Why might 39 Chinese people risk dying in a truck to come to the?UK?

I speak Chinese, and many years back I spoke with a young Chinese man in Italy who had gained Italian citizenship and worked in relatively successful business in Italy. In response to my careful probing of where he was from and how he had come to Italy, he let slip that he had come through the snakehead network, and eventually paid off the smuggler fees.

Why might a smart young man wish to risk his life to move to Europe? I had visited many times his home province of Fujian in China, where many Chinese people who are smuggled by snakehead gangs to the UK originate from. It is beautiful, coastal bordering, with lovely rice paddies and mountains behind which pink & orange sunsets fall. The food can be delicious. But, despite the development of many more shiny glass and steel skyscrapers and fancy apartment buildings since I was last in China, life can be harsh. 

Workers in the many Fujian factories producing western brand exports usually earned about US$200 a month if they were lucky, perhaps now they might earn a few $100 more a month, but usually after an at least 55 hour week, i.e. at least 6 days a week of 8–12 hour days. In the high season many worked 70 hours or more a week. Conditions were basic so it was thrilling to see a dormitory which was innovative in actually providing a washing machine for workers, albeit to be shared by 20–30 workers on the one day off all shared. And still no clothes dryer despite damp winters. Children of workers though, kept back in home villages due to lack of "hukou" permit residency rights and access to schooling, are still often only seen by parents a few times a year when workers are able to take trains back home.

Wages for workers in China were increasing in many of the past 10–15 years, but with the USA trade war inspiring even more moving of production orders to countries like Vietnam, with Bangladesh barely increasing their legal minimum wage against poverty wages, and with Ethiopia opening up apparel production without even any fairly set legal minimum wage at all (meaning earnings as little as $20-30 a month for full-time work), times have started to get tougher again for Chinese workers. To compound matters, in a slowing economy, under the current leadership, NGO workers have been detained, and many worker representatives and lawyers have faced harassment or jail despite following Chinese law in advocating for payment of legally due benefits or “social insurance” (pension, health & unemployment insurance and compensation), or of overdue, underpaid and legally due minimum wages and overtime.

New laws such as the French Duty of Viligence for Human Rights, ask large companies to report on how they do due diligence to ensure respect for human rights in their global supply chains, including that workers are paid to legal minimum rates, and have their right also to freedom of association and collective bargaining respected so that they might fairly bargain. This is merely for a little more share of the wealth that workers who make our things helped create, and which can be seen splurged in Chinese cities where the “flaunt your wealth challenge” trend of rich kids showing off their luxury products took the internet by storm.

Business human rights due diligence is becoming an increasing expectation. The French Human Rights due diligence law draws from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (the “UNGPs”), now enshrined in OECD Guidelines, and which governments such as Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland and more have also been discussing legislating for business adherence to, and investors gain benefit from through ESG (Environmental Social Governance) data integration, and as efforts are tracked by initiatives such as the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark.

Business human rights due diligence expectations include that business increase transparency (as the UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency in Supply Chains clause requires of large companies operating in the UK). Leaders such as Levis, Puma, Patagonia, Adidas and more have, in willingness for partnership towards realising supply chain decent work (i.e. that workers might be able to ask buyers support for their basic rights to be realised before resorting to media to get help), published their supplier factory lists for many years (and at least 50 companies now also do). Transparency helps prevent less dedicated companies from getting away with under cutting others who do make efforts (as reported in this Wall St Journal documentary on Amazon suppliers placing orders in Bangladesh factories blacklisted by 100s of leading brands for not remediating basic building & fire safety).

After transparency by buyers, transparency by suppliers (the Bangladesh Accord on Fire & Building Safety published all factory condition findings) into their true conditions for workers (rarely according to many reports in 100% basic legal and international standards compliance), aligns with a responsibility of buyers (given price pressures) to partner with suppliers to realise improved conditions for workers (reducing excessive work hours, and all overtime wages paid to legal rates, all social insurances paid, and safer factories, ending sexual harassment, etc). This requires buyers to also become fairer in their purchasing practises by incentivising sourcing teams and designers to reduce last minute order changes, and to place orders with more responsible suppliers through use of supplier balanced scorecards (as we at SupplyESChange help companies learn to understand and implement). Balanced scorecards rely on labour standards and environmental performance monitoring data from robust audit and other monitoring, which in industry collaborations can be done in ways which reduce duplication cost and waste, and has been most successful with worker representation in collaboration initiative leadership as promoted by the Worker led Social Responsibility Network and shown by their FairFood program, the Bangladesh Accord on Fire & Building safety, and the ILO Better Work programme (as the ILO has tripartite trade union representation in leadership and engages unions in audits). 

For now, improvements in border checks, fair processing of asylum claims (given a few may need to escape China’s current hostile environment for rights defenders, and it’s incarceration of perhaps one million Uighur people in internment camps), and support so that trafficked workers can feel safe to call the UK Modern Slavery Hotline, can help partnerships by charities and authorities, and business to fight trafficking. But people will continue to come, by any way they can find, until business implement robust human rights due diligence, so that we reward and cause better conditions back home for people who make our things (as Fashion Revolution speak for with #WhoMadeMyClothes, or who suffer hardship making our phones and laptops as the Complicit film shows), and shift our economies to fair Green New Deals to slow rising tides and extreme weather patterns from climate change. These business human rights ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) actions for Sustainability are best inspired through clear and fair regulation and legislation (so that unscrupulous players not yet taking any of these steps don’t undercut the businesses taking the responsible steps we all expect). In October 2019 over 80 NGOs and trade unions called on the European Commission to bring forth new corporate accountability legislation requiring companies to respect human rights and the environment in their global value chains and operations. Causing increased respect for labour rights in supply chains and rewarding supplier environmental efforts (to install solar, wind & energy efficiency) can also help business deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs).

On 6 November 2019 I’ll speak at the BRE Sustain Worldwide Responsible & Ethical Leadership in Global Construction Supply Chains Conference at Aviva in London on steps leading businesses take to economically and fairly do human rights due diligence. Over the years 1000s of construction workers in China have protested delayed wages payment and poor conditions, as reported by China Labour Bulletin, and in the middle east many migrant workers in construction have suffered modern slavery conditions due to excessive agents fees, withholding of papers, threats and inability to depart. We’ll discuss how business involved in Construction make efforts to help end modern slavery, and see safe and decent work conditions for all, including in construction projects such as China.

For now, our hearts must go out to the families in China who have lost loved ones in the truck with 39 bodies, and to the perhaps many 1000s more who die making such perilous migration crossings seeking decent work and a decent life. One thing we can do to prevent more such tragedies, is to take steps in our businesses and policy-making to increase business human rights due diligence to reward better supply chain labour standards, so people who make our things, get a better deal back home. 

Thank you for reading, sharing this article, and commenting below, or for your questions.

For those of you in business on the human rights due diligence journey, our SupplyESChange team look forward to assist you.

With all, we look forward to partner to help craft fair smart legislation to reward business for sustainable business human rights due diligence steps.

#BusinessHumanRights #ESG #UNGPs #SupplyChains #DecentWork #China

#39 #HumanRights #Transparency #SDGs