Wisconsin's Milwaukee District Court
filed a lawsuit on Thursday
after a well-known brand, Milwaukee Electronics,
was suspected of purchasing forced labor products
At the same time, its parent company,
Chuanke Industrial Co., Ltd.,
The company has production bases
in the United States, China, Vietnam,
Germany and the UK.
The plaintiff, Xu Lun, is a Chinese citizen
and is worried about his safety.
The lawsuit did not disclose his real name.
The plaintiff used to work
in a non-governmental organization.
The organization is committed to
safeguarding the rights of Chinese people,
including cancer patients,
liver patients and disabled people.
In July 2021, the plaintiff was convicted
of subversion of national political rights
by the Chinese Communist Party.
This is a common accusation
used by the Chinese Communist Party
to treat different politicians
and human rights activists.
The lawsuit says that in 2022,
the plaintiff was forced to work
and produced hard-to-get
Milwaukee Tour branded work gloves
during his five-month sentence
The products produced by the company
in the prison include cut-off work gloves,
winter cut-off work gloves,
high-performance work gloves
and Free Flexi work gloves.
The plaintiff was assigned to cut cloth,
cut wire, solder, melt and quality control.
Prisoners worked for 13 hours a day
According to the plaintiff,
the factory did not have air conditioning or heaters.
Prisoners had to endure bad weather conditions,
especially in the summer,
where the heat was humid and the air was cold.
Many prisoners were infected with skin diseases
The machine would cause injury,
such as stabbing a finger with an embroidery machine.
There was also a lot of dust in the factory.
Continuous inhalation of dust
caused many prisoners to develop respiratory diseases.
Due to working in a supermarket
some people were diagnosed with
rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.
The plaintiff said he often saw his friends
refusing to work,
not working hard enough
or not meeting the production quota.
He was threatened and punished.
The sentence included a long-term stand
or half a ton of physical punishment,
prohibition of family visits,
prohibition of purchasing goods,
prohibition of using the bathroom,
and other severe punishments,
including being sent to prison
and being forced to squat while walking
and depriving of sleep.
The most severe punishments included
beating and using electric sticks and machines.
Taiwan human rights defender Li Mingzhe,
confirmed in a report
that he produced four types of
American flag gloves in prison.
He worked more than 90 hours a week
and earned an income of equivalent to
48 US dollars a day.
In early May last year,
the Wisconsin Observatory published
a long-form investigation report
that interviewed prisoners in Chishan Prison
and their experience of being forced to work
in prison,
as well as the case of
the Shanghai Cellite Company.
In April this year,
the U.S. Customs
seized the work gloves of
the Shanghai Cellite Safety Products
Co., Ltd.,
The company said in a statement
to the Milwaukee Post that
although a strict investigation was carried out,
there was no evidence of forced labor
in the production of the gloves,
and that there was no evidence
of forced labor in the production of the gloves,
and that the gloves produced in prison
may be counterfeit.
