Modern slavery — who's for regulation?

A few weeks ago, ETI called a meeting of its members to discuss the Modern Slavery Bill.  It was surprising how much consensus there was: everyone agreed that the government should provide a regulatory environment that will help level the playing field in tackling slavery and labour exploitation. The companies were the most vocal in that meeting, not only the NGOs and trade unions whom you would expect to express these views. 

ETI's new Base Code Guidance: Modern slavery - practical guidance for brands and retailers.

These views went against Government assumptions that industry doesn’t like regulation. It's often held that companies would far prefer voluntary initiatives such as ETI to hold them to account in improving respect for workers worldwide. 

But the fact is, high street retailers and brands are scrutinized by their consumers and the media. Most of them know that they need to demonstrate a commitment to ethical trade. Most are members of ETI and have established standards and systems of managing and reporting on working conditions. They worry most about finding slavery in their supply chains in countries where visibility of the problem is minimal, and their leverage to effect change is minimal. Whilst slavery does occur in countries where there is respect for the rule of law and human rights, it is often found amongst the most vulnerable workers - migrant workers, ethnic minorities, young women and children.  But it is far more prevalent in countries where there is weak governance, poor legislation and weak enforcement due to lack of capacity and political will to protect citizens and workers.

A framework for global leadership

By the same token, if the UK sets out an ambitious vision to really tackle modern slavery, then it needs to ensure it has a legislative framework that holds all parties to account. The large retailers and brands generally agree that voluntary codes such as ETI are not enough. And they’re the ones that have already signed up to such codes. They also want to see those that are NOT currently part of these initiatives being made accountable for their own business practices. They want to see other non-listed companies, medium and small enterprises, and more importantly, public procurement systems playing by the same rules and accounting for their own due diligence with the billions of pounds spent every year in goods and services. 

UK industry is calling for smart legislation that ensures greater openness and transparency about their commitments and actions to investigate, monitor and take action where cases of modern slavery are found in their supply chains. 

Long-term change for workers

The current call to remove products from supermarket shelves is well-meaning but unhelpful. It will not improve the lives of workers who are victims of slavery. Neither will requirements for detailed reporting based on audits. Audits can help identify potential risks and provide insights on where the problem lies in the supply chain. But we know that if companies know they will be exposed for finding slavery in their supply chains, their own suppliers will suppress the information. It leads to a culture of secrets and lies. It’s the most vulnerable workers that will continue to pay the costs in the form of modern slavery. 

The nature of global supply chains is increasingly complex. Tackling modern slavery is not about locking up some bad guys – it must address the systemic issues of failures of governance and rule of law in protecting workers and citizens, a lack of accountability and responsibility by unscrupulous companies that fail to respect the rights of workers, and lack of voice for workers themselves.

The Modern Slavery Bill is timely: only last week the International Labour Conference agreed a new legally binding Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention 29.  Almost 100 years after the Forced Labour Convention was signed, there was widespread support from governments, employers and workers around the world to tackle this growing problem. The complexity of global supply chains means that slavery can be found anywhere – but is almost always much worse the further down the value chain, where there is little visibility and the poorest and most vulnerable workers are to be found. 

ETI has drafted a Position Statement on the Modern Slavery Bill. We have written to Ministers and Lords who are engaged in this issue, to share our views with the intention of contributing constructively to the debate. We hope you will too.