Slavery bill criticised

December 2014 saw the continued passage of the government’s Modern Slavery Bill though the House of Lords and the launch of the Modern slavery strategy.

At the same time, the Home Office released new data estimating the number of UK slavery victims as high as 13,000, more than four times the level of previous estimates.

Campaigners point to the Bill’s significant weaknesses. Lobbying by the Ethical Trading Initiative, a cross-sector alliance of employers, unions and charities, has produced some limited improvement. In particular, the government has acknowledged the need to target slavery in the supply chain.

However, instead of legislating for effective regulation and monitoring, the government is hoping to use “transparency” to harness consumer pressure for change.

Large companies will be required to publish annual strategies on their website explaining what they are doing to eliminate slavery from their supply chain, in the hope that public and consumer opinion will shape corporate behaviour.

This is not good enough, say campaigners. Instead, there should be a clear duty on companies not just to identify forced labour in their supply chain, but also to remove it, with proper penalties for failure based on International Labour Organisation standards.

The obvious candidate to achieve this is the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA). The TUC repeated its call for the GLA’s remit to be extended into other sectors where exploitation is prevalent, and for the necessary funding to be made available.

http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2014/12/the-modern-slavery-bill-a-challenge-to-be-grasped