US lawmakers question Techtronic's Milwaukee Tool on alleged links to forced labor (updated)

Techtronic Industries Co

11/07/2023 21:35

* 
      A media report alleged Chinese prison laborers were forced
to
make work gloves for Milwaukee Tool
    

        * 
      Lawmakers asked the company if it had full oversight into
its
supply chain
    

        * 
      A U.S. law bans products made through forced labor
    

        * 
      Milwaukee Tool has said it "found no evidence to support
the
claims being made"
    

  
 (Adds comments from Amazon and Milwaukee Tool)
    By Katherine Masters
       NEW YORK, July 11 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S.
lawmakers asked the Milwaukee Tool unit of Hong Kong-based
Techtronic Industries to examine whether its products had links
to forced labor, citing a recent media report that some were
made by Chinese prisoners.
    In a letter sent Tuesday and signed by Republican
Representative Chris Smith and Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley,
the lawmakers questioned Milwaukee Tool's oversight of its
supply chain and whether it had independently investigated the
claims, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters. 
    Milwaukee Tool, which sells power equipment and home
improvement gear, including work gloves, through retailers, is
one of a handful of companies facing new scrutiny in Washington
for manufacturing and sourcing consumer products in China.
    According to reporting by the nonprofit news site Wisconsin
Watch, Lee Ming-che, a political activist and former inmate now
living in Taiwan, said he was forced to work 13 hours a day
alongside other prisoners sewing polyester work gloves for
Milwaukee Tool. Reuters couldn’t immediately reach Lee Ming-che
for comment.
    One of the company’s suppliers, Shanghai Select Safety
Products, allegedly subcontracted work to a jail in China's
Hunan province. In a statement to Reuters, Milwaukee Tool said
it had "strict policies and procedures" to ensure its products
were not made through forced labor and had “found no evidence to
support the claims being made.”
    Lawmakers have questioned multiple retailers over their
sourcing amid heightened trade tensions with China. For
instance, a separate bipartisan committee in May sent letters to
Nike, Adidas, Shein and Temu questioning the companies’ supply
chains and whether they source from the Xinjiang region of
China, where  Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are reportedly
forced to labor in internment camps. 
    Some U.S. officials also have accused China of transferring
prisoners from Xinjiang to factories in other parts of the
country. Beijing has repeatedly denied the allegations, and the
Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
     The focus on Milwaukee Tool, whose work gloves and other
products are sold by Amazon  AMZN.O  and Home Depot  HD.N ,
reflects broader challenges across the retail industry, where
companies are struggling to gain full transparency into the
business practices of suppliers located thousands of miles away.
Many retailers can only trace their manufacturing back to their
most immediate suppliers, and it's not uncommon for partners in
Asia to subcontract work out to prisons or factories.
    U.S. companies are under growing pressure to eliminate those
suppliers due to a law than bans products made with forced labor
from Xinjiang or work transfer programs in other parts of China.
    Smith and Merkley, chairs of the Congressional-Executive
Commission on China, asked Milwaukee Tool if it had audited
every level of its supply chain, writing that“the issue of
forced labor in China, and the unfair trade advantage it offers
companies like yours, is one that has plagued the U.S. economy
for decades."
    Amazon declined to comment. A spokesperson for Home Depot
told Reuters that the retailer prohibits the use of forced or
prison labor and investigated Milwaukee Tool after the
allegations were published.
    "We have not found any evidence that the Milwaukee gloves
sold at The Home Depot are made with forced labor," the
spokesperson stated.

 (Reporting by Katherine Masters; Editing by Sharon Singleton
and David Gregorio)
 ((Katherine.Masters@thomsonreuters.com;))