"Taiwan bicycle industry pushes back on reports of human rights violations"

…A negative state of play for migrant workers in Taiwan’s bicycle industry was alleged in a recent Le Monde report. According to LeMonde, debt bondage, passport retention, abusive living conditions, withheld wages, threats and intimidation have been common practice in Taiwan, with big names in the bicycle industry also being implicated. Following publication on Bike Europe, this led to rebuttals from the Taiwan Bicycle Association (TBA) and Giant Group, and commitments to make changes. One of these commitments was the signing of a human rights code of conduct…

…In response to the allegations in the LeMonde report, Giant replied that they committed to paying recruitment fees…

…She explained how BAS has adopted international standards and voluntarily established a due diligence management process to improve the transparency of Taiwan's overall bicycle supply chain. …

Taiwanese component manufacturer, VP components, told Bike Europe during Taipei Cycle that it has imposed a zero-fee for migrant workers since May 2023…

Vivian Hsu of component manufacturer SunnyWheel was also quick to distance her company from the claims in the LeMonde report…

...The protest was not directly related to Taiwan or bicycle production, but a factory in El Salvador which produced apparel for [Specialized]...

... Specialized states that it “categorically rejects the misinformation being circulated.”...