The investigation found that migrants, including children, were forced to work for little or no pay peeling prawns which ended up in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Thai Union, which has already seen its seafood supply chains connected to forced labour in separate New York Times and Associated Press investigations, received prawns from Gig and a second factory that was raided in May where employees were forced to work long hours with no days off. At that factory, a woman eight months pregnant was forced to miscarry on the floor and continue peeling for four days while haemorrhaging; a toddler was refused medical attention after falling 12 feet; and another pregnant woman who tried to escape was caught and forced to work handcuffed to another worker. Workers noted that a Thai Union employee visited this shed on a daily basis. John West has not been directly implicated in the findings.
Ariana Densham, Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said:
‘John West can’t afford to stay silent about the repeated labour rights abuses being uncovered in its owner’s supply chains. Thai Union sits at the centre of an industry which has been shown once again to be awash with workers being forced to work against their will.
‘In October a Greenpeace investigation revealed that John West’s traceability claim on its tuna products from Thailand was nothing more than a paper promise – with cans not being able to be traced on its website as it claimed. We said back then that the scandalous human rights abuses that exist in the Thai fishing industry make it crucial that consumers know precisely where John West’s products are coming from – and today’s revelations just confirm that.
‘Off the back of our traceability investigation John West changed tack and said customers can email them and they’ll let them know where their Thai products come from – that’s not good enough. These new allegations concerning labour rights abuses in Thai Union’s prawn supply chain show exactly why John West and Thai Union shouldn’t be waiting for consumer pressure to take concrete action on transparency and stamping out labour abuses in the Thai seafood industry.’
John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA Oceans Campaign Director, said:
‘With each new scandal, so-called global seafood leader Thai Union responds in the narrowest way possible. The company does just enough to weather the PR storm while continuing to profit off the backs of the migrant workers forced to work throughout its supply chains.
‘These latest allegations are especially disturbing because they suggest Thai Union knew about its forced labour issues and had an employee visiting an implicated factory on a daily basis. Clearly Thai Union cannot continue pleading ignorance to the forced labour in its supply chains. It’s going to take more than the bare minimum action to win customers’ trust back.
‘No one wants to buy seafood tainted by forced labour, and we know that the issues reach far beyond just shrimp. Every single company involved must be held accountable for the hundreds of thousands of people suffering in miserable conditions – from those catching the seafood to the supermarkets selling it.
‘This story casts significant further doubt about the extent to which both Thai Union and the Thai seafood sector as a whole are responding to these very serious issues. The inaction by the entire industry and shiny PR moves are no longer acceptable. It is time for Thai Union and its buyers to audit and clean up every single link in their seafood supply chains – not just the one implicated in the latest of many investigations.’
ENDS
Note to editors:
Read the entire Associated Press investigation.
Media contacts:
Luke Massey, Press & Communications Officer, Greenpeace UK,
luke.massey@greenpeace.org (+44 (0)7973 873 155)
Myriam Fallon, Seafood Communications Coordinator, Greenpeace USA, myriam.fallon@greenpeace.org (+1-708-546-9001)
Dan Salmon, Head of Tuna Communications, Greenpeace New Zealand, dan.salmon@greepeace.org (+ 64-21-394-311)
