Key Takeaways:
– Producers from Vietnam, India, and Indonesia are reportedly suffering from significant earnings drop of 20%-60% from pre-pandemic levels due to aggressive pricing by large Western supermarkets.
– Workers are subject to long working hours, wage insecurity, and often earn less than the bare minimum wage.
– American, British, and European supermarkets have been linked to facilities employing exploited labor.
– Engaging middlemen for shrimp purchases conceals the shrimp’s actual source, making it tough for retailers to adhere to their ethical commitments.
– The authors of this report propose that Western retailers should be subjected to oversight measures to secure fair pricing, steering clear of harsh tariffs on suppliers.
Illicit Labor Practices in Shrimp Production
The fast-paced quest for lower wholesale prices by sizable Western supermarkets is causing misery for people at the bottom end of the supply chain. This is evident in the shrimp industry, particularly in Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. These three countries supply approximately half the shrimp in the world’s top four markets — the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and Japan.
The recent investigation into the industry by a partnership of non-governmental organizations highlights an alarming 20%-60% drop in earnings from pre-pandemic levels. The producers from these nations are struggling to comply with these tough pricing requirements by slicing labor costs. The result is disturbing instances of unpaid and underpaid work, wage instability and a high number of workers not even earning a meager minimum wage.
Unjust Work Conditions Detected
Retailers linked to facilities perpetuating these disturbing work conditions include prominent players, such as Target, Costco, Walmart in the United States, Tesco and Sainsbury’s in Britain, and Aldi and Co-op in Europe.
The report is the product of a comprehensive regional analysis that involved direct interaction with over 500 workers in their native languages plus backing data and feedback from additional sources. It flagged the plight of workers involved in shrimp’s manual processing.
In Vietnam, for example, laborers who handle tasks like peeling, gutting, and deveining shrimp work nearly every day of the week in incredibly cold environments aimed at preserving the shrimp’s freshness. About 80% of these workers are women who are required to work long hours regularly.
Grueling Working Conditions Across Countries
An equally disturbing scenario exists in India, where investigators found “dangerous and abusive conditions” prevalent in the industry. Workers are subjected to unpaid labor, underpayment, unpaid overtime, and significant occurrences of debt bondage. There were instances of child labor as well, with girls as young as 14 and 15 years old being enlisted for shrimp peeling tasks.
In Indonesia, the situation was found to be no different. Workers, as a standard, are expected to do at least a 12-hour shift to meet the set targets. Such unrelenting work schedules have caused wages to dip below the national minimum wage, further exacerbating the condition of workers who average a monthly wage of $160.
Ensuring Ethical Shrimp Sourcing
The report further called attention to the questionable practice of using middlemen to source the shrimp. This method disguises the shrimp’s true origin and makes it challenging for retailers to stick to their ethical sourcing commitments.
This practice also undermines the efforts of organizations such as the Aquaculture Stewardship Council or the Best Aquaculture Practices ecolabel. These bodies certify shrimp farms, but the number of certified farms is barely a fraction of the total farms in principal countries, making it impossible to meet the consumption needs of supermarkets exclusively from certified farms.
Building Oversight and Ensuring Fair Pricing
The report emphasizes that labor exploitation in the shrimp aquaculture industry isn’t limited to any specific company or country. Advocates suggest that governments and policymakers could ensure fair pricing, primarily through antitrust laws and other legislative instruments already in place.
The report concludes that the current disparity in retail and wholesale prices shouldn’t lead to pegging higher prices for consumers. Moderating profits for supermarkets is the way forward to compensating farmers adequately without burdening the consumer. The onus of restoring decency in the supply chain rests on deploying effective oversight measures and ensuring adherence to ethical purchasing practices across the sector.