Modern-day slavery in supply chains | Dan Viederman | TEDxBerkeley
Summary
TLDRThe speaker addresses the exploitation of workers globally, particularly through labor recruiters who charge exorbitant fees for securing jobs, often leading to debt bondage and forced labor. Many affected workers are migrants employed in low-wage, dangerous jobs in sectors like electronics and apparel. The speaker highlights the role of supply chains and corporate responsibility, noting efforts by companies and governments to combat this issue. They call for consumers and businesses to take action against these unethical practices to protect workers like 'Raj,' who is trapped in exploitative conditions despite having invested heavily for a job abroad.
Takeaways
- 🛑 Workers globally often pay high fees to recruiters to secure low-paying and unsafe jobs, leading to debt bondage.
- 💸 Labor recruitment agencies in various countries charge workers thousands of dollars for jobs, creating significant financial burdens.
- 📱 Many products like electronics and clothing involve supply chains that employ workers in exploitative conditions, often in debt to recruiters.
- 🔒 Migrant workers in countries like Malaysia, Taiwan, and the U.S. frequently face conditions of forced labor, including having their passports confiscated.
- 📉 Despite contracts, workers are often paid far less than promised, leaving them trapped in dangerous jobs with high debt.
- 🌍 Migrant workers from countries like Nepal, the Philippines, and Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to exploitation in foreign supply chains.
- 🏢 Companies like Apple and HP have started implementing policies to eliminate recruitment fees and reimburse workers, with Apple returning $20 million in fees.
- ⚖️ The U.S. government is enforcing stricter labor practices through an executive order that bans companies from using forced labor in supply chains if they want to do business with the federal government.
- ⛑️ Initiatives from religious and global leaders, including the Pope, are being launched to combat modern-day slavery in global supply chains.
- 🛍️ Consumers can help by demanding transparency from brands, encouraging them to address the exploitation within their supply chains.
Q & A
What is the primary focus of the speaker's discussion?
-The speaker focuses on the intersection of corporate responsibility, supply chains, and modern-day slavery, specifically highlighting the exploitation of workers, particularly migrant laborers, in global supply chains.
How do labor recruiters exploit workers in the global economy?
-Labor recruiters often charge workers, particularly migrants, exorbitant fees to secure jobs overseas. Workers borrow money at high interest rates to pay these fees, leading to debt bondage and trapping them in low-wage, insecure, and dangerous jobs.
Why do workers, especially migrants, pay large sums to recruiters for jobs?
-Migrants pay large sums to recruiters because they see it as a lifeline out of poverty, hoping to earn enough to send money home and improve their family's financial situation. However, the reality often involves exploitation and harsh working conditions.
What role do major brands play in the exploitation of workers?
-Major brands are indirectly involved because their factories, often located overseas, employ workers who have paid recruiters to get those jobs. Brands may be unaware of the exploitative practices within their supply chains, especially if they rely on third-party labor recruiters.
What are some of the serious labor violations found in countries like Malaysia and Taiwan?
-Serious labor violations include unsafe working conditions (e.g., locked fire exits), extremely long working hours, systemic abuse and harassment, and the confiscation of workers' passports. These conditions often affect migrant workers from countries like Nepal, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
What did the speaker's organization discover in its investigation of the electronics sector in Malaysia?
-The organization found that one-third of the workers in Malaysia’s electronics sector were in forced labor conditions, with many having their passports confiscated and paying excessive fees to secure their jobs.
Can you explain Raj's story and how it illustrates the issue of forced labor?
-Raj, a college-educated Nepali man, paid $1,500 to a recruiter for a job in a Malaysian electronics factory. Once in Malaysia, his passport was taken, and he was forced to work long hours for low wages, barely earning enough to pay off his debt. He was trapped, unable to return home without incurring additional costs.
What are some of the key solutions proposed by the speaker to address forced labor in global supply chains?
-The speaker proposes that businesses should ensure workers do not have to pay for jobs, meaning they should eliminate recruitment fees. Brands should work to implement ethical labor standards and verify that their supply chains are free from forced labor. The U.S. government’s 2012 executive order is also a crucial step in this direction.
How are companies like Apple and HP responding to the issue of forced labor in their supply chains?
-Apple and HP have implemented 'no fees' policies, ensuring that workers do not pay to secure jobs. Apple has gone further by reimbursing workers $20 million for fees they were improperly charged, setting an example for other companies.
What can consumers do to help address modern-day slavery in supply chains?
-Consumers can pressure brands to be transparent about their labor practices and ensure they are not complicit in forced labor. By raising awareness and demanding accountability, consumers can help drive change in corporate policies and encourage ethical sourcing practices.
Outlines
💼 The Cost of Employment for Migrant Workers
The speaker opens by questioning how much it should cost to secure a job, contrasting the experience of many graduates with that of millions of workers globally. Migrants often pay thousands of dollars to recruiters in hopes of obtaining low-wage, insecure, and often dangerous jobs. These workers are trapped in a form of modern-day slavery, as they accumulate debt they cannot repay. This practice is tied to global supply chains, where consumers unknowingly benefit from exploited labor, especially in industries like electronics and apparel.
🌍 Global Exploitation of Migrant Workforces
This paragraph delves into the common thread of severe labor violations in countries like Malaysia, Taiwan, and the U.S. protectorate of Saipan. The exploitation often involves foreign workers such as Filipinos, Nepalis, and Bangladeshis. Recruiters deceive these workers with false promises and contracts, subjecting them to dangerous conditions, wage theft, and lack of freedom once they arrive. The paragraph emphasizes that the abuse is systemic, deeply embedded in global supply chains, especially in electronics manufacturing hubs like Malaysia.
🔍 Investigating Forced Labor in Malaysia’s Electronics Sector
The speaker outlines a 15-year investigation into Malaysia's electronics sector, uncovering widespread forced labor among migrant workers. A third of the 500 interviewed workers were found to be in conditions of forced labor. One example is Raj, a Nepali worker who paid exorbitant fees to recruiters, fell into debt, and ended up trapped in Malaysia. Despite long hours in a high-tech electronics facility, his wages barely allowed him to pay off his debt and send money home, leaving him stuck in a cycle of financial and physical entrapment.
🛑 Global Scale of Labor Exploitation and Debt Bondage
The paragraph presents a global view of labor exploitation, with workers from places like the Philippines, India, and Guatemala paying excessive recruitment fees to work in various industries worldwide. The problem spans from Southeast Asia to the Middle East, and even the U.S., where Guatemalans borrow large sums to secure low-paying jobs. The prevalence of passport confiscation and fraudulent recruitment practices traps these workers, reinforcing the global scale of modern-day slavery in various industries.
⚖️ Path to Solutions: Government and Corporate Responsibility
The speaker outlines solutions to end forced labor in global supply chains. While the complexity of the problem involves multiple players—recruiters, employers, and countries—some progress is being made. For instance, U.S. federal law now requires companies supplying the government to eliminate forced labor. Corporations like Apple have also taken steps by reimbursing workers who paid recruitment fees. The fight against modern slavery is gaining momentum, with support from major players like the U.S. government and religious leaders such as the Pope.
🛠️ What Can Businesses and Consumers Do?
The speaker closes by urging businesses to ensure no debt bondage occurs in their supply chains and calls for consumers to demand transparency from the brands they support. While businesses can directly prevent exploitation by choosing ethical partners, consumers can also play a role by pressuring companies to take responsibility. The story of Raj highlights the moral imperative to act, as he and many others remain trapped in exploitative labor conditions. The speaker emphasizes that change is possible but requires collective action.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Debt Bondage
💡Labor Recruiters
💡Forced Labor
💡Supply Chain
💡Recruitment Fees
💡Social Assessments
💡Corporate Responsibility
💡Modern-Day Slavery
💡Code of Conduct
💡Migrant Workers
Highlights
Many people around the world pay thousands of dollars to labor recruiters, hoping for overseas job opportunities, but they often face exploitation and debt bondage.
Global supply chains, including electronics and apparel, employ workers who are forced into debt just to secure their jobs, connecting this issue to everyday consumer goods.
Debt bondage in labor recruitment often leads to conditions of modern-day slavery, where workers can't escape because they are tied to high-interest loans.
The speaker's organization, a nonprofit based in Massachusetts, works globally to investigate labor conditions in supply chains and help companies understand these issues.
Companies have implemented ethical standards in their contracts with suppliers, but violations such as unsafe working conditions, forced labor, and wage theft are still widespread.
In some countries like Malaysia, Taiwan, and Jordan, the labor force consists primarily of foreign workers who face extreme exploitation and unsafe working conditions.
The speaker notes that many workers face bait-and-switch tactics from recruiters, where they are promised good wages but arrive to worse conditions than agreed.
In Malaysia’s electronics sector, a study found that one-third of the workers were in forced labor conditions, including passport confiscation and underpayment.
Raj, a college-educated Nepali worker, was exploited after paying a recruiter for a job in Malaysia, where his passport was taken, and he was trapped in debt.
90% of workers in Malaysia’s electronics sector had their passports taken, and 85% had paid excessive recruitment fees, showing the scale of the problem.
Recruiters across multiple countries are involved in a complex system that traps workers in debt, making it difficult for them to escape or pay back their loans.
The U.S. government is actively trying to combat this issue, with a 2012 executive order requiring companies selling goods to the federal government to ensure no debt bondage in their supply chains.
Some companies, like Apple and HP, have implemented no-fees policies and have even reimbursed workers for unethical recruitment fees, setting an example for others.
This is not only a business problem but a moral issue that affects everyone, including consumers who indirectly benefit from these exploitative supply chains.
The speaker encourages consumers to engage with brands and push for transparency, as this pressure can help combat modern-day slavery in supply chains.
Transcripts
I want to start with a
question how much should it cost to get
a
job that's the right answer we'll get
there eventually
so you're all graduates you're all going
to be graduates at some point of a AUST
higher institution uh of higher
institution of Higher Learning and you
can imagine a situation where at some
point you'll you'll be given or offered
a a job a position and you'll be happy
to accept it and chances are no one will
ask you for thousands of dollars upfront
much less tens of thousands of dollars
upfront so that you can secure this job
but of course for millions of people
around the world the reality is
otherwise the reality is that they pay
thousands of dollars to labor recruiters
sort of like Global staffing agencies
they want a much more informal basis
they borrow that money at uh High rates
of interest and they pay the agencies
and hopes that they can get a Lifeline
out of poverty in the form of a job
generally overseas of course these
aren't good jobs these are jobs at the
very low end of the global economy they
are jobs that are poorly paid they are
often dangerous they are insecure and
they are temporary and so workers
migrants people around the world are
paying more than they can afford to get
jobs these jobs are not simply sort of
really far away and in places that we
don't touch they're very close to us in
in some key ways uh if you buy as I
imagine you mostly do cell phones or
computers or other consumer electronics
if you buy clothes from time to time you
have likely bought from Brands whose
factories employee workers who have paid
to get those jobs so it is connected to
all of us and ultimately when this goes
really wrong it's a form of debt bondage
these workers are carrying debt with
them they are not making enough to pay
back their loans and they are they
cannot leave their work so I'm going to
talk at the intersection of sort of
corporate responsibility Supply chains
and modern day
slavery my organization is a nonprofit
We are based in Massachusetts and
operate globally and we work with
companies largely to help them
understand what's going on in their
supply chains in the factories from whom
they are buying things this started back
in the 1990s mostly with apparel
companies at that point so clothing
companies that were aware of the fact as
they
transported as they transferred
production offshore into countries like
China or into Latin America there was a
lot going on in their factories that
they didn't know about they didn't know
what the working conditions were were so
they put in place what they call codes
of conduct or essentially sets of
Standards ethical standards that would
become part of the contract that
companies have with their suppliers
these ethical standards were such things
as don't employ children make sure
there's no forced labor on site pay
people effectively and fairly provide
safe working conditions so a company
would say to a factory in China say I
need 10,000 shirts of a particular color
please deliver it by this date and by
the way don't exploit people along the
way they would then hire us to go in and
find out whether that was actually
happening we would go to factories and
do things that we call social
assessments we would go to the factories
with our local teams and talk to workers
and ask them what their experiences
really were and we would look at payroll
records and we would look at health and
safety records and we would walk around
the facil
to see what the health and safety
actually looked like and we would talk
to factory management the idea being
that if we could gather this information
we could then report it back to the
brand to the apparel company in those
days who would then work with the
factory and the government and the trade
unions and the workers to improve
conditions it's all very nice and
logical as you can imagine back in those
days much as today there was lots to
report lots of violations to report and
we as an organization as we did this
around the world began to notice a
strange correlation some very
unexpectedly severe violations in an
unexpected set of or subset of
countries so in Malaysia and Taiwan and
sipan Jordan maius
Madagascar we found really serious labor
violations that surprised us because
Malaysia and Taiwan after all are
relatively middle-income countries and
cpan was a us protectorate so it's not
the usual suspects for labor
violations the serious violations
included really unsafe conditions locked
fire exit doors for example so workers
couldn't get out equipment that was
hazardous to
use extremely long working hours like
hundreds of hours a week literally a 100
hours a week for months at a time with
no days
off systemic abuse and harassment of
women workers in particular violence and
suppression of Trade union rights so a
serious set of violations in countries
that were a little bit
unexpected as maybe you can foresee the
commonality in those countries is that
the workforce is a foreign Workforce
it's not Malaysians in Malaysia or
Taiwanese doing the bulk of the work in
the AAR factories of Taiwan in Taiwan
it's Filipinos and Vietnamese and Tha
and
Indonesians and in Malaysia it was
Nepali and burmes and
bangladeshis and in cpan the US
protector it was Chinese workers who had
taken the journey overseas in of making
enough money to send back home and
transform their own lives from one of
poverty to one of relative Prosperity
but of course things had gone wrong
along the way they were subject to this
very classic bait and switch the
recruiters to whom they had paid
thousands of
dollars promised them a certain amount
of income had even the signed contract
that said they would get a certain
income and when they landed the switch
happened they were not being given that
amount of money they had no freedom and
they were suffering as a
result so fast forward to the last few
years we've been now working on this
issue for about 15 years and we did a
more detailed investigation in the
supply chains for the electronics sector
in Malaysia why because Malaysia is very
important in the global electronics
Industry Electronics is very important
to the Malaysian economy the workforce
as I mentioned is largely foreign so we
had indicators of
risk we interviewed 500 workers to do a
sort of statistically valid sample from
all sectors of the Malaysian electronic
sector and what we found surprised even
US 1 third of the workers that we
interviewed were in a condition of
forced labor onethird of the workers in
electronics facilities in Malaysia were
effectively
slaves I can share the story of a man
that we met and interviewed as an
illustration of what this problem
actually was so we met this guy who we
call Raj in in the reporting that we've
done Raj was a college educated
Nepali very smart spoke perfect English
he came from a middle-income family the
family had a Rice Mill that was their
source of income it collapsed and so
they had to find some other source of
income they invested a lot of money
trying to resurrect the mill they got
deep in debt they had no real sense of
where their income was going to come
from it's a wellestablished sort of
pipeline for nealies who might go
overseas and in doing so provide income
for their family Raj is the best
educated member of the family was chosen
and he and his brother went to go visit
a recruiter in kmw a guy who said to
them give me
$1,500 and I can get you a job in a cell
phone plant in Malaysia $300 down now
$1,200
later Raj thought this was extremely
expensive he tried to negotiate with the
recruiter the recruiter basically said
take it or leave it there's long
pipeline long line of people behind you
who would like to take this job so do
you want it or not they gave him $300
down Raj and his brother did and then
they had to go find the rest of the
money they ended up borrowing $1,200 at
36% annual
interest Raj and his brother co-signed
the loan and the loan as you can imagine
needed some
collateral it was secured by their
family land they took the 1,200 bucks
they gave it to the recruiter the
recruiter said great 3 weeks later Raj
was on a plane to Malaysia in shifting
from Nepal to Malaysia he was actually
shifting employers he was no longer
working with the Catman de recruiter he
was now going to be working with a
recruiter in Malaysia so he was facing a
different sort of institutional
structure in which he was operating but
he got there and upon Landing the new
recruiter took his passport
away Raj is working six days a week 12
hours a day in a in the clean room of a
Malaysian Electronics facility a
sophisticated facility not your typical
sort of sweat shop he's making $250 a
month base wage $300 a month if he gets
overtime he tries to take half of it
$150 a month and put it to pay back his
debt and there are months when he can do
that and also send money home but there
are months when he doesn't get enough
overtime or his family needs an
emergency infusion of cash and he can't
pay back the loan he has to choose he
himself told us he's living on about $90
a month including money that he uses to
call home and he spends honestly about
$20 a month to call home to keep in
touch with his
family we met Raj we interviewed him
about 14 months into his three-year
contract and he told us he'd had enough
he didn't want to be there anymore but
there was no way for him to escape to
get home he'd have to pay $400 to the
recruiter to break his contract he'd
have to buy a plane ticket for $300 he
would have to get his passport back and
if he did go home with this additional
$700 of debt how could he pay back the
loan there's no job waiting for him he
was
trapped his experience illustrates the
problem it's not unique when we
interviewed workers in Malaysia fully
90% of them were in conditions where
they had had their passport taken 90%
85% of them had paid excessive
fees this happens in Taiwan and the
apparel sector we have philippinos who
borrowed $3,500 to get jobs in the
apparel sector it happens in the Middle
East where due to Visa fraud perpetrated
by labor recruiters Indians 20% of the
Indians we interviewed had spent time in
jail as a result of Visa fraud and in
the United States we have evidence of
Guatemalans borrowing $6,000 to get jobs
in the US on farms and in plant
nurseries that pay $150 a week so the
problem is
widespread 15 years in we have some
elements of a solution in place we know
where the problem is we know why it
happens and frankly we know what to do
with it do about it what need needs to
happen is that businesses need to decide
they will not allow anybody to buy a job
in their operations or in their supply
chain this is a complicated problem you
saw the two recruiters Raj dealt with
the two countries with visas that he had
to he had to get the the brand and the
factories it's a complicated problem no
single institution can solve it but we
have a lot of allies who are joining
this fight right now and the most
powerful one probably is the federal
government of the United States in 2012
President Obama signed an executive
order
that requires any business seeking to
sell goods or services to the federal
government to demonstrate that they have
no debt bonded slavery in their supply
chain the federal government is the
single biggest buyer of goods and
services in the world so this is an
incredibly powerful Market signal in the
electronic sector we're working with a
number of companies to implement no fees
policies apple and HP have been among
the leaders and there are others as well
Apple has gone farther than anybody else
they've actually reimbursed fees to
workers who had been charged Char them
unethically to the tune of $20 million
so $20 million is now back in the hands
of poor
workers this isn't just a business
problem it's a moral problem and it's
one as I think I've demonstrated that
affects all of us uh I was privileged to
be part of a meeting at the Vatican in
December where the pope and the
Archbishop of Canterbury brought
together religious leaders from all
faiths and signed something called The
Joint declaration joint religious
declaration against modern-day slavery
which is aiming to focus particularly on
getting businesses to agree to eliminate
slavery and their supply chains so we
know what the problem is we know where
it happens the idea of the solution is
very simple workers shouldn't pay to get
jobs if we can ensure that workers don't
pay to get jobs companies benefit
because they don't have slavery in their
supply
chains if workers don't pay to get jobs
they themselves Prosper they can send
money home to pay for their kids
education they can build their family's
businesses back up they can pay for
healthare needs they can eat
better I'd like to say as is typical in
speeches like that that there's a very
easy solution for us all to sort of grab
on and carry forward that's not
necessarily true in this case if you if
you yourself own a business or run a
business there is a solution make sure
that the partners you work with don't
employ people who are in debt bondage
that's true whether you're on a supply
chain of a big company or you're hiring
a landscaper or a cleaning crew but if
you're just a consumer what can you do
it's a little more complicated you have
to take some initiative you have to go
to the brands that you like and
encourage them to come out of the
shadows and start to deal with this
issue this is a systemic issue it's not
one that's Affiliated only with one
brand or another one company or another
or one country or another it happens
across the global economy companies need
to be drawn out and if you as consumers
tell them that you're interested in
hearing what they have to say about this
particular problem it will encourage
them to be more open and more
transparent ultimately Raj expects us to
do that as far as we know he's still
toiling in this Factory in
Malaysia he's still serving Us in his
indirect way and the least we can do is
everything that we can do to help set
him free thank you
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