A smokescreen for slavery: human rights abuses in UK supply chains

By Ian Lavery MP and Jim Sheridan MP

Today we learn of slavery as an antiquated problem, associated with bigoted notions of racial inequality, masters waiting on ships full of people bound in chains and humans being bought and sold like a commodity, something that Britain thankfully got rid of once and for all with the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, confining slavery forever to the history books – or so we thought. However, today, millions of people around the world are still falling victim to slavery – modern slavery – with workers in the manufacturing, construction and agricultural industries particularly vulnerable to exploitation. For them, slavery is anything but confined to history – it’s very much a part of their present.

Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to witness first-hand some of the many human rights abuses endured by workers in the tobacco industry on fields in America, where we heard from workers, who told us first-hand disturbing stories of what is essentially daily life for them. There were instances of child labour, sexual exploitation of women and human trafficking – a world away from what you’d expect in a developed country and so-called “Land of the Free”. The working conditions we saw were atrocious with unbelievably long hours of manual labour in unbearable heat, squalid living conditions meaning workers have a lower quality of life than inmates in UK prisons and employers showing a total disregard for basic health and safety regulations. By not providing gloves to workers picking tobacco plants, their skin is exposed to the toxic nicotine and many develop Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS), an affliction with symptoms including nausea, intense headaches, vomiting and insomnia.

Here we have a catalogue of atrocities which amount to less of an American Dream and more of an American Nightmare.

This is largely due to the lack of regulation within the tobacco farming industry. Labour standards are generally weak and inadequate resources are provided at both state and federal level in America, so it is near impossible to ensure that they are enforced. It is equally as damaging that agricultural workers are excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, which denies them the fundamental right of the freedom of association.

With no collective structures in place for workers to bargain and the precariousness of their employment, workers see no alternative to withstanding the appalling conditions and abusive treatment – particularly as many of them are undocumented workers, originally from Central American countries like Guatemala, El Salvador and with the overwhelming majority hailing from Mexico.

American farm worker union, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) estimates that there are 20,000 tobacco farm workers who are not unionised in an industry where joining a union would be essential in providing the necessary protection in the workplace. With this in mind, it is of the upmost concern that as workers in these tobacco fields supply companies like British American Tobacco, many people in this country could be unwittingly supporting this form of modern slavery.

Worryingly, stories like these we heard in North Carolina are not uncommon. The reality is that over the last decade, current measures have failed to tackle modern slavery in our supply chains. We have seen first-hand how the lack of regulation of the industry in America breeds worker exploitation so the focus must be to impose regulations on all companies, which feed into supply chains in Britain. Companies should have to report on their working conditions to ensure that we have transparency in our supply chains and can help reduce the risk of modern slavery.

Those working hard to support themselves and their families should not be taken advantage of and certainly should not be subjected to any form of exploitation. This is why we must act now and the passage of the Modern Slavery Bill through Parliament presents the perfect opportunity to do so.

Today Ian and Jim will be launching their report into this in Parliament and discussing this issue in light of the Modern Slavery Bill with Diana Johnson MP. Follow @TradeUnionGroup on Twitter for the latest from the event and click here to find out more and download a copy of the report.