Thomson Reuters Foundation, BANGKOKEfforts to protect Thai seafood workers from labor exploitation and modern slavery risk has stalled as most international brands and retailers refuse to pay their suppliers more to comply with new anti-slavery policies, researchers said yesterday. Thai seafood suppliers are struggling with rising production costs as they seek to improve labor conditions and meet new anti-slavery laws and regulations, with little or no financial help from big buyers, a study found. “The costs of protecting workers from exploitation and forced labor should be distributed equitably across the value chain,” she added. “Thai suppliers note haphazard financial support for social auditing but none for improving working conditions, and report no increase in price,” the researchers said in the report. Workers in the Thai seafood industry might end up suffering additional labor rights abuses, despite greater attention on the issue, if buyers do not pay higher prices, the report said.

Source: Taipei Times December 04, 2019 16:07 UTC