The Serbian plant of Linglong has been banned from supplying tires to the US
The United States has banned the import of tires made at the Zrenjanin (Serbia) plant of the Chinese company Linglong. According to a report by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), shipments of tires will be detained "due to the presence of evidence indicating the use of forced labor during their production".
"Our message is crystal clear: the United States will not tolerate the presence of forced labor in supply chains," said CBP Commissioner Roderick Scott.
According to the evidence collected by the CBP, violations such as confiscation of documents, intimidation and threats, excessive overtime, delayed payment of wages, "debt bondage", inadequate living and working conditions, deception, and "exploitation of employee vulnerability" were identified.
The CBP adds that during the information gathering process, worker testimony, photographs, employment contracts, text message screenshots, reports from non-profit organizations, media reports, and more were examined.
Maria Angelkovitch from the non-profit organization Astra stated that the violations became known as early as 2019, when it was about a group of 300-500 migrants from Vietnam, and later it was found that the rights of Indians are also being violated at the plant.
Regarding the violations identified by the CBP, Angelkovitch noted that "all this is signs of slave labor". She also expressed concern about the lack of response from the Serbian authorities.
"In such cases, there is a lack of political will," she said. "Now, a huge number of labor migrants are coming to Serbia, as the country has very liberal legislation regarding the employment of foreigners, and this is quite normal, since there is a shortage of labor. At the same time, the state does not take preventive measures to prevent violations of the rights of newcomers, that is, they are not informed about working conditions, workers' rights, where they can turn for help, etc."
Last year, it was reported that due to alleged labor rights violations, MAN stopped cooperating with the Serbian Linglong plant. The tire company then stated that checks had been carried out with the participation of representatives from the Vietnamese and Romanian embassies, which confirmed that "the allegations are unfounded".
Photo: RSE