CTA wants answers from Chinese L car manufacturer after NBC report on child labor

CTA officials have asked the Chinese manufacturer of new L cars coming to Chicago for answers about the materials it’s using after NBC News reported children as young as 4 are mining minerals in Africa that might be used in their production.

The TV network reported Nov. 18 that children from impoverished families in Madagascar are paid a pittance to burrow underground in dangerous conditions to find and claw out mica, a group of minerals used in electronics and numerous consumer products.

The mica goes to Chinese companies that “turn the mineral shards into component parts that end up in products sold by such companies as Panasonic, Electrolock and CRRC, a Chinese government-owned rail equipment manufacturer that has signed deals to produce trains for Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston,” according to the report.

The CTA has a $1.3 billion contract with CRRC subsidiary CRRC Sifang America to build L cars.

“We’ve asked CRRC to provide us with more detailed information on their supply chain for the new 7000 Series railcars that they’re building for us . . . their material providers and the sources their providers use,” CTA spokesman Brian Steele said. “We are doing so due to our concerns” spurred by the “media coverage.”

Steele said the agency was unaware of the allegations until being contacted by a reporter.

The NBC report described children mining mica in Madagascar, an island nation of more than 25 million, as “an underground army of little laborers who go largely unseen in a country famous for its lush forests, vanilla crop and lemur population.”

Asked about the report, Dave Smolensky, a spokesman in Chicago for CRRC Sifang America, says the company “expressly prohibits the use of child labor in the manufacture of any of the components used in the assembly of the railcars we build. The majority of components used in the production of our railcars are sourced from U.S. suppliers. We expect all our suppliers to treat their workers with dignity, respect and responsible employment practices.”

Following a competitive-bidding process, the CTA awarded the contract in 2016 to CRRC Sifang America, a subsidiary of China’s government-owned CRRC Corporation Ltd., with an option for 846 new L cars at a total cost of about $1.3 billion, according to Steele. It so far has tapped CRRC to build 400 cars at a cost of around $632 million, he said.

The shells of the trains are made in China using Chinese steel, according to the CTA.

They are shipped to a 380,000-square-foot plant the company built at 135th Street and Torrence Avenue on the Southeast Side where workers assemble the cars, adding wheels, communications and propulsion equipment and other electronic gear.

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Steele said 70% of the components “are coming from U.S. sources,” and some of the materials are from Germany and Canada.

Ten prototype L cars are being made now, Steele said. Starting next year, they’re to be tested in “non-revenue” service for about a year. All 400 are to be delivered by early 2024. The new model is slated to replace older L cars.

Mica is used in a wide range of products because it doesn’t conduct electricity and is resistant to heat and remains stable in extreme temperatures.

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