Tag Archives: migrant workers

Elevating Ethical Practices in the TCF Industry

December 13, 2024UncategorizedAccreditation, and footwear (TCF) industry, clothing, Consumer awareness, Ethical Clothing Australia, Ethical practices, Ethical procurement, exploitation, Fair treatment, Forced Labor, Government procurement, Human rights due diligence, Local manufacturing, migrant workers, modern slavery, New South Wales Ethical Clothing Extended Responsibility Scheme, Proactive measures., Regulatory frameworks, Responsible sourcing, Risk mitigation, Supply Chain Transparency, Sustainability, Textile, transparency, Unions, Worker protection, Workplace rightsmartijn

Ethical Clothing Australia Week 2024 showcased a dynamic discussion in Sydney on transparency, risk mitigation, and tackling exploitation within the textile, clothing, and footwear (TCF) industry. Co-hosted with the University of Sydney’s Modern Slavery Unit and Business School’s MBA Dimensions Program, the panel brought together industry experts and advocates to address challenges and chart a path toward ethical practices.

Ethical Clothing Australia Week_Sydney Panel_10.10.24-34

Ethical-Clothing-Australia-Week_Sydney-Panel_Full-size_10.10.24-071-2048x1365

Ethical Clothing Australia Week_Sydney Panel_10.10.24-01

Ethical Clothing Australia Week_Sydney Panel_10.10.24-10

Ethical-Clothing-Australia-Week_Sydney-Panel_Full-size_10.10.24-063-2048x1365

Ethical-Clothing-Australia-Week_Sydney-Panel_Full-size_10.10.24-060-2048x1365

Ethical-Clothing-Australia-Week_Sydney-Panel_Full-size_10.10.24-056-scaled

Ethical-Clothing-Australia-Week_Sydney-Panel_Full-size_10.10.24-052-2048x1365

Ethical Clothing Australia Week_Sydney Panel_10.10.24-35

Ethical-Clothing-Australia-Week_Sydney-Panel_Full-size_10.10.24-078-2048x1365

Ethical Clothing Australia Week_Sydney Panel_10.10.24-11

Ethical Clothing Australia Week_Sydney Panel_10.10.24-08

National Manager Rachel Reilly emphasised the importance of empowering consumers to make ethical purchasing choices while eradicating exploitation in Australia’s TCF industry. The panel highlighted five key takeaways for transforming the sector:

The Role of Unions in Worker Protection
Unions provide a vital voice for workers, particularly those in precarious positions. As Jenny Kruschel of the CFMEU noted, workers need safe spaces to raise concerns without fear of retaliation. Research indicates a strong correlation between unionized workforces and reduced instances of modern slavery, underscoring unions’ essential role in supply chain transparency.
Beyond Modern Slavery Statements
The shift toward human rights due diligence marks a crucial evolution in corporate responsibility. Associate Professor Martijn Boersma stressed that businesses must move beyond reporting risks to actively addressing them through robust policies and proactive measures.
Consumers Driving Change
Consumer awareness has surged, with many Australians recognizing their potential connection to modern slavery through everyday purchases. Carolyn Kitto OAM of Be Slavery Free emphasized that governments must support consumers by rejecting imports linked to forced labor, encouraging ethical, local alternatives.
Government Procurement as a Catalyst
Ethical procurement by governments—backed by their significant economic footprint—can provide much-needed certainty for local manufacturers. Andrew Quinn of ABMT Apparel advocated for breaking down procurement projects to make them accessible to smaller, ethically accredited businesses.
The Power of Transparent Supply Chains
The New South Wales Ethical Clothing Extended Responsibility Scheme, a pioneering regulatory framework, demonstrated the value of granular transparency. As The Hon. Dr. Sarah Kaine highlighted, re-operationalizing such initiatives could ensure fair treatment of workers across supply chains.

The panel reaffirmed that collective action—spanning consumers, unions, businesses, and government—is essential to building a fairer, more ethical TCF industry. Complete coverage of the event can be found here.

Submission: Ethical Clothing Extended Responsibilities Scheme 2005 (NSW)

March 9, 2024Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, and footwear, Australia, clothing, companies, consumers, corporate social responsibility, CSR, ethical clothing, exploitation, forced labour, government, migrant workers, NSW, outworkers, Supply Chain, TCF, textiles, transparency, Unions, vulnerable workers, working conditionsmartijn

The Inquiry into the Ethical Clothing Extended Responsibilities Scheme 2005 (NSW), undertaken by the Modern Slavery Committee, is a comprehensive evaluation focused on the Scheme’s role in mitigating modern slavery within the clothing manufacturing sector of New South Wales (NSW). It delves into the textiles, clothing, and footwear (TCF) industry’s characteristics, examining aspects such as industry size, workforce demographics, supply chain complexities, and the prevalence of modern slavery. Additionally, the inquiry reviews the Scheme’s current application, its alignment with international human rights standards, and the need for any modifications to enhance its effectiveness. It also explores the Scheme’s enforceability, including methods to promote compliance, and considers extending the Scheme to other industries vulnerable to modern slavery due to their supply chain characteristics. This investigation is crucial for identifying strategies to combat modern slavery, ensuring that the TCF industry, and potentially other sectors, operate in line with global human rights commitments and provide better protection for workers in NSW.

My co-authored submission offers several recommendations to enhance the Ethical Clothing Extended Responsibilities Scheme to mitigate modern slavery within the clothing manufacturing sector NSW:

Promote Supply Chain Mapping: The scheme’s unique approach to examining the entire supply chain from retailer to outworker helps in identifying vulnerabilities and instances of modern slavery that may be overlooked by Commonwealth legislation. It’s suggested that state action is needed to mandate such mapping for smaller entities not covered at the Commonwealth level.
Create a Supply Chain Database: The establishment of a comprehensive database to capture detailed supply chain information is recommended. This would aid various stakeholders, including the NSW Office of Industrial Relations, the Fair Work Ombudsman, and the NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner, by providing them with readily accessible information.
Articulate Collaboration between Government Agencies: The proposals for supply chain mapping and database creation are in line with the objectives of both NSW and Commonwealth governments to combat modern slavery. The recommendation emphasizes enhanced inter-agency collaboration, which can augment existing policy goals and lead to more effective oversight and action against modern slavery within supply chains.
Explore Extension of the Scheme: The recommendation suggests that the scheme could serve as a model for other industries. By enhancing transparency, accountability, and worker protection, it could pave the way for similar oversight in industries that are at high risk of modern slavery and labor standards violations, especially those industries with many entities below the Modern Slavery Act (2018) reporting threshold.

The Law Down Under Podcast: Modern Slavery

September 9, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, exploitation, forced labour, global supply chains, human rights, labour standards, migrant workers, modern slavery act, regulation, Reporting, Supply Chain, trafficking, transparency, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

Why a degree in modern slavery is a valuable addition to your CV

June 15, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, Australia, civil society, companies, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, ethics, exploitation, Fair Work Ombudsman, forced labour, global supply chains, governance, government, human rights, human rights abuses, labour, labour standards, legislation, Martijn Boersma, migrant workers, modern slavery, modern slavery act, regulation, stakeholders, Supply Chain, supply chains, trade unions, trafficking, transparency, vulnerable workers, work, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

Modern slavery may seem a distant issue in Australia, but a new course will teach graduates why an understanding of it is increasingly important in every business

It might be easy to imagine, especially in Australia, that slavery is a thing of the past. But an estimated 15,000 people were living in conditions of modern slavery here in 2016, through forced marriage and labour, sexual exploitation, debt bondage and human trafficking – exploitation that disproportionately affects women, children, asylum seekers and migrants. Globally, in that same year, 40.3 million victims were being abused.

Martijn Boersma is an associate professor of human trafficking and modern slavery at the University of Notre Dame Australia, where a new course aims to provide the skills and knowledge that will enable people to work proactively to put an end to the exploitation of vulnerable people.

Continue reading Why a degree in modern slavery is a valuable addition to your CV →

Modern Slavery and Climate Change – Towards an Integrated Approach

July 30, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, civil society, Climate change, companies, consumers, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, CSR, environment, exploitation, forced labour, global supply chains, human rights, human rights abuses, migrant workersmartijn

Climate change has made millions vulnerable to modern slavery. Displacement and migration because of climate change creates a nexus of harm that pushes people to accept work that actively contributes to environmental destruction of forests, fisheries, waterways and land. Weak regulation and enforcement, corruption, a lack of political will and the lure of profits combined with vulnerability of people creates a vicious circle of opportunity for forced labour, child labour, debt bondage and slavery. In this webinar, speakers explored how an integrated approach to addressing modern slavery, climate change and environmental destruction can lead to impactful interventions by governments, communities, workers and business.

Hosted by: Jenny Stanger, Anti-slavery Taskforce, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Facilitated by: Dr Martijn Boersma, Associate Professor of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking at University of Notre Dame Australia

Continue reading Modern Slavery and Climate Change – Towards an Integrated Approach →

Consultation on Modern Slavery and Worker Exploitation (New Zealand)

June 14, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, civil society, companies, Corporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, exploitation, forced labour, governance, government, human rights abuses, justine nolan, Martijn Boersma, migrant workers, modern slavery, multistakeholder collaboration, Reporting, Supply Chain, trade unions, trafficking, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

Modern slavery and worker exploitation are severe types of exploitation that can be found both internationally and in New Zealand. To address these behaviours, significant collaboration between government agencies as well as civil society, corporations, trade unions, academics, and international partners is needed.

The New Zealand Government sought feedback on a new law aimed at addressing modern slavery and worker exploitation in New Zealand and around the world. The law would introduce new obligations for organisations with operations and supply chains in New Zealand. Below is a submission made by academics and representatives from civil society that work on modern slavery and labour exploitation.

Modern Slavery and the Employment Relationship: Defining the Continuum of Exploitation

February 1, 2022Uncategorizedaddressing modern slavery, consumers, corporate social responsibility, exploitation, forced labour, governance, governments, human rights, human rights abuses, justine nolan, labour, labour standards, Martijn Boersma, migrant workers, modern slavery, modern slavery act, regulation, supply chains, trafficking, transparency, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

The Special Issue on ‘Modern Slavery and the Employment Relationship: Defining the Continuum of Exploitation’ in the Journal of Industrial Relations is now available online. The Special Issue focuses on what the large- and small-scale risk factors are that can cause working conditions to deteriorate, on how people can become trapped in exploitative conditions, and on what can be done to prevent and remedy labour abuses. Included articles explore the macro-level, specifically by examining global value chains and the labour exploitation within the global production regime and by examining the producer-end (rather than buyer end) of value chains and the responsibilities of companies for working conditions further downstream (rather than upstream) in the value chain. Other articles explore the market-based character of business and human rights regulation. One article concludes that market enforcement of modern slavery regulation is sub-optimal and should include $ penalties and a public regulator while another article asks whether business and human rights regulation originating in the Global North can improve working conditions in the Global South (spoiler: it’s complicated). Articles looking at the micro-level examine labour regimes on factory floors, specifically by examining the influence of the post-Rana Plaza labour governance system on worker outcomes and conditions of employment (hardship remains but less sweatshops) and by documenting the work experiences of Romanian transnational live-in care workers in Austria, where workers gave accounts of having been treated unfairly due to their dependence on placement agencies and employers.

Research Article: Making sense of Downstream Labour risk in Global Value Chains

January 24, 2022Uncategorizedchild labour, corporate social responsibility, cotton, exploitation, forced labour, governance, human rights, labour, labour risk, labour standards, migrant workers, modern slavery, stakeholders, Supply Chain, supply chains, trade unions, transparency, vulnerable workers, worker exploitation, working conditions, xinjiangmartijn

While the efforts by actors on the buyer-side of value chains – such as brands and retailers – to address upstream labour abuses are well documented, there is a lack of research into how actors on the production-side of value chains – such as raw material producers – can identify and address downstream labour risks. This research presents the findings of an action research project that focused on the Australian cotton industry. By applying a sense-making lens, we propose four properties that can be used to identify labour risk in global value chains, providing insights into the capacity of producers to address downstream labour abuses. We suggest that there is a possibility for a ‘book-end’ approach that combines upstream and downstream actions by buyers and producers in global value chains.

The article can be found on the Journal of Industrial Relations website.

Seasonal farm workers make claims of ‘modern slavery’

February 8, 2022Uncategorizedagriculture, Australia, exploitation, farm workers, forced labour, horticulture, human rights abuses, labour standards, migrant workers, modern slavery, regulation, seasonal workers, vulnerable workers, worker exploitation, working conditionsmartijn

Some Pacific Islander workers say they feel like they are being “treated like slaves” as fruit pickers in Australia under the Seasonal Worker Programme.

For Samoan man Alex Muese, arriving in Australia to work was a dream come true.

Mr Muese, 34, carries great responsibility as he cares for eight children, his wife and her parents.

When he received his Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) visa, he thought he would earn an hourly wage to support his family in Samoa.

Continue reading Seasonal farm workers make claims of ‘modern slavery’ →

New Research Article: Multi-Stakeholder Frameworks for Rectification of Non-Compliance in Cleaning Supply Chains

May 27, 2021UncategorizedCleaning Accountability Framework, migrant workers, multistakeholder collaboration, multistakeholder governance, supply chains, worker exploitationmartijn

There is now an expanding body of literature on the significant problem of business non-compliance with minimum labour standards including ‘wage theft’. Extended liability regulation beyond the direct employer is seen as one solution to this non-compliance in fragmented but hierarchically organised industries—such as the cleaning industry. This article uses empirical evidence to assess the effectiveness of one such regulatory scheme, the Cleaning Accountability Framework (CAF), in addressing non-compliance with minimum labour standards (including provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the Cleaning Services Award 2020). We find that CAF has been successful in identifying and rectifying certain non-compliance, improving working conditions for some cleaners involved in the scheme. We synthesise the key success factors of CAF in view of envisioning the adoption of such co-regulation frameworks in other industries. We also propose legal reforms that will support change across the cleaning industry.

The article was published in the Federal Law Review.