Global Aquaculture Alliance at Odds
With AFL-CIO Shrimp Labor Study

The True Cost of Shrimp, a controversial report issued by a US organized labor affiliate, alleges labor abuse in two processing countries.

Proof lacking in Solidarity Center report, which charges labor abuse at processing plants. GAA challenges allegations and Thai Government stresses support for workers’ welfare.

The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) is taking on authors of a report on working conditions in shrimp processing plants in Bangladesh and Thailand that implies the GAA is ignoring the problems in its certification program.

GAA Executive Director Wally Stevens, who appeared on a CNN television program to challenge the Solidarity Center, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO labor union, to put up or shut up, told Quick Frozen Foods International (QFFI) that none of the companies cited in the group’s report had been certified under its Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program.

The report focused on alleged abuse of child labor and migrant labor in both Thailand and Bangladesh, but only companies in the latter were identified. Diane Tamuk, a spokesman for the Solidarity Center, told QFFI that it couldn’t identify any other companies for fear that workers there would be punished. She also denied that the group had refused to speak with the Global Aquaculture Alliance.

Stevens said nobody from the Solidarity Center contacted the GAA either before or after releasing its report, entitled The True Cost of Shrimp. Nevertheless, the document characterized the BAP program as “woefully inadequate,” and showing “little grasp of the complexity of the industry.” The only real cure for abuse of labor, it concluded, is to form unions and pressure employers into dealing with them.

“Over the past 10 years, our organization has led the way in the development of global aquaculture standards,” Stevens responded. Best Aquaculture Practices standards encompass social justice issues such as worker safety and child labor regulations, he said, as well as addressing food safety, traceability and the environment, as well.

Producers seeking BAP certification must undergo a rigorous, independent audit by a recognized certification body. Companies that do not measure up on all of the key areas are not certified, Stevens said. Failure to maintain compliance with a standard will also cause a company to lose its certification. When it comes to worker rights, he added, “Families are at the heart of the seafood industry in the United States and around the globe, and we who are in the business of putting food on American tables consider any evidence of child labor or worker abuse to be abhorrent.”

GAA Works to Certify More Plants

Nearly 40% of the shrimp exported by Thailand is produced at BAP-certified plants, pointed out Stevens. “While this is a good start, we have a long way to go in convincing more global market leaders of the importance of our program and the assurance which it provides when an article such as the Solidarity report hits the press. Our approach is to work with many organizations to find common ground and solutions to the challenges that face a young industry such as aquaculture.”

Workers in Thai shrimp processing factories that the Solidarity Center said had been visited by its investigators are said to have earned about $4.60 a day for a six-day work week and excessive hours. Child labor and forced labor were often the norm, it claimed.

A 2006 study by the Institute for Population and Social Research at Mahidol University reported that child laborers were used in the Thai fishing industry, including shrimp processing. That study was supported by the International Labor Organization. An estimated 200,000 migrant workers, mainly from Burma, work in the fishing sector in Thailand.

Sompong Srakaew of Thailand’s Labour Rights Promotion Network charged that migrant child laborers have been employed in Samut Sakorn Province. “Some employers have registered children of 12 to 14 years old, claiming they are 15 years old which is the lowest age allowed to work,” he said.
Through a network of middlemen, the Solidarity Center added, shrimp produced at such plants find their way to at least nine big supermarket chains in the United States: Costco, Cub Foods, Giant, Giant Eagle, Harris Teeter, IGA, Tops Markets, Trader Joe’s and Wal-Mart.

Thai Government Responds

Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce, through the Thai Trade Center in New York, responded to the Solidarity Center’s unsubstantiated allegations in no uncertain terms through Surasak Riangkrul. The Consul-General Executive Director, in a letter sent to seafood importers in the United States [and published on this page in its entirely], made it clear that “the Thai Government does not support nor tolerate illegal acts of child labor, maltreatment, or employment of illegal workers” and “would not overlook such injustices in the country.”

Mr. Surasak went on the state: “The Thai shrimp and seafood industry has achieved international standards, existing for more than 40 years, and exporting to several continents all over the world. It would be incomprehensible that the industry would tarnish its own credibility...It is questionable why the renowned industry would tolerate any social injustices and risk to taint a reputation it took decades to gain.”

But another party to the dispute is the Louisiana shrimp industry. Mark P. Lagon, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs and director of its office to monitor and combat Trafficking, met with Thai officials in Bangkok in April after Louisiana State shrimp farmers called on the US government to ban Thai shrimp, claiming Thailand used child labor and unfairly dumped shrimp on the US market.

Phadungsak Thephasadin Na Ayudthaya, director-general of the Thai Labor Welfare and Protection Department, said authorities had not found child laborers in the shrimp processing industry. “This issue may have politics behind it, because Thailand has exported a large amount of shrimp to the United States,” Phadungsak said. “It is possible that this issue would be raised as a trade protection measure against Thai shrimp exports.”

Thai shrimp exporters said they would ask the Commerce Ministry to file a complaint against the United States at the World Trade Organization claiming unfair tariff and bond levies.