"A slick 40-page report financed by US labour unions on Thursday alleges slave-labour conditions in the Thai shrimp export industry - with "common" sexual and physical abuse, debt bondage, child labour and unsafe working conditions. The report was issued by the Solidarity Center, which claims to be an activist group "promoting worker rights worldwide." In fact it is funded by and serves as a direct arm of the AFL-CIO, the biggest US labour group.
It attacks the shrimp export industries of both Thailand and Bangladesh. Thailand is the world's largest shrimp exporter, and has been the focus of strong campaigns by US unions seeking to protect the tiny American shrimp industry.
Meant to rouse public opinion in the United States, the report names some of the biggest US food markets for receiving and selling shrimp from what it calls "plants with substandard labour practices" in Thailand.
They include Wal-Mart, the biggest US market chain. On Thursday, the report managed to win a pledge from Wal-Mart to investigate the claims of slave-like conditions in Thai factories. . .
The report said that "collecting accurate information in Bangladesh and Thailand is challenging," but did not let that inhibit a list of conditions designed to show the industry in the worst conditions. Interviews with workers showed arduous conditions including "long hours, low pay, abusive employers, informal work, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, and the vulnerability of migrant workers."
....In addition to alleged worker abuse, the report included a long litany of other problems it claimed were caused by the Thai shrimp industry: overuse of antibiotics, use of pesticides, and the death of sea turtles because of deep-sea trawling.
The AFL-CIO union report called enforcement of labour standards in Thailand "a cruel joke," but made no specific recommendations on how to clean up what it said was a dirty industry, beyond enforcing standards set by the US-based NGO, Aquaculture Certification Council."
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/tops...s.php?id=127301
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US union deplores labor conditions in Thai shrimp industry
Started by TheYenta, Apr 26 2008 10:02 AM
2 replies to this topic
#2
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Posted 26 April 2008 - 03:44 PM
QUOTE(TheYenta @ Apr 26 2008, 03:02 AM) 
It attacks the shrimp export industries of both Thailand and Bangladesh. Thailand is the world's largest shrimp exporter, and has been the focus of strong campaigns by US unions seeking to protect the tiny American shrimp industry.
No need to look further to see why this report was produced!
"Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence...Speak your truth quietly and clearly..."
"Desiderata" (1927), Max Ehrmann (1872-1945).
"Desiderata" (1927), Max Ehrmann (1872-1945).
#3
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Posted 28 April 2008 - 11:09 AM
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No need to look further to see why this report was produced!
What do you expect: one of the multi-natinal companies who makes billions on importing shrimp to complain about labor conditions ?
In case you didn't know, one of the reasons why the Thais have been reluctant to finalize an FTA with the USA is that the Thais don't want to comply with the provisions on raising labor standards for Thai workers who compete in the international labor market. The fact tha US labor unions are eager to promote these better labor standards is hardly surprising.
