12/5/2023 0 Comments Milwaukee tool box with wheels![]() ![]() “Milwaukee Tool regularly conducts a complete and thorough review of our global operations and supply chain,” spokeswoman Kaitlyn Kasper said in an email July 13, adding that the company has “strict policies and procedures in place to ensure that no authorized Milwaukee Tool products are manufactured by using forced labor.” Wisconsin Watch reporting spurs congressional investigation Milwaukee Tool has not responded to Wisconsin Watch’s questions about how it investigates allegations of human rights abuses within its supply chain, but it says it has “found no evidence to support the claims being made.” Lee Ming-che, a renowned human rights activist who spent nearly five years in Chishan Prison, verified four types of Milwaukee Tool gloves he made while earning the equivalent of about 48 cents a day during 90-plus hour work weeks: Free-Flex, Demolition, Performance and Winter Performance. And regulatory filings show Shanghai Select was contracted to manufacture “Performance Gloves” for a subsidiary of Milwaukee Tool’s parent company. A self-identified salesperson of the supplier, Shanghai Select Safety Products, said it manufactured the majority of Milwaukee Tool’s work gloves. (Ariana Lindquist for Wisconsin Watch)Ī supplier for Milwaukee Tool subcontracted work to the prison, two former prisoners told Wisconsin Watch. A Milwaukee Tool spokesperson says the company has “found no evidence to support” allegations about forced labor. She is calling for Brookfield-Wis.-based Milwaukee Tool to stop sourcing gloves made from forced prison labor in China. Shi Minglei, the wife of an imprisoned Chinese human rights activist Cheng Yuan, fled to the United States in 2021 and now lives in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Walmart confirmed its removal of the gloves weeks after Wisconsin Watch investigation found additional evidence that Chishan prisoners were paid pennies to make work gloves bearing the iconic brand of Milwaukee Tool, a company with a nearly 100-year history in Wisconsin. Shi said she could not verify he was making Milwaukee Tool products but said she heard from former prisoners of Milwaukee Tool’s production at the prison. Shi alleges her husband, imprisoned human rights activist Cheng Yuan, has been forced to use a sewing machine to produce goods at the prison for up to 12 hours a day. The confirmation to shareholders came months after Chinese exile Shi Minglei, who now lives in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, launched a public campaign to pressure Milwaukee Tool to stop sourcing gloves allegedly made under grueling conditions at Chishan Prison in China’s central Hunan Province - and to urge giant retailers such as Walmart, Amazon, and The Home Depot to stop selling the gloves or helping third parties do so. We find such allegations very concerning and take action to address them.”Ĭhinese prisoners: We were forced to make Milwaukee Tool gloves for cents each day “Our Standards for Suppliers prohibit it. “Walmart does not tolerate involuntary prison labor in its supply chain, even when allowed by local law,” Blair Cromwell, a Walmart spokesperson, told Wisconsin Watch in an email. In a follow up letter to a shareholder, a Walmart official confirmed that the company removed the gloves from its third-party platform, blocked future sales and does not sell the branded gloves in its stores or on its website. “We looked into the allegations regarding the gloves in question, and we made a decision to de-list those from the marketplace,” Kathleen McLaughlin, Walmart’s chief sustainability officer, told shareholders during a virtual meeting on May 31, according to a transcript reviewed by Wisconsin Watch. Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, is no longer selling Milwaukee Tool-branded gloves on its online marketplace - responding to allegations that a subcontractor for the Brookfield, Wisconsin-based tool company relied on forced Chinese prison labor to manufacture certain models of gloves. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, called the findings from the Wisconsin Watch report “very, very damaging.” Speaking last Tuesday at a commission hearing, U.S. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China is investigating Milwaukee Tool’s supply chain practices.Walmart has removed Milwaukee Tool work gloves allegedly made with forced prison labor from the retailer’s third-party platform, blocked future sales and said it does not sell the implicated gloves in its stores or on its website. ![]()
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