Two conflicting stories are being told about Thailand’s Narong Seafood. The first is illustrated by a photo on the company’s website showing four smiling executives giving the thumbs-up to a man in the middle holding an award. Under the headline “Narong Seafood against any form of child labour, forced labour and human trafficking,” the caption explains that the economic-crimes division of the Thailand police had given the company a good corporate citizen award “for strong leadership and fair trade practices.”
That story reaches outside Thailand: Narong is a Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified facility. It’s the blessing that allows its frozen shrimp to be placed on shelves of retailers and sold by foodservice operators in the United States, Canada and Europe.
The flip side to this story was the 7 June report, “The Walmart Effect: Child and Worker Rights Violations at Narong Seafood, Thailand’s Model Shrimp Processing Factory.” It contains the findings of researchers working with the International Labor Rights Forum and Warehouse Workers Union who interviewed plant workers at Narong’s main plant in Samutsakorn. The workers told stories of underage workers, falsified documents, excessive fees and wage violations.
They explained how these alleged abuses slipped the notice of auditors. They claim managers knew about audits ahead of time; managers would tell underage workers to stay home during audit days. And audits didn’t occur during night shifts, when most underage workers, as well as undocumented migrants, were employed. Managers selected which workers the auditors would interview and told them how to answer questions. Managers told everyone else to “wear [their] uniforms neatly” and “work more slowly and systematically than on other days,” according to the report.
Click here to read the full story that ran in the July issue of SeaFood Business >
