The ILO’s struggle against forced labour doesn’t go far enough. By abstracting ‘forced labour’ from capitalism, it de-politicises all labour exploitation. This is the opposite of what is needed.
How can one be an ethical consumer in a globalised world? There are ways to mitigate our involvement in harmful global supply chains. Continuing with business as usual is unacceptable.
What are the prospects for protecting workers in global supply chains? From UN principles to business and worker efforts, the range of initiatives is impressive – but many remain seriously flawed.
International law lacks stringent mechanisms for ensuring worker protection in global supply chains. It is the responsibility of the wealthy nations which are home to major corporations to fill this legal gap.
Global supply chains are not benign spheres of opportunity, but tools for increasing the exploitation of labour in both the Global North and the Global South.
Though Apple claims that 2014 was "a year of progress," reports from labor rights groups and researchers reveal troubling labor and environmental violations continue unabated.
Growing attention is focused on ‘modern slavery’ and forced labour in the garment industry, but broader forms of unfreedom ensnare the workers stitching our clothes.
Market concentration is driving forced labour in the food industry, as retailers’ unprecedented power allows them to command low prices, quick turnaround and high quality from farmers and suppliers.
Despite the many 19th century acts declaring the emancipation of the enslaved, there are still practices in sugar production that need to be abolished. Is mechanisation the answer?
Neoliberal migration and border regimes instantiate a de facto forced labour regime. Migration is increasingly key to providing capital’s precarious workforce, but unfree labour has long been central to global capitalism. Español
Climatic change compounds the vulnerabilities and dependencies existing between households in semi-arid South Asia. To avoid more coerced labour, public policy must address the root causes of such vulnerability.
There has been lots of talk about multinational corporations’ responsibility for fuelling forced labour. But what about the labour market intermediaries who recruit and supply vulnerable workers to these firms?
