Dear readers,
It has been brought to our attention through ongoing communications between Volkswagen and China Labour Bulletin, that there was an error in our recent report: “Breaking the Mould: Germany's Supply Chain Act as a New Approach to Global Labour Rights Accountability”.
In the original article, under the section titled “Shenzhen Qiao Feng – retaliation against worker leaders”, we reported the following:
CLB has contacted brands that Qiao Feng supplies, including BMW and Volkswagen, about the violations of workers' right of association, and their unpaid social insurance. Volkswagen then responded, stating that after investigation, they had found Qiao Feng to be in violation of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, and that they would refer the case for further investigation, and appropriate response measures.
Instead of “after investigation”, the sentence has been corrected to say:
Volkswagen then responded, stating that “after reviewing your report we came to the conclusion that the supplier might violated [sic] against the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act”, and that they would refer the case for further investigation so that appropriate response measures could be taken.
The report has since been updated and we sincerely apologize to our readers and the Volkswagen Company for our mistake.
We are grateful for Volkswagen Company’s continued communication and we thank them for the correction.
In the effort to better implement China’s labour laws and improve workers’ rights in the country, CLB will continue to work with multi-stakeholders to explore further applications of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act.
China Labour Bulletin
September 17, 2024