Op-ed: Canada is implementing a forced-labour import ban. Will it help exploited workers?
Without close consultation with workers’ groups, import-ban enforcement can be negative for workers and undercut hard-won efforts to improve working conditions in supply chains.
Re:Structure Lab Co-Principal Investigator Genevieve LeBaron, McMaster University Labour Studies Professor Judy Fudge, and Re:Structure Lab Co-Investigator Ali Bhagat have published an op-ed in Policy Options titled “Canada is implementing a forced-labour import ban. Will it help exploited workers?”. The op-ed asks whether import bans benefit or harm workers who are experiencing forced labour.
LeBaron, Fudge, and Bhagat shed light on how worker-led action against forced labour in an Indian garment factory was threatened by a July 2022 U.S. import ban. They highlight how import bans can halt efforts made by workers to improve their own working conditions, putting workers at risk of losing their jobs in the face of the economic pressure faced by their employer.
To read the full article, see the link below.
