Addressing Exploitation in Supply Chains: Is technology a game changer for worker voice?

Laurie Berg,Angela Kintominas,Bassina Farbenblum

doi:10.14197/atr.201220144

Abstract

Multinational businesses are facing mounting pressure to identify and address risks of exploitation, trafficking and modern slavery in their supply chains. Digital worker reporting tools present unprecedented opportunities for lead firms to reach out directly to hard-to-reach workers for feedback on their working conditions via their mobile phone. These new technologies promise an efficient and cost-effective way to cut through the complexity of global production, gathering unmediated data on working conditions directly from workers at scale. As the market for these tools grows, this paper contextualises their emergence within the broader political economy of supply chain governance. It presents three sets of concerns about their use that must be addressed by businesses, investors, donors and governments that develop or utilise these tools. First, the quality of data gathered by these tools may be inadequate to reliably inform decision-making. Second, global brands may gather large quantities of worker data to identify legal, reputational and financial risks without addressing structural causes of exploitation or delivering outcomes for workers. Third, large scale collection of data from workers creates new risks for workers’ wellbeing and safety.

Highlights

Businesses across the globe profit from exploitative working and recruitment conditions within their supply chains, often deep within a web of subcontracted suppliers and outsourced labour in distant countries
Migrant workers are especially vulnerable to abuse, including forced labour and trafficking, where they have accumulated debts to recruiters that compel them to work under whatever conditions are imposed by the employer
Multinational businesses are facing mounting pressure to address these conditions in response to increased consumer, investor and shareholder scrutiny, alongside new regulatory obligations requiring businesses to identify forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery within their supply chains.[1]

Summary

Introduction

Businesses across the globe profit from exploitative working and recruitment conditions within their supply chains, often deep within a web of subcontracted suppliers and outsourced labour in distant countries. Multinational businesses are facing mounting pressure to address these conditions in response to increased consumer, investor and shareholder scrutiny, alongside new regulatory obligations requiring businesses to identify forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery within their supply chains.[1] Historically, these businesses have operated at arm’s length from their suppliers, certainly those beyond the first tier They increasingly confront the challenging task of assessing, reporting on, and addressing labour and recruitment conditions among all subcontracted entities. With the exception of a very recently published expert study of worker voice technologies to identify and address situations of forced labour and trafficking,[7] much of the current literature is in the form of short, op-ed style pieces or briefings,[8] guides directed towards practitioners,[9] or industry principles.[10] This paper seeks to address the paucity of empirical, critical, workercentred analyses of these new tools. Each area of concern is generally invisible and difficult for outsiders to evaluate

Methods

76 Data minimisation is considered best practice for responsible data

Findings

Conclusion