"Free" Trade Shrimp Results in Bondage a "Little Short of Medieval"

80% of the shrimp consumed by Americans is imported despite both the productive local industries and the huge carbon footprint caused by transporting Asian shrimp halfway around the world to American tables.

Worse than the damage to local industry and the environment are the slave-like conditions that Asian workers face thanks to "free" trade:

Workers told Thai police who raided one factory in September 2006 “that if they made a mistake on the shrimp peeling line, asked for sick leave, or tried to escape, they could expect to be beaten, sexually molested, or publicly tortured,” ....

The plant, Ranya Paew, “was more like a fortress than a factory, with 16-foot-high barbed-wire capped walls, an armed guard force, and an extensive internal closed-circuit television system,” the Solidarity Center alleged, citing Thai police reports.

“Behind the walls, the police found a scene that one report described as ‘little short of medieval,’ with hundreds of workers literally trapped inside the compound, living in squalid conditions, forced to work long hours, and subjected to physical, emotional, and sexual intimidation and abuse. Workers who angered the employer were often ‘put to shame’ in front of others by having their hair cut or shaved in patches. Women and girls were stripped naked and publicly beaten as a form of discipline.”

The report says the owner of the factory, who was charged with some offenses, received little in the way of punishment.

“Despite widespread worker rights abuses, including child labor and human trafficking, the owner was charged only with employing children under 15 and failing to provide holidays and time off. Though these charges are serious, they were treated as first-time labor code violations. The owner initially only paid a fine of about $2,100 and has returned to work.”

The report, “The Degradation of Work: The True Cost of Shrimp,” also contains information from interviews with workers in Thailand and Bangladesh. The labor rights organization did not name the workers, saying they could suffer retaliation from employers if their identities were not protected.

“In April 2007, workers at a factory owned by a major Thai shrimp processing company spoke with Solidarity Center partners, alleging hazardous working conditions as well as an intimidating and discriminatory work environment. Workers complained of forced overtime and nonpayment of wages if production quotas were missed. They also claimed regular exposure to harsh chemicals, lack of access to first aid or health care, and poor air and drinking water quality.

“They additionally alleged that they had unexplained deductions from their pay, that they worked without a written contract, and that native Thais and migrant workers were segregated by the use of colorcoded uniforms.”