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UNI Global Union is asking its affiliates to petition Walmart to demand that factory owners end human trafficking immediately and allow independent monitors to audit the factories in its supply chain in Thailand.

Click here to sign the petition to Walmart’s VP of Ethical Sourcing.

UNI’s General Secretary Philip Jennings said, “Once again Walmart is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The company has a responsibility to monitor what is going on in the factories in its supply chain. Evidence from Thailand suggests it is failing in its duty of care to factory workers who are living in virtual slavery. UNI urges its affiliates to sign the petition to expose these practices and force Walmart to act now.”

Recently there was a revolt in a factory in Thailand that processes prawn for a major supplier to Walmart. 2,000 guest workers from Cambodia and Myanmar were protesting at the seizure of their passports and wages cuts by the factory management. These wage slashes have put the workers deep into the factory’s debt making them victims of debt bondage.

At present, many of them are still legally and financially trapped at the factory, victims of human trafficking.

This is not an isolated incident. Also in Thailand, a pineapple factory had similar protests over wage reductions. There are now reports of human trafficking and that children under 15 have been bought and sold to work there. 73% of the company’s US exports go to Walmart, and they are likely a large supplier to Walmart’s subsidiaries globally.

Walmart’s own internal system claims to protect against these abuses, some of which the Bangkok Post has described as “the equivalent of actual slavery”. But these two cases highlight a chronic problem -- human trafficking, identity document seizure, child labour, forced unpaid overtime, and debt-bondage are found across Walmart’s supply chain.

Its internal system that audits factories to prevent these kind of abuses is broken at its core. Walmart's internal auditors schedule visits to factories -- a deeply flawed practice that allows owners to coach workers and hide the most egregious abuses as is evident today. On the other hand, independent monitors show up unannounced, don't aim to please factory owners, and provide a real check against some of the worst abuses -- that is why they are so desperately needed.

Walmart customers around the world may be buying prawn, pineapple, and who knows what else and unwittingly supporting near-slavery, debt bondage and child labor. Walmart is already feeling the heat after a New York Times investigation exposed a top-level cover up of a bribery scandal in the company’s Mexican subsidiary.

Link to petition:

http://sumofus.org/campaigns/shrimp/?ak_proof=1&akid=.198998.7Y8NPi&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=1

Press clippings:

Bangkok Post Editorial, End This Abuse by Companies, 24 April 2012

ABC Melbourne, Exploitation Claims Hit Thai Seafood Exporter, 11 April 2012