Thread by @drdavidmichaels

How does @Hyundai cope with labor shortages?

It hires children at high hazard manufacturing plants.

@Reuters finds immigrant children employed at Alabama metal stamping parts manufacturing plant. Safety is a problem at these plant too. @jschney
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tinyurl.com/yc585phx

In 2015, when I was #OSHA Administrator, I visited Korea and met with #Hyundai and #Kia top management, to warn them of the poor safety management and the risk to workers in their supplier manufacturing facilities in Georgia and Alabama. 2/

Some background: It is cheaper to manufacture automobiles in the southern US than in South Korea.
As labor and other costs rose in South Korea, #Hyundai & #Kia opened assembly plants in Alabama & Georgia, bringing their suppliers and subsidiaries to open plants nearby. 3/

The supplier plants had to be nearby since #Hyundai and #Kia assembly plants operated on a just-in-time (JIT) production model, with no storage on site. The firm told suppliers exactly how many parts were needed and when they must be delivered. 4/

Just-in-time production puts great pressure on suppliers, who generally produce only for that automaker. If more production was needed immediately, the supplier does everything possible, often resulting in safety being sacrificed, sometimes tragically. 5/

In 2016, after I had warned #Hyundai and #Kia management that their policies were putting worker safety at risk, Regina Elsea, a 20 year old temp worker at a stamping plant was crushed by a robotic machine a few weeks before her wedding day. 6/
tinyurl.com/yp5an8nk

That supplier was under great pressure to produce parts. Workers had a quota of 420 dashboard frames a week but seldom made more than 350 "We were always trying to make our numbers so we could go home".

Regina was killed trying to fix a stopped machine, so she could go home. 7/

OSHA fined the manufacturer and two staffing agencies a total of $2,565,621. 8/ dol.gov/newsroom/relea…

I was so upset by Regina's death that I made a special trip to Alabama and Georgia to warn the #Kia and #Hyundai plant managers that more workers would be hurt if they did not insist that their suppliers improve their safety management. 8/

Since then, there have been other worker deaths and serious injuries at #Hyundai and #Kia suppliers. Here is one example. 10/
dol.gov/newsroom/relea…