# Child labor in Alabama Hyundai factory **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2022, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383 "2022-07-22T17:38:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/1 "2022-07-22T17:38:30Z")
Apparently children were out there stamping and pressing metal for Hyundai instead of going to school. This particular factory makes parts used in a third of all U.S. Hyundai sales. [https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-hyundai-subsidiary-has-used-child-labor-alabama-factory-2022-07-22/](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-hyundai-subsidiary-has-used-child-labor-alabama-factory-2022-07-22/) > The girl, who turns 14 this month, and her two brothers, aged 12 and 15, all worked at the plant earlier this year and weren’t going to school, according to people familiar with their employment. Their father, Pedro Tzi, confirmed these people’s account in an interview with Reuters. > Several of these minors, they said, have foregone schooling in order to work long shifts at the plant, a sprawling facility with a documented history of health and safety violations, including amputation hazards. > One former worker at SMART [the factory], an adult migrant who left for another auto industry job last year, said there were around 50 underage workers between the different plant shifts, adding that he knew some of them personally. Another former adult worker at SMART, a U.S. citizen who also left the plant last year, said she worked alongside about a dozen minors on her shift. > > Another former employee, Tabatha Moultry, 39, worked on SMART’s assembly line for several years through 2019. Moultry said the plant had high turnover and increasingly relied on migrant workers to keep up with intense production demands. She said she remembered working with one migrant girl who “looked 11 or 12 years old.” ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/2 "2022-07-22T17:54:48Z")
Just what year is it in Alabama? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/3 "2022-07-22T18:04:38Z")
I guess that’s what happens when you move a factory to where there’re no unions. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/4 "2022-07-22T18:24:24Z")
I’m glad I’m not in the land of cotton. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/5 "2022-07-22T18:33:11Z")
🎶 🪕 Where important laws are 'oft forgotten. Lok away, look away, old Fed’ral cops! Look away, look away in Dixieland. 🎶 🪕 ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/6 "2022-07-22T18:35:32Z")
Sheesh. I’m pretty sure the Hyundai plant was built in Alabama based on a series of tax breaks and other financial options offered by the state’s economic development coalition. That’s part the reason Alabama also got a Mercedes plant. I would hope those financial inducements are curtailed or completely removed, in addition to whatever criminal and civil liabilities the company will face, based on this. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/7 "2022-07-22T18:40:59Z")
_The land of the boll weevil_ _Where the laws are medieval_ _Is callin’ me to come and nevermore roam_ ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/8 "2022-07-22T18:44:32Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > Sheesh. > > I’m pretty sure the Hyundai plant was built in Alabama based on a series of tax breaks and other financial options offered by the state’s economic development coalition. That’s part the reason Alabama also got a Mercedes plant. > > I would hope those financial inducements are curtailed or completely removed, in addition to whatever criminal and civil liabilities the company will face, based on this. - Why? It’s not like they’re _real_ children. /s ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/9 "2022-07-22T18:54:31Z")
The plant managers should have had the kids wear fake mustaches and walk around holding unlit cigars. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/10 "2022-07-22T19:36:51Z")
I’m quite sure the state of Alabama doesn’t care to punish them at all. They knew. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/11 "2022-07-22T19:40:24Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > _The land of the boll weevil_ > _Where the laws are medieval_ > _Is callin’ me to come and nevermore roam_ Thanks, you saved me some typing. Exactly the verse I was going to write. And I’ll add “We’ll try to stay serene and calm” “when Alabama gets the bomb.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/12 "2022-07-22T19:42:17Z")
That was totally inspired dude! OH, and many thanks to the OP for bringing this to our attention, and also posting it here, rather than a Pit rant. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/13 "2022-07-22T19:58:15Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > in addition to whatever criminal and civil liabilities the company will face Liabilities the company will face are nothing: That’s just a cost of business. What actual people will be going to jail for this? ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/14 "2022-07-22T20:12:16Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > I would hope those financial inducements are curtailed or completely removed, in addition to whatever criminal and civil liabilities the company will face, based on this. They’ll probably pay a small fine, and then promise to never do it again, without admitting any wrongdoing. Then they’ll immediately go back to using child labor. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/15 "2022-07-22T21:10:21Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > I’m quite sure the state of Alabama doesn’t care to punish them at all. They knew. I’m quite sure you don’t know what you’re talking about. I live in Alabama, and I’ve seen several businesses with violations not nearly as severe as this be shut down. Granted, they were much smaller businesses, but just because Alabama is a Southern state don’t assume we look the other way on situations like this. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/16 "2022-07-22T22:01:50Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > I’m pretty sure the Hyundai plant was built in Alabama based on a series of tax breaks and other financial options offered by the state’s economic development coalition. That’s part the reason Alabama also got a Mercedes plant. I would suspect there were more than tax breaks on the bargaining table. The Alabama government probably said _“Listen, child labor is technically illegal. But as part of our ongoing effort to cut government waste, we don’t hire any inspectors to actually go out and check on conditions in your factories. So if you were to employ children, we’d have no way of knowing that. And as a bonus, we have the same policy on toxic waste disposal.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/17 "2022-07-22T22:06:29Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > I’m quite sure you don’t know what you’re talking about. I live in Alabama, and I’ve seen several businesses with violations not nearly as severe as this be shut down. Granted, they were much smaller businesses, but just because Alabama is a Southern state don’t assume we look the other way on situations like this. Well good, now we’ll have a chance to see if the law gets enforced on a large multi-billion dollar corporation the same way it gets enforced on a small business. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/18 "2022-07-22T23:16:28Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I guess that’s what happens when you move a factory to where there’re no unions. You don’t need unions; all you need is basic enforcement of standard laws. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/19 "2022-07-22T23:24:13Z")
Yeah I lived in Alabama too. That’s why I stand by what I said. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383/20 "2022-07-22T23:29:21Z")
Yeah, there’s a reason states like Alabama make it easy to abuse their workers and there’s a reason that companies like Hyundai operate there. It’s the same reason companies operate in a lot of undeveloped parts of the world, you can do what you want to the workers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-labor-in-alabama-hyundai-factory/968383.md?page=2)