Senators seek details from US electronics firm on Uyghur labor

Universal Electronics

20/10/2021 13:00

By Patricia Zengerle
    WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A group of Democratic and
Republican U.S. senators wrote to remote-control maker Universal
Electronics Inc  UEIC.O  on Wednesday about concerns the
Arizona-based company could be implicated in mistreatment of
Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang region.
    The letter cited a Reuters report https://www.reuters.com/world/china/exclusive-us-electronics-firm-struck-deal-transport-hire-uyghur-workers-2021-10-07
 earlier this month that Universal struck a deal with
authorities in Xinjiang to transport hundreds of Uyghur workers
to its plant in the southern Chinese city of Qinzhou. There,
workers live in segregated dormitories, are continuously
surveilled by police and made to participate in government
"education activities," Reuters reported.
    "We believe these conditions bear obvious signs of forced
labor," said Democratic Senators Bob Menendez and Jeff Merkley
and Republican Senator Marco Rubio in the letter to Universal
Electronics Chief Executive Paul Arling.
    "We are especially troubled that Universal Electronics
appears to have done little to investigate or remedy the
situation," the letter, which was seen by Reuters, added.
    Universal Electronics told Reuters earlier this month the
company currently employs 365 Uyghur workers at the Qinzhou
plant. It said it treated them the same as other workers in
China and it did not regard any of its employees as forced
labor.
    The Nasdaq-listed firm, which has sold its equipment and
software to Sony, Samsung, LG, Microsoft and other companies,
also it does not conduct independent due diligence on where and
how its workers are trained in Xinjiang. It said the arrangement
is vetted by a third-party agent, which it declined to name,
working with the Xinjiang government.
    In the letter to Arling, the U.S. senators cited State
Department findings that Chinese authorities use threats of
physical violence, forcible drug intake, physical and sexual
abuse, and torture to force detainees to work in adjacent or
off-site factories or worksites.
    The letter asked Universal Electronics to provide, no later
than Nov. 5, information including the text of its 2019
agreement with the Xinjiang government regarding Uyghur
laborers, the number of Uyghurs employed in China and
documentation to support the company's assertion that none of
its labor is forced.
    The senators also asked for details of employee training
programs related to forced labor and human trafficking, records
of audits of facilities in China and the content of any
disclosure to shareholders about the use of transferred Uyghur
laborers.    
    

 (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle;
Editing by Mary Milliken and Jane Wardell)
 ((patricia.zengerle@thomsonreuters.com,
www.twitter.com/ReutersZengerle; 001-202-898-8390;))