Posts by Abby Mills, International Labor Rights Forum

How Companies Can Address Human Trafficking in Thai Seafood Industry

June 18, 2014
Thai boat workers

Last week, the Guardian reported that Thai exporter CP Foods purchases fish meal for its shrimp stock made with fish caught by human trafficking victims aboard Thai fishing vessels. The fishermen reported brutal physical violence, even murder, regularly occurring on boats. The report identified major retailers – including Walmart, Costco, Tesco and Carrefour –buying shrimp from CP Foods, a groundbreaking link between forced labor in the “trash fish” industry in Thailand and the seafood on menus and in grocery store freezers around the world.

Advocate for migrant workers in Thailand under threat

May 29, 2014

ILRF is concerned about the most recent charges brought against labor rights activist Andy Hall by the Natural Fruit Company. Hall now faces four defamation charges (both civil and criminal) and two charges under the Computer Crimes Act. Natural Fruit is a Thai export company producing pineapple juice and dried fruit. The NGO Finnwatch has published two reports documenting poor labor conditions in the Natural Fruit factory, including child labor, failure to pay overtime, confiscation of migrant workers’ passports, and conditions that amount to human trafficking.

Burmese workers in Thailand organize, negotiate and win!

January 20, 2014

Protestors shutting down Bangkok to force the current government from power have grabbed international headlines this week. Meanwhile, efforts for a quieter revolution to improve the power dynamic between millions of migrant workers and their Thai employers took a significant step forward an hour south of Bangkok in Samut Sakhorn, one of the primary seafood processing areas in Thailand. Workers from one of the largest shrimp factories here have negotiated a settlement with their employer and developed an agreement for a representative labor committee within the factory.

Justice for Workers on International Migrants Day

December 18, 2013

December 18, International Migrants Day, is a day to reflect on the growing impact of worker migration and urge policies to protect these often vulnerable workers. The global economy is fueling a rise in workers leaving their homes in search of better opportunities. Also on the rise, sadly, is gross exploitation of an often vulnerable population, far from their homes and networks of support, and often reliant on their employers for their very right to remain in country.

The U.S. Government Should Require Progress on Human, Land, and Labor Rights Prior to Reinstatement of GSP Trade Benefits for Burma

September 30, 2013

ILRF and other concerned organizations urge the Obama Administration to require concrete, measurable progress on labor and land rights and environmental protection in Burma before its trade benefits could be reinstated under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). In addition, the products of extractive industries and plantation agriculture should be excluded from any initial grant of GSP eligibility so a more deliberate path to GSP can be created for those sectors.