[Peace-discuss] ObamaTrade Rewards US Corporations That Profit From Slavery

[David Johnson]

ObamaTrade Rewards US Corporations That Profit From Slavery

Description: Photo from USTR.gov on the TPP


By Zach Carter,
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/02/obama-trade-malaysia_n_7495750.htm
l> www.huffingtonpost.com
June 3rd, 2015

 
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POPULAR RESISTANCE

 

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's effort to include Malaysia in a major
pending trade pact has baffled human rights advocates, who see it as a
reward for a regime with one of the world's worst human trafficking records.
But the myriad interests involved in the trade fight include some very large
American corporations, which are currently padding their profits with labor
costs kept low by modern-day slavery in Malaysia.

Major U.S. electronics brands,
<http://www.mida.gov.my/env3/uploads/events/TIMUSA29042012/02Top10USCompanie
s.pdf> including Intel, AMD, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments and
Dell, have relied on Malaysian manufacturing for years - either in their own
factories, or through facilities operated by their suppliers. Computer
processors, hard drives, smartphone parts and other consumer electronic
devices are all part of the slavery system - more than one-fourth of all
workers in the Malaysian electronics industry are victims of forced labor,
according to
<http://www.verite.org/sites/default/files/images/VeriteForcedLaborMalaysian
Electronics_2014_0.pdf> a damning 2014 reportcommissioned by the U.S.
Department of Labor.

U.S. companies say that in the wake of that report, they have enacted
corporate policies to root out slave labor from their supply chain. While
labor experts applaud the formal changes, they also say that actually
implementing them is nearly impossible under current Malaysian government
policies. And indeed, American firms have relied on Malaysian labor in large
part due to its extremely low cost.

Some of the U.S. companies that operate within Malaysia have had privileged
access to Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership as members of special Industrial
Trade Advisory Committees. While the terms of the TPP deal remain classified
information shielded from the American public, ITAC members have access to
negotiation documents. Apple, Intel and Hewlett-Packard all have such
access, as does the Semiconductor Industry Association, which includes Texas
Instruments, AMD, Intel and other processor manufacturers. The TPP talks,
which are still ongoing, include the United States, Malaysia and 10 other
nations.

The Malaysian government's indifference to human trafficking abuses across a
host of industries now threatens Obama's trade agenda. The U.S. State
Department put Malaysia on its formal list of the worst human trafficking
abettors last year, prompted by years of government inaction and reports
that Malaysian government officials actually profit from human trafficking
with impunity. Landing on the State Department's bad guys list takes hard
work - Malaysia's peers on the list include Iran and North Korea. Many
countries with horrible human trafficking records, including Rwanda and
Qatar, have higher State Department ratings than Malaysia.

In order to pass his TPP deal, Obama needs so-called "fast track" powers,
which bar Congress from filibustering or amending whatever deal Obama
reaches. In late May, the Senate passed a trade bill that would block fast
track privileges for trade bills with countries on the State Department's
list of worst human trafficking offenders.

Human rights groups heralded the language, which was authored by Sen. Robert
Menendez (D-N.J.).
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/28/elizabeth-warren-trade-slavery_n_7
463252.html> So did Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who said inclusion in
TPP "is an opportunity for the United States to use our leverage to get
countries like Malaysia to clean up their acts." The Obama administration,
by contrast, claims that including Malaysia in the TPP deal will give it
more policy tools to fight human trafficking in Malaysia.

"TPP is on track to require signatory countries to address forced labor
through enforceable labor provisions, which would be a major step forward in
regional and international efforts to address this problem," an
administration official told HuffPost. "Further, we are working with
Malaysia on specifications to help ensure that it can meet this commitment."

But Obama's proposed compromise would not require the Malaysian government
to actually alleviate human trafficking problems in order to enjoy expanded
trade benefits from the United States. Human rights advocates have
consistently said Malaysia should be required to overhaul its trafficking
policies before being granted new trade preferences.

Forced labor is endemic to the Malaysian economy. It is an integral part of
the electronics sector, which is responsible for more than a quarter of all
jobs in Malaysia, and extremely widespread, festering in the construction
workforce, agriculture, domestic service and any other industry reliant on
foreign workers. Most trafficking victims are not native Malaysians, but
immigrants who come to Malaysia from Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal
and other countries, often fleeing political oppression or natural
disasters.

The darkest side of the Malaysian human trafficking business was revealed
last week with the discovery of a
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/26/malaysia-mass-graves-villagers
-tell-of-desperate-migrants-emerging-from-jungle-camps> mass gravesite near
the northern border with Thailand. At least 139 graves were discovered, some
with multiple bodies. The Malaysian government had been alerted to reports
of illegal jungle camps for labor smugglers for almost a decade, according
to British newspaper The Guardian, but has not pursued the details.

Workers who make it to Malaysian electronics factories aren't dying in
wooded death camps. They're just trapped in terrible situations, according
to the 2014 report, which was performed for DOL by the nonprofit group
Verite.
<http://www.verite.org/sites/default/files/images/VeriteForcedLaborMalaysian
Electronics_2014_0.pdf> The report showed that U.S., European and Japanese
companies that operate in Malaysia are heavily reliant on labor recruiters
who charge workers hefty up-front fees to get their jobs, typically creating
a significant debt burden they have to work to pay off out of paltry wages.
Recruiters often confiscate passports and immigration papers, making it
impossible for workers to leave the country. Workers frequently live in
shabby housing provided by the recruiters, who put restrictions on travel
beyond the housing complex or the factory.

Some American firms have operations in Malaysia where they directly employ
workers for their own factories. But these firms also rely on other
suppliers, who in turn rely on recruiters.

The Malaysian government hasn't substantively altered any of its labor
policies in the year since the Verite report was published, although some
companies have announced changes in corporate policies. The Electronic
Industry Citizenship Coalition, which includes all of the companies
mentioned in this article, said in January that it would improve oversight
of labor conditions with additional audits of subcontractors involved in the
supply chain.

"While the EICC Code of Conduct explicitly bans trafficked and forced labor,
completely eradicating it in the global electronics industry supply chain
remains a challenge for everyone - including EICC members,"
<http://www.eiccoalition.org/news-and-events/news/electronics-industry-next-
steps-against-forced-labor/> the organization said in January.

Apple's policies have gone further. Any Malaysian company in its supply
chain must reimburse workers who have been forced to pay up-front fees as a
condition of employment. Hewlett-Packard requires every company in its
supply chain to directly hire its own employees - they can't work indirectly
for a recruitment firm.

Intel and Texas Instruments say they do not use recruited foreign labor in
their own factories, but acknowledged that suppliers have done so. The
companies say they forbid forced labor among their suppliers as a matter of
company policy. Dell says it thoroughly audits all of its suppliers for
abusive practices, and has replaced its suppliers when they have failed to
improve conditions. AMD referred HuffPost to the EICC.

But cheap foreign labor remains a key attraction and competitive advantage
for Malaysian middlemen that work with major American brands. Malaysian law
makes it difficult to employ those workers without going through recruitment
firms. Until Malaysia changes its immigration policies, human rights
watchdogs expect forced labor to remain a cornerstone of the electronics
industry.

While many companies have stayed out of the political spotlight on TPP,
Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Intel are all  <http://tppcoalition.org/about/>
members of the U.S. Business Coalition for TPP, which supported the pact
long before Menendez sounded a legislative alarm on human trafficking in
Malaysia.

While Obama and Republican leaders support TPP, the vast majority of
Democrats and a bloc of tea party Republicans are opposed. In mid-May,
Menendez acquiesced to compromise language that would have allowed Malaysia
to participate in TPP while taking "concrete steps" to address human
trafficking - even if those steps did not actually result in any substantive
changes. But his original amendment effectively barring Malaysia from the
pact nevertheless passed the Senate. On Monday, Menendez
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/01/menendez-trade-slavery_n_7487312.h
tml> authored an op-ed for Roll Call opposing the half-measure and urging
the House to block Malaysia from the deal unless it improves its human
trafficking record. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan
(R-Wis.) plans to scrap the slavery ban with an amendment to a customs bill.

 

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