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Opinion

18 Sep 2017

Author:
Shawn MacDonald, CEO, Verité

Repaying recruitment fees charged to workers must be at the heart of new commitments to eradicate modern slavery

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Responsible recruitment is a key issue in supply chains and one that is essential to combating forced labor around the world. As global leaders meet this week for the United Nations General Assembly in New York, commitments must be taken to advance the Sustainable Development Goals, promote decent work and eradicate modern slavery from the global economy. In Verité’s experience, ensuring responsible recruitment practices has a direct and significant impact on the lives of millions of workers worldwide.

Breaking the cycle of debt bondage starts with a commitment to fair hiring on the part of brands and their suppliers. Even companies with the best of intentions do not always know what labor abuses are happening in their own supply chains. This is especially true in the case of charging recruitment fees. Recruitment agencies contracted by suppliers may charge fees to aspiring migrants, which can total in the tens of thousands of dollars and result in years of work dedicated to paying off recruitment debt.

 Adopting an “employer pays” policy is a step in the right direction, but returning fees charged to workers is the only way to truly free them from debt bondage.

To address this issue, companies must root out unethical practices and commit to transparency, due diligence, and effective remediation. Adopting an “employer pays” policy is a step in the right direction, but returning fees charged to workers is the only way to truly free them from debt bondage.

International recruitment can include several complex processes, including transportation to the worksite, medical examinations, and immigration document processing, to name a few. When using recruiters to fill job vacancies, the employer (not the worker) must pay recruiters’ legitimate service fees and costs. Monitoring recruitment agencies, cataloguing these fees and ensuring that all fees charged to workers are repaid are essential to due diligence and remedy. Employers must take full financial responsibility for the recruitment of migrant workers in their supply chains. 

Some forward-thinking brands are already leading the way. One apparel company looked beyond its first-tier suppliers to assess conditions at fabric mills. When it found that migrant workers were working two years to pay off recruitment-related debts, it established a new policy and required suppliers to reimburse all recruitment fees and expenses paid before the policy went into effect.

A major electronics brand has paid back nearly $26 million to workers since 2008, including $4.7 million in 2015 alone. This step, among others pioneered by a few leading electronics companies, prompted the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (an industry compliance body) to improve its standard by adopting a zero fees for workers policy.

Repaying fees aligns with the responsibility companies have under the UN Guiding Principles to remedy human rights violations. These steps signal a company’s true dedication to responsible recruitment.

Repaying fees aligns with the responsibility companies have under the UN Guiding Principles to remedy human rights violations. These steps signal a company’s true dedication to responsible recruitment. We look forward to seeing more brands adopt this approach. We also encourage other stakeholders, including the governments and intergovernmental agencies meeting this week in New York, to place responsible recruitment at the heart of their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from the global economy once and for all.