Last Monday, food giant Nestle reports on the widespread labour and human rights abuses in Thailand's seafood industry. The report discussed illegal recruitment practices and hazardous conditions faced by many underage workers.
New York Times reports that most of Thailand's seafood workers are migrants from Cambodia and Myanmar. They were reported to be brought illegally to Thailand by traffickers. These migrants were armed with fake documents and mostly sold to boat captains. The report further states that these workers have limited access to medical care for injuries of infection, works 16 hours on a daily basis seven days a week, endure sleep deprivation and have insufficient supply of water for nourishment and sanitation.
Nestle also pointed out the insufficient steps the industry has taken to ensure that workers were not underage.
"Sometimes, the net is too heavy, and workers get pulled into the water and just disappear," one Burmese worker said, according to the report. "When someone dies, he gets thrown into the water."
It takes as long as one year for some workers to receive their wages. Some of them faced physical and verbal abuse if production quotas are not met the report said.
Nestle calls for workers in fishing boats to be provide with contracts and for the industry itself to impose a "no fees to workers" rule that prohibits passing on the cost of a job to a worker. The report concluded that with the combined efforts of the Thai government and private companies, they will surely be able to counteract the abuses done to workers.
Nestle, as a leader in the industry, will raise the bar on labour protection to create a positive impact on the whole industry. The company is reported to announce new requirements to all potential suppliers next year. They also plan on hiring auditors to check for compliance with the new rules.
The report was conducted by a non profit organization Verite and was started in December 2014. The organization interviewed more than 100 people in Thailand including deckhands, boat owners and shrimp farmers.
Steve Berman, managing partner of the law firm Hagens Berman, filed a class-action lawsuit against Nestlé last August, claiming that one of its brands, Fancy Feast cat food, was the product of forced labour. "The report is a step in the right direction," he said.
