Tag Archives: labour

New Book Sheds Light on Modern Slavery

October 1, 2019Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, cleaning, companies, consumers, exploitation, Fair Work Ombudsman, global supply chains, government, labour, Martijn Boersma, Supply Chain, vulnerable workers, workmartijn

The Australian cleaning industry has come under scrutiny for being at risk of modern slavery in a new book which draws links between consumers, business and government, and an estimated 40 million people who are modern-day slaves.

Addressing Modern Slavery explains the global conditions that have allowed slavery to thrive to the point “where there are more slaves today than ever before in human history”.

Authors Associate Professor Justine Nolan from UNSW Sydney and Dr Martijn Boersma from UTS describe well-known examples from overseas, such as women in apparel sweatshops and children in brick kilns – but also examples that are closer to home.

The authors include a submission from a former cleaner to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia who noted exploitation in the cleaning industry is very common.

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Message to Coles, Woolworths: Act now to end modern slavery

September 9, 2019UncategorizedAustralia, certification, civil society, coles, companies, disclosures, exploitation, Fair Work Ombudsman, Food, human rights, labour, migrant workers, modern slavery, open letter, Reporting, Supply Chain, supply chains, trade unions, Unions, wage theft, woolworths, work, working conditionsmartijn

The Australian horticultural sector is one of the most at-risk industries for modern slavery.

A recent survey by the National Union of Workers among 650 workers found severe underpayments and withholding of wages, excessive overtime, retention of identity documents, threats of and actual physical and sexual violence, and coercive and excessive payments for transport and board.

A group of academics, experts in the area of labour and human rights, modern slavery, and supply chains, have initiated an open letter in which they ask Coles and Woolworths to address labour exploitation and the risk of modern slavery.

Australia’s Modern Slavery Act requires businesses to report yearly on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, the actions taken in response, and the effectiveness of these actions. The first reporting cycle started on July 1.

Unfortunately, although companies and consumers are increasingly aware that modern slavery exists, it is a phenomenon that is often dismissed or misunderstood.

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Book: Addressing Modern Slavery (2019)

July 16, 2019UncategorizedAustralia, civil society, exploitation, global supply chains, labour, modern slavery, Supply Chainmartijn

An estimated 40 million people are modern-day slaves, more than ever before in history.

Long after slavery was officially abolished, the practice not only continues but thrives. Whether they are women in electronics or apparel sweatshops, children in brick kilns or on cocoa farms, or men trapped in bonded labour working on construction sites, millions of people globally are forced to perform labour through coercion, intimidation or deceit.

In a world of growing inequality and trade-offs between the haves and the have-nots, consumers, business and government are all part of the problem and the solution. While we have all become accustomed to fast fashion and cheap consumer goods, the affordability of these commodities often comes at the price of human exploitation. Addressing Modern Slavery examines modern slavery and outlines ways it can be stopped.

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Gender at Work and in Industrial Relations

September 13, 2018UncategorizedAustralia, gender, gender equality, gender pay gap, industrial relations, labour, superannuation gap, women, workmartijn

Australia and other countries around the world continue to struggle in progressing gender equality in the workforce: the gender pay gap remains prevalent, and women are less likely to advance professionally compared to men, due to gender-based barriers. This paper examines the Australian public, political and academic debate around the topic of women, work and industrial relations in 2017.

Abstract

Throughout 2017, public interest, parliamentary debate and academic research about women, work and industrial relations centred around a few key themes: pay and income inequality, health and well-being at work and the intersection of paid and unpaid work. These themes were identified in three related yet distinct mediums: the media, parliamentary debate and academic literature. Automated content analysis software was used to assist in the thematic analysis of media articles and the House of Representatives Hansard, supplemented by a manual analysis of relevant academic publications. A thematic overlap was evident across the three datasets, despite the time lag associated with academic research and publication. This is a significant finding, emphasising that the inequalities experienced by women in the labour market are long term and entrenched.

Download the full paper.

‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ is a Band-Aid for a Broken System

April 16, 2018Uncategorizedcorporate social responsibility, CSR, exploitation, Foxconn, gender equality, government, invisible hand, labour, social license to operate, stakeholders, Supply Chain, too big to shamemartijn

When it comes to doing what is morally right, there are some things that are best not left to the market, writes Martijn Boersma, lecturer in the UTS Management Discipline Group.

Last week, CNBC reported that a Goldman Sachs analyst wrote in a note to clients: “Is curing patients a sustainable business model?” The argument he allegedly put forward was that healing people with a one-shot cure does not bring in the same revenue stream that chronic therapies do and is therefore bad for business in the long run.

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How to Stop Businesses Stealing from their Employees

September 8, 2017UncategorizedAustralia, Australian workers, certification, Domino’s Pizza, entitlements, exploitation, Fair Work Ombudsman, independent contractors, labour, labour standards, national award wage, Senate inquiry, stakeholders, Supply Chain, supply chains, trade unions, Unions, vulnerable workers, wage theft, working conditionsmartijn

A Senate inquiry has revealed that wage theft and underpayment are so prevalent in some industries that they have become the norm. Around 79% of hospitality employers in Victoria, for instance, did not comply with the national award wage system between 2013 and 2016.

Regulators and unions don’t have the resources to combat this issue, and so we need another method to tackle wage exploitation. One way is to introduce a multi-stakeholder certification scheme, using market forces to reward companies that have committed to fair working conditions and punish those that don’t.

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A New Catalyst Report Outlines Opportunities for Supply Chain Reform

September 13, 2016UncategorizedAustralia, Catalyst Australia, companies, government, human rights, investors, labour, legislation, reform, regulation, Supply Chain, supply chains, traffickingmartijn

Australian businesses have recently been implicated in serious labour abuses, both within and beyond Australia’s borders. A new paper by Catalyst Australia and The Australia Institute examines legislative developments aimed at tackling slavery and trafficking in other jurisdictions, and argues that Australia should learn from these measures in the face of urgent human rights issues with immediate impacts for Australian companies, government, investors and consumers.

Minister accused of killing supply chain abuse findings

September 13, 2016UncategorizedAustralia, catalyst, companies, exploitation, government, human rights, labour, legislation, Martijn Boersma, michael keenan, modern slavery, regulation, Supply Chain, supply chains, trafficking, transparency, working groupmartijn

Justice Minister Michael Keenan is yet to respond to a report on slavery from a working group he set up. Image: Fairfax

Justice Minister Michael Keenan has been accused of “death by committee” after he failed to respond to a report of a working group he set up recommending laws to stop exploitation in company supply chains.

The group has now released its own report fearing its recommendations will be ignored.

Exploitation scandals have hit major Australian brands over the past year. In February, Rip Curl was forced to apologise after its clothing labelled “made in China” was found to be made in North Korean factories. The company blamed a subcontractor.

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The 2022 World Cup Tarnished by Labour Exploitation in Qatar

April 12, 2016Uncategorized2022 World Cup, ABC, Amnesty International, Catalyst Australia, exploitation, forced labour, International Trade Union Confederation, labour, labour standards, migrant workers, Qatar, systematic exploitationmartijn

A recent report by Amnesty International details evidence of the systematic exploitation of migrant workers building facilities for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The amount of workers is expected to grow ten-fold to around 36,000 in the coming two years. An earlier report by the International Trade Union Confederation says 1,200 migrant workers from India and Nepal have died in Qatar since the country was awarded the 2022 World Cup, and it estimates that 4,000 migrant workers will die by the time the first game is played in 2022. The Qatar 2022 organising committee has appointed Impactt to provide oversight and monitor workers’ rights on the back of a damning report by Amnesty International. Catalyst Australia researcher @martijnboersma spoke to @TraceyLeeHolmes on @ABC_NewsRadio about labour standards in Qatar #wc2022

Abusing Innovation

November 2, 2015UncategorizedAustralia, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, government, governments, industrial relations, innovation, labour, labour unions, startup, steve jobs, turnbull, Unions, workplace relationsmartijn

Innovation and entrepreneurship are very much the flavour of the month. Widely regarded as instrumental in the next wave of economic growth, determining the ultimate recipe for innovation and entrepreneurial success is by many considered to be the holy grail. Indeed, we are all being encouraged to become like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and other hero entrepreneurs that somehow went from eating macaroni and cheese in a garage or a campus dorm room every night, to becoming obscenely rich by inventing new things we now obsessively use or log into every day.

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