from other countries with their own restaurants and dorms so the workers are never exposed to the outside world I find this incredibly interesting and somewhat surprising, can you substantiate the scale of this problem a little bit more, or link 3-5 map locations?

DrewADesign 4y ago

It's probably pretty common in American-owned industries known to use human trafficking, but trafficking exploits populations our society isn't concerned enough about to proactively monitor. The agency Hyundai used for workers is not Korean– it's Guatemalan– and it likely supplies farms, food processing plants, and other businesses that need lots of low end labor. Check out the Frontline documentary on human trafficking in food processing plants. The worst offender was an egg processor based in Maine. A friend who worked for a union that organized poultry plant workers said some of these plants– all large, American companies with names you see in every grocery store— essentially ignored labor laws entirely. One actually had a jail cell in the factory used as a disciplinary measure for misbehaving employees.

ghufran_syed 4y ago
"One actually had a jail cell in the factory used as a disciplinary measure for misbehaving employees." This seems like a fairly easy thing for the media (or the union) to expose - so is there any evidence this is true? Seems more likely to be union FUD if the union doesn't expose the evidence
- DrewADesign 4y ago
  Public evidence? No. Do you have public evidence of everything your proven trustworthy friends tell you? Luckily, my anecdote isn't supporting a legal action or news story. He said the union absolutely used it to pressure management into a more favorable stance towards Unionization, and the plant is now unionized.
  - lupire 4y ago
    Your anecdote is supporting a forum post that you expect readers to believe is true. It's a news story.
    - DrewADesign 4y ago
      Good lord. Get a hobby.

Melting_Harps 4y ago

> There are multiple Chinese factories in Italy churning out "Made in Italy" leather good for the luxury market. The one's in Milan are terrifying, and often have some mafia (often southern) and triad affiliations, an Italian movie about the Camorra briefly goes into he detail of just how dark that part of the fashion industry is. I lived in Italy during the later end of the financial crisis and it was pretty common to see hordes of Han-Chinese come to Emilia Romanaga who had fled Milan and look for work on farms and restaurants. Seeing tons of refugees living in parks and waiting all day in the piazzas made it feel like I was living in the 21st century version of Salo, which is a fucked up sordid tale from the 20th Century.