Major corporations who claim to be committed to tackling the threat of forced labor often tell "fairytales" that belie workplace exploitation and shirk responsibility for cleaning up their supply chains, according to academics and activists.
From tea and chocolate makers to hotels, many companies sign up to anti-slavery certification schemes or codes of conduct at the expense of taking direct action to engage with their workers and stamp out abuse.
Such initiatives are often sub-standard and fail to combat worker exploitation despite being widely hailed by the private sector, said Genevieve LeBaron, a politics professor and anti-slavery academic at Britain's Sheffield University. A study by LeBaron found some Indian tea plantations stamped slavery-free by groups such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance were abusing and underpaying workers.
From tea and chocolate makers to hotels, many companies sign up to anti-slavery certification schemes or codes of conduct at the expense of taking direct action to engage with their workers and stamp out abuse.
Such initiatives are often sub-standard and fail to combat worker exploitation despite being widely hailed by the private sector, said Genevieve LeBaron, a politics professor and anti-slavery academic at Britain's Sheffield University. A study by LeBaron found some Indian tea plantations stamped slavery-free by groups such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance were abusing and underpaying workers.
"The stories that companies are telling us about efforts to fight forced labour in supply chains are ... basically fairytales," she explained. Certification schemes improve corporates' reputations and give the impression that the problem of forced labor in supply chains is slowly disappearing - so that we don't push for the alternatives that would challenge the status quo." Workers should be paid the so-called "living wage", have job security and the power to exert their labor rights, she added.
Anti-slavery certification schemes, accolades and awards are hardly reliable indicators for the public when choosing between companies, according to Neha Mira, a trafficking expert with the U.S.-based workers' rights charity Solidarity Center.
"The same time as you're giving a gold star to a company, they're firing workers for trying to organise in the workplace ... or women for getting pregnant at work," she said.
About 25 million people are estimated to be trapped in forced labor, a $150 billion a year crime, from farms to factories, the United Nations says.
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