[1/2] Police officers patrol in the old city in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, May 4, 2021.
REUTERS/Thomas PeterWASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers (UAW) union called on automakers to shift their entire supply chain out of China's Xinjiang region after a new report on Tuesday suggests that nearly every major automaker has significant exposure to products made with forced labor.
"The time is now for the auto industry to establish high-road supply chain models outside the Uyghur Region that protect labor and human rights and the environment," said UAW President Ray Curry.
"In some cases, Uyghur forced labor is apparent at multiple steps" of parts manufacturing, mining, refining, pre-fabrication and assembly, it added.
Curry called on the U.S. government to "devote the necessary resources to allow Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to effectively identify and ban the importation of products made with forced labor."