EXPLAINER: THE DIFFICULTIES OF TACKLING MODERN SLAVERY IN THE SUPPLY CHAINS
Interview with Kieran Guilbert, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Editor for the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
A DILEMMA FOR SUPPLIERS
Companies are expecting more from their suppliers for less. Kieran said: “They [the companies] are saying to their suppliers: ‘We want the products even quicker, even cheaper. And you also need to follow these ethical standards, health and safety, less environmental pollution, making sure that workers are not working excessive overtime without fair pay…’
“They face a situation when they are being told to meet standards, but they are not being compensated for the costs which are an expensive undertaking. Of course that is going to lead to illegal subcontracting, to workers being made to work over hours, or not getting paid as per minimum wage, or not even paid a fraction of the minimum wage.”
AUDITS AND CERTIFICATION SCHEMES
Companies rely on external certification schemes and audits, but Guilbert thinks that this has widely shown to have failed: “Suppliers know when the auditors come. There are very few unannounced audits. Workers are told: ‘You say this or you lose your job.’ If the previous day there were a hundred workers crowded into a tight space, and that looks unhygienic or exploitative then that is addressed. On the other hand, some studies have shown that there is no difference between being certified or not, actually in many cases the exploitation is worse in certified companies. There is a call for companies to be more proactive, but we are not really at that stage yet.”
THE ROLE OF INVESTORS AND CONSUMERS
Kieran said: “When Boohoo hits the headlines because newspapers or campaigners make exposés, then it is natural for everyone to jump in and react, but whether investor groups are proactively pushing business to show what they are doing is another question. I think that is the problem.
“You got this very murky world in my opinion of the role of investors and consumers: ‘The public has a role to play’, ‘modern slavery helpline in the UK’, ‘report if you see something’, ‘what are you purchasing in the supermarket?’ But it is not so simple, in one country or society there might be a boycott turning their back on a product or a brand, but that’s unlikely to have an impact, it’s not really going to affect change.”
THE ‘RISKS’ OF TRANSPARENCY
Companies are reluctant to publish their supply chains out of fear of reputational and business damage.
Kieran said: “Every company has, to some extent, labour exploitation in its supply chains. Some big players are worried that if they publish their suppliers’ list, journalists, politicians or campaigners will weaponise that and use it against them.”
However, there have been some exceptions. “TESCO published their annual statement where they actually acknowledged they had found labour exploitation in Malaysia. It is very rare at least for a major brand to admit in a Modern Slavery Statement they had found slavery. Companies are still afraid of being associated with modern slavery, even if they are making really good effort to tackle it. They are afraid that it will be reduced to ‘company exploiting modern slavery’ being screamed in a headline or social media.”
