In a system where the bottom line is personal financial profit and not human happiness, there is no amount of watchfulness that can keep the system humane. It does not take an evil CEO to turn to human trafficking, just one who does not take responsibility for the company’s own outsourcing.
No one walking through a Walmart would feel any connection to what happens in a seafood processing factory in Thailand. Why should they? The point is that the shrimp is cheaper here, not whether a woker in in some Bangkok based company got bathroom breaks or made enough money themselves to provide food for their own families.
“Some workers were receiving so little pay after deductions that they couldn’t afford sufficient food. Before the strike, they were reportedly catching minnows and snails for meals. Despite the legal requirement that workers be enrolled in Thailand’s social security system to receive health care, the company failed to sign the workers up, meaning workers had to pay out of pocket for any medical treatment for injuries or sickness.” -John Sifton, World Policy Blog
Workers told researchers that they often lived in debt because they factory would charge them fees that ate up their salary. When workers want to leave they sometimes find it difficult because the company often seizes their work permits, health cards and passports to keep them from leaving.
” Many today are still effectively in bondage. The company still deducts fees for lodging and other necessities, and when workers receive their pay stubs, written in Thai, they can’t even read explanations of the deductions. And the company has not guaranteed that remaining workers will be enrolled in the official health care system. One company involved in the recruitment of the Cambodian workers—or trafficking, to be more exact—reportedly agreed last May to forgive debts if workers want to return to Cambodia, but in a Catch-22, the workers have to pay an additional fee to do so, and would not be able to try to get jobs with other employers in Thailand.” -John Sifton, World Policy Blog
http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2012/09/17/walmarts-human-trafficking-problem