In this case, the workers were contracted through a labour agency in their home country. Supposedly regulated by the government, the agent took advantage of the vulnerability of the workers and demanded fees which flouted legal regulations. Workers, lured by the lucrative prospect of “winning their chance to go to Europe” and improve the standard of living of their families sold assets and borrowed money to pay the enormous fees.

Of course the reality is often different to what they are told (or sold) by agents: wages are lower, working hours are higher. They end up having to stay in their overseas job for a longer period of time to recoup the money they invested and hopefully make a bit of money to support their families. The factory who hired those workers in Europe was shocked to hear their stories.

These issues are of course complex and go from the unenforced regulations of the local government to crooked agents trading in people’s dreams for way out of poverty. Impactt has been working closely on this case with brands involved, the factories and of course the workers to find a sustainable solution for all.

Keen to raise his workers health and safety risk awareness and provide them with the tools to manage and reduce risk on a daily basis, manager Wayne Terry engaged Impactt to deliver training to his workers at Readymix Gulf as a part of the company’s Safety Month.

As site manager of the Sharjah and Ajman sites, lesser known Emirates of the UAE, Mr Terry has seen firsthand that his workers, who originate from southern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, have little consciousness of the potential health and safety risks they encounter in their work each day and are thus frequently putting themselves at risk of injury.

Workers at Readymix Gulf largely work either as drivers (of trucks delivering the cement) or in the workshop (fixing the trucks). The nature of these jobs is such that workers are engaged in a multitude of different processes both on and off site on a daily basis.

An effective health and safety management system is clearly important in this situation as it enables for the promotion of a safe working environment and the facility monitoring it. However, in addition to this, a level of personal awareness and responsibility is critical for identifying and reducing risk in what is a complex and frequently changing environment.

To meet this need, in consultation with management and supervisors, Impactt developed a bespoke training programme which was delivered in Hindi and covered:

• Why care about health and safety?
• What are the health and safety H&S risks on concrete processing plants?
• Basic health and safety on site
• Build Safe UAE and how workers can contribute
• The view from workers
• Chemicals on site and how to use them safely
• Safety for drivers

Visits to site prior to the training session were important for collecting information on, and photos of, how workers were working so that the group exercises and presentations presented situations that the workers themselves had experienced. Each of the sessions involved exercises where workers worked in group to assess a situation, identify the issues, and discuss strategies for addressing them.

Using these kinds of participatory methods for training is very effective, particularly when dealing with semi-literate audiences. Plus they mark a good change from presentation heavy sessions and can be quite enjoyable – the workers had a great deal of fun working in teams to act out the animated safety stories developed by Build Safe UAE!

Finally throughout the sessions, and particularly in ‘The View from Workers’, we worked hard to facilitate workers to talk about their own view of health and safety and what needed to happen to manage the risks on site. In our experience workers have frequently thought before about their health on site and have some of the best suggestions for tackling safety issues.

Workers reported that they will “think about a safe exit before start of work in case of an emergency” and “review an area for risks before starting work and take steps to reduce them”, which indicates an encouraging level of risk awareness. Mr Terry reported following the training that “all the workers were very happy and satisfied with the course which has had a positive impact on site”.

If you are interested in finding out more about Impactt’s training services in the UAE and other Gulf countries please contact jaana@impacttlimited.com.

Improving labour standards can be a challenging road – the pace of change is frustrating and the magnitude of the problems sometimes overwhelming. However, there are winning situations that remind us why we do what we do.

Successful child labour remediation is one of those and we would like to share with you the story of a child found by Impactt in a Chinese garment factory in September 2008. Fifteen when we found her, Xiao Mei had migrated from her home town for work and used a fake ID card to enter the factory. With the support of the UK based company and brand buying from the factory, Impactt was able to transition Xiao Mei back into school and she has recently completed a study programme in computer advertising design.

Below is the text of a letter Xiao Mei asked us to pass on to the companies who funded her remediation. We are sure you will agree that this makes it all worthwhile.

“Before, when I was in the factory, I did the same repetitive work every day. I worked like that every day for more than ten hours, and it was a tiring life that I had then. I had my own dreams. Every now and then I would remember them and it would make me so sad.

I was afraid that my whole life would be like that. Sometimes it made me want to cry, my dreams just pushed aside like that. I forced myself to do so much work every day. I’ll even venture that I worked harder than everyone else, sitting from morning until night-time, so tired I felt like I couldn’t stand. I wanted to earn a lot of money so that I could realize my dream – a good life for my family.

Who would have known that this day would come so suddenly and so fast? So fast I could hardly believe it was real. I left the factory and came to school, and my dreams stayed alive…I think I am a person who hopes, who doesn’t feel sorry for myself anymore. I believe this is the truth!

For me, the evidence is right there, that even though this world is harsh and calculating, there is still a little love left in it. I would rather choose to believe that life is filled with hope. At school I made myself work hard, so that someday I can take care of my family.

Everyone yearns for their dreams, and I won’t give mine up easily either. Opportunities to study, like I’ve had, don’t come easily, and that makes me treasure it even more, and focus on enriching my life with my studies. The world is improving, and I’m improving. My programme of study was advertising design, and I hope that through this, I can one day be accomplished, hardworking and grounded enough to achieve my dreams. I will never forget the people who have helped me. There is only one thing I can say to you: Thank you. I have come to know the world in a new way. I will work hard! Wish me luck!”

These stories are not new and whilst nationalities and specific cases of exploitation change, the hotel industry is yet another sector where migrant workers are often isolated, unaware of their rights and lack English language skills.  This can make them easy victims for exploitation. The Newsnight story follows a flurry of reports this year relating to the mistreatment of migrant workers in the UK garment, meat and fruit industries.

Impactt have often found that labour standard issues tend to be more prevalent at sites using agency, temporary and migrant labour.  These issues are complex and cannot be reduced to a matter of blame; sustainable improvement relies on cooperation from all involved.  As a result, Impactt specialises in engaging with workers and acting as an avenue through which practicable improvements for workers can be developed with buy-in from both sites management and customers.   

Employers come up with a range of excuses for retaining passports. We’ve heard ‘just keeping them safe’, ‘workers don’t understand the value of their passport’ and ‘it’s to stop them from running off with company property’.  But the fact of the matter is, as numerous employers admit privately, retaining passports is a very effective way of retaining labour. Employers have laid out large sums for transport, agency fees and training, and are not keen to let this investment go too easily.  Under pressure from auditors, customers and campaigners, many employers have come up with a system which claims to allow workers to retrieve their passport within half an hour. It is not clear whether this really works in practice when someone wants to leave their job.

But, under UAE Federal law, retaining passports, even if they can be easily retrieved, is illegal. The decree (see above picture in Arabic) issued by the Ministry of Interior on 25^th December 2002 and states:  

“As the passport is a personal document that and as the law obliges its owner to keep and show when required by the governmental authorities, it is not allowed for any party to detain the passport except by the official parties with a judicial order and according to the law. Consequently it will be considered as an illegal action to detain the passport in UAE except by the governmental parties. So please announce this to all of your parties. In case of retaining passports there will be a suitable punishment by the law of UAE”.

This seems pretty clear to me.

But, there are no examples or reports of the Ministry of Labour enforcing the decree. In fact, some companies report that the first thing the Ministry’s labour inspectors ask for when they visit a site or factory is the original passport of every worker present!

To confuse matters further, the regulations in some of the free zones (e.g. Saif Zone) require employers to retain migrant workers’ passports – a clear conflict with Federal law.  

Our view is that retaining a worker’s passport amounts to bonded labour. Companies, employers and governments need to act to end this practice.

• Employers must find ways to retain their workforce through more positive measures. These include managing workers’ expectations in source countries so that they have a clear idea of their terms and conditions and the environment they will be living and working in, and ensuring that workers are able to raise and resolve concerns and grievances on an ongoing basis.
• Employers should give workers access to an individual safety deposit boxes in which to store their passport. Workers should hold the key at all times.
• Companies sourcing from UAE should exercise zero tolerance on this issue, and should not allow employers to operate a ‘documents returned within 30 minutes’ policy.
• The Ministry of Labour should publicise the 2002 decree and start enforcing it.
• The government should bring free zone regulations in line with Federal Law.

We are pleased to hear that the Gangmaster Licensing laws will be extended to the construction industry as part of a government inquiry into the number of deaths in the construction industry.

Yvette Cooper the Work and Pensions Secretary will release a report: ‘One Death too Many’ which summarises the findings of the government inquiry. The report recommends:

• The gangmaster licensing laws be extended to the construction industry;
• The appointment of a fulltime minister of construction;
• Measures to make it easier to prosecute directors of construction projects with poor health and safety standards.

Following the release of the report the government will consult with building firms and unions before responding later this year.

The TUC have long campaigned on health and safety standards in the Construction industry, by their estimates, 2,800 people have been killed in the last 25 years on construction sites or as a result of construction activities. In 2009 the equivalent of one construction worker has died every week.

Campaigners blame the poor health and safety standards in the industry on casualisation of the industry and the illegal gangmasters who are supplying unskilled labour to construction companies to carry-out skilled and dangerous work. The report endorses this view stating that unions can play an important and positive role in driving up health and safety standards in the industry.

While we welcome this announcement, from our own work we know that the Gangmaster’s Licensing Authority is already stretched, if its remit were extended to enforcing standards in the construction industry, the government must ensure that it is adequately resourced.

An exploratory study published last week by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation states that about one in four people in Britain are living below the minimum income standard and this is increasing as unemployment rises.  The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) for Britain is based on the public’s perception of what is deemed to be a “socially acceptable” standard of living.

 According to the latest research a single adult now needs £13,900 a year before tax, and a couple with two children requires a minimum of £27,600 to ensure a livable annual budget.  This is up £500 on the previous year.  You can check your own income against the MIS with their nifty Minimum Income Calculator.

The MIS study demonstrates that a vigorous public and political debate about what constitutes an acceptable level of minimum income is as important as ever.  Furthermore this research can perhaps speak to a wider, international debate on the living wage.

It is widely accepted that it is unethical practice to employ someone but pay them less than they need to live on; and the MIS study helps British society keep sight of what constitutes an acceptable minimum level of income.   The MIS study shows that members of the UK public continue to believe that a minimum standard of living should allow people in Britain not just to survive, but to have “what you need to in order to have the opportunities and choice necessary to participate in society”. 

Across the developing world however and in the production lines of international supply chains millions are being paid wages that are inadequate for a worker to support themselves and their family.  For instance the living wage debate has been argued heatedly in Cambodia where the legal minimum wage in Cambodia is $45 but a living wage has been argued to be closer to $93.   Minimum wages in the global south remain fixed whilst the cost of living increases.

The question remains: how can a living wage be defined and how can a living wage be calculated? 

How a living wage might be defined and quantified has been long debated by many and dismissed by some as too complex an issue.  However the MIS study demonstrates that research in this area can draw valid and meaningful conclusions on what constitutes a locally acceptable level of minimum income. 

As for whose responsibility is it to provide a living wage?  If companies were to bear the true cost of living for all their staff would we then see business success come hand in hand with a company’s ability to increase the sum of its human potential?

As the financial crisis deepens, it raises serious questions regarding the people at the bottom of supply chains who have to cater to the growing global demand for cheaper products. How does the crisis affect them? And who exactly does it affect? Will children be hit the hardest?

A new report by the ILO states that the crisis could push an increasing number of children, particularly girls into child labour. Over the past 3 years, Impactt has found 615 children working in factories around the world, ranging in age from 9 to just short of 16.

Last year we found 21 children at a garment factory in China, most of whom were girls. They had enrolled in a ‘private school’ to learn sewing skills. The school acts as an agent for the factory and routinely takes children there for work.

Their working conditions were appalling. On average, they worked 80-90 hours per week including night time work. They did not have medical checks, health & safety training or even the necessary PPE (personal protective equipment). Their supervisors shouted at them if they made mistakes or worked too slowly. They did not earn minimum wages in standard time and did not get any overtime premiums.

Impactt liaised with the brand, supplier and factory to try and remediate these children in line with the Child Labour Operational Procedures. The aim was to get them out of work and into fully sponsored education while also paying their wages until they reached legal working age. However, in most cases, their parents refused to cooperate because they had doubts about the programme or had been threatened by the factory. In fact, one of the teachers from the sewing school had visited the childrens’ families and warned them against the remediation programme.

In the end, we were able to remediate 1 child. She is now studying computer advertising design at a technical school. Her teachers report she is a diligent student and is making good progress. She lives in the school dormitory and has many friends. At the end of her course, she would like to take up a job in the field of advertising design.

The unfortunate reality is that many brands and retailers probably have child workers at some level in their supply chain. Clean audit reports may inspire confidence that the problem is diminishing, but maybe this just means we need to dig deeper.

And the problem could get worse. As families struggle to make ends meet, there is a great incentive to send children to work. As factories struggle to find cheaper labour, there is a greater incentive to hire children.

What role will brands play in addressing this problem?

Blood, Sweat and Takeaways often felt like a programme with two stories: one which focussed on how the British visitors were able to relate to the native workers: make friends, empathise and build respect; and another which focussed on their reaction against the unfamiliar living and working conditions: disgust, shock, physical revulsion.  Seeing the latter was not pleasant, where peoples’ daily lived reality is reduced to a device for shock factor TV.  However it is perhaps these raw reactions that bring home the vast inequalities to be found in the history of a tin of tuna.

Watching the Brits work and live with the workers allowed the programme to explore some of the impacts that the food supply chain has on people’s lives.  From the positives: a regular source of income, funding for children’s education, to the negatives: the splitting of families, poor living conditions and low wages.  Stacey’s view that ‘no-one should have to make such huge sacrifices for Western benefit’ collides head-on with James’ recognition that ‘if we didn’t have the 140,000 chickens coming through a day we wouldn’t be employing those 5000 people… wouldn’t have jobs, wouldn’t be able support a family…’ 

Clearly there are no easy answers; however at Impactt we believe that where the actions of retailers/brands directly impact on the lives and communities of workers/growers in developing countries there is both a great deal of responsibility but also potential for effecting positive change.  To this end Impactt is working towards enabling buyers to make ‘pro-development’ decisions.

Throughout the series the Brits’ realised that by virtue of the opportunities they had access to during their lives they have a myriad of choices unavailable to the workers they encountered.  In the Western context we are perhaps spoilt for choice but with an awareness of the broad-reaching power of our purchasing decisions we can also be empowered by it.   We watch as Josh takes on new shopping choices with gusto; he dips into a strangers shopping basket pulling out a banana like a game show host and asks: ‘are these Fairtrade bananas?’  The final episode attracted 546,000 viewers, 1/3 of which were between 16 and 34 years old, the fact that these issues captured the interest of a young demographic is exciting and begs the question, what next?  May this be a first step for responsible purchasing decisions; from consumers all the way up to the brands.