Following the United Kingdom in 2015, Australia introduced its Modern Slavery Act in 2018. The Government produced guidance documents to recognise that modern slavery sits on a continuum of exploitation and should not be addressed in isolation. It acknowledges that there is a spectrum of abuse and that it is not always clear at what point poor working practices and lack of health and safety awareness seep into instances of human trafficking, slavery or forced labour. The overarching aim of this special issue is to examine how exactly employment relationships can deteriorate into forms of labour exploitation and modern slavery. We set out to identify the key factors contributing to this process, to determine what approaches can reduce the risk of labour abuses occurring, and to discern novel ways to remediate exploitation once identified. We aim to create a better understanding of modern slavery and the employment relationship by establishing how and why workers may move along the continuum of labour exploitation.

Timeline:

• 25/09/2020 – Submission of abstracts to the guest editors
• 12/10/2020 – Confirmation/acceptance of abstract and invitation to submit full paper
• 31/01/ 2021 – Full paper submission for presentation at Symposium
• 02/2021 – Symposium in Sydney – alternatively a virtual symposium will be held
• 01/03/2021 – Full original papers to be submitted online to the JIR for peer review
• 28/10/2021 – Accepted papers to be finalised/submitted online to the JIR