Bipartisan Letter Asks for FLETF Briefing on Labor Transfers
Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee asked the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to brief them on what it is going to do to combat the Chinese government's transfers of Uyghur workers to other provinces, thereby avoiding the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act ban on imports. They also asked what is the interagency task force's "plan for engagement with the private sector to improve compliance with the UFPLA."
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"We stand ready to work with FLETF to ensure it has both the resources and authorities necessary to tackle these grotesque human rights abuses that the PRC uses to artificially lower the costs of goods and undermine American workers," Sens. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., John Curtis, R-Utah, and Chris Coons, D-Del., wrote.
They cited a joint investigation published in late May on 100 companies that received Uyghur workers or parts produced by Uyghur, Kazakh or Kyrgyz workers, and said the report showed tens of thousands of ethnic minority workers were moved from Xinjiang to factories across China. The stories said Crocs shoes, Midea and LG appliances, and some car manufacturers seem to be sourcing from these factories, sometimes through other suppliers.
"Over 100 companies in at least five major industries appeared to receive Uyghur workers or parts or goods produced by them," the senators wrote, echoing language in the journalists' report. "It is clear based off of the joint investigation referenced above that further measures are needed to drastically expand the UFPLA Entity List to address these forced labor transfer programs outside Xinjiang and crack down on the PRC’s evasion of U.S. law," they wrote.