Nestle report says labor abuse isrampant in Southeast Asia

Workers in Benjina, Indonesia, load fish onto a cargo ship bound for Thailand in this November 2014 file photo. In its firstreport on trafficking around the world, the U.S. criticized Thailand as a hub for labor abuse. Yet 14 years later, seafoodcaught by slaves on Thai boats is still slipping into the supply chains of major American stores and supermarkets. APPhoto/Dita Alangkara, File

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Giant global food company Nestle SA has sold fish caught andprocessed by slave laborers in Thailand. The impoverished migrant workers were sold orlured by false promises to work under terrible conditions and with little to no pay.

This unusual disclosure comes from Nestle SA itself. In an act of self-policing, thecorporation announced the conclusions of its yearlong internal investigation last week.Nestle hired the nonprofit organization Verite to look into its suppliers. Verite found virtuallyall U.S. and European companies buying seafood from Thailand are exposed to the samerisks of abuse in their supply chains.

Seafood Industry Slavery Confirmed

Nestle SA, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is among the world's biggest food companies. Itlaunched the investigation in December 2014, prompted by reports from news outlets andnongovernmental organizations that tied brutal and largely unregulated working conditions

By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff on 12.08.15 Word Count 881

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to its shrimp, prawns and Purina brand pet foods. The investigation's findings echo reportsfrom The Associated Press (AP) news service this year on slavery in the seafood industry.The AP reports have led to the rescue of more than 2,000 fishermen.

The laborers come from Thailand's much poorer neighbors Myanmar and Cambodia.Brokers illegally charge the impoverished migrant workers fees to get jobs, trapping theminto working on fishing vessels and at ports, mills and seafood farms in Thailand. They areforced to work to pay back more money than they can ever earn.

"Sometimes, the net is too heavy and workers get pulled into the water and just disappear.When someone dies, he gets thrown into the water," one Burmese worker told Verite.

"I have been working on this boat for 10 years. I have no savings. I am barely surviving,"said another. "Life is very difficult here."

Nestle Says Reforms Are Imminent

Nestle said it would post the reports online, as well as a detailed strategy to solve theproblem, as part of ongoing efforts to protect workers. It has promised to impose newrequirements on all fish suppliers and will train boat owners and captains about humanrights, possibly with rewards for changing their practices. Outside investigators will bebrought in and a high-level Nestle manager will make sure change is underway.

"As we've said consistently, forced labor and human rights abuses have no place in oursupply chain," Magdi Batato, Nestle's executive vice president for operations, said. "Nestlebelieves that by working with suppliers we can make a positive difference to the sourcingof ingredients."

Nestle is not a major purchaser of seafood in Southeast Asia, but it does some business inThailand, primarily for its Purina brand Fancy Feast cat food.

Workers Detail Irregularities, Abuses

For its study, Verite interviewed more than 100 people. They include about 80 workers fromMyanmar and Cambodia, as well as boat owners, shrimp farm owners, site supervisorsand representatives of Nestle's suppliers. Verite visited fish ports and fishmeal packingplants, shrimp farms and docked fishing boats, all in Thailand.

Boat captains and managers, along with workers, confirmed violence and danger in thebooming Thai seafood industry, which exports $7 billion worth of fish a year. However,managers did say workers sometimes got hurt because they were drunk and fighting. Boatcaptains rarely checked ages of workers, and Verite found underage workers who wereforced to fish. Workers said they perform labor without rest, receive barely any food andwater and all outside contact is cut off. They also said that they are given fake identities tohide that they are working illegally.

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Generally, the workers studied by Verite were catching and processing fish into fishmealfed to shrimp and prawns. But the group said many of the problems they observed existthroughout the industry and are not unique to Nestle. Migrant workers across Thailand'sseafood business could be abused as they are recruited, hired and employed, Verite said.

Anti-Slave Labor Group Applauds Disclosure

The company's disclosure is rare. While multinational companies in industries from clothingto electronics say they investigate allegations of abuse by their suppliers, they rarely sharenegative findings.

"It's unusual and exemplary," said Mark Lagon, president of the nonprofit Freedom House,an anti-slave labor organization in Washington, D.C. He added that corporate publicrelations and legal departments will not even say they are looking into a problem, becauseof the fear of lawsuits.

In fact, Nestle is already being sued. In August, pet food buyers filed a class-actionlawsuit. It claimed that Fancy Feast cat food was the product of slave labor by Thai UnionFrozen Products, a major distributor. It is one of several lawsuits filed in recent monthsagainst major U.S. retailers importing seafood from Thailand.

Some of the lawsuits refer to reports from the AP. The news service tracked slave-caughtfish to suppliers of giant food sellers, such as Wal-Mart, Sysco and Kroger. It also foundthe fish in popular brands of canned pet food, including Fancy Feast, Meow Mix and Iams.The seafood can turn up as calamari at fine restaurants, as imitation crab in a sushi roll oras packages of frozen snapper relabeled with store brands that land on dinner tables. TheU.S. companies have all said they strongly condemn labor abuse and are taking steps toprevent it.

Nestle promises to publicly report its progress each year.

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Quiz

1 Which two excerpts from the article would be MOST important to include in a summary?

1. Nestle said it would post the reports online, as well as a detailedstrategy to solve the problem, as part of ongoing efforts to protectworkers.

2. Verite visited fish ports and fishmeal packing plants, shrimpfarms and docked fishing boats, all in Thailand.

3. But the group said many of the problems they observed existthroughout the industry and are not unique to Nestle.

4. He added that corporate public relations and legal departmentswill not even say they are looking into a problem, because of thefear of lawsuits.

(A) 1 and 2

(B) 3 and 4

(C) 1 and 3

(D) 2 and 4

2 Which paragraph in the section "Seafood Industry Slavery Confirmed" provides details thatBEST support the main idea that workers in the seafood industry are subjected to forcedlabor?

3 Why is the study's finding significant for other major food sellers?

(A) because a problem with one seller reflects negatively on the entire industry

(B) because fish caught using slave labor has been traced to many companiesand brands

(C) because their profits will be affected if they try to avoid using slave labor

(D) because major food sellers did not previously realize that they were buyingfish from Thailand

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4 In general, how are people reacting to Nestle's announcement?

(A) The reaction is positive; people are praising the company for bringingattention to the issue of slave labor.

(B) The reaction is negative; people are disappointed with Nestle for dependingon a supply chain that uses slave labor.

(C) The reaction is ambiguous; people are not yet prepared to respond toNestle's announcement.

(D) The reaction is mixed; Nestle has been sued for using slave labor, but labororganizations praise its honesty.

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