By Bert Hetebry

We live wonderfully sheltered lives in the western world; the world of consumerism, of capitalism where just about every need we have can be fulfilled, and could be forgiven to think that slavery does not exist, or if it does, it’s not impacting on our lives.

And we just may be wrong.

Recently the UK’s wealthiest family, reputedly worth over $70 Billion, the Hindujas were jailed for up to 4 1/2 years for the ‘slave like treatment’ of servants in their Geneva household. Passports of the staff had been withheld, they only spoke in their language and were paid in Rupees, lodged in an Indian Bank so not accessible in Switzerland. Their renumeration was less than what was spent on the family’s pet dog.

The Hindujas claim the servants were not enslaved. They were free to come and go at times they were not working… up to sixteen hours a day, but had no money to buy a latte at the local cafe or even to see a movie.

So what is the definition of slavery?

In the times of the ancient empires, slaves were captured people from invaded lands. The Romans called them Barbarians, less than human.

A more recent definition of slavery is owned slaves, as in the early days of colonisation, where people were kidnapped from Africa and shipped to the Bahamas, the Caribbean, to the Virginias and other places where crops of tobacco, sugar cane and cotton were grown for consumption mainly in Europe. These slaves were purchased, bought, as one would buy a farm machine today, they were chattel, part of the ‘machinery’ of plantation life. Others worked in domestic settings, cleaning, cooking, gardening and so forth. African slaves, apart from being largely immune to mosquito borne illnesses were used to tropical heat, capable of working in harsh conditions (no white man could work there under those conditions), and also they were considered as less than human. (Indeed, in the USA slaves were counted as half a person for census/political purposes.)

That form of slavery was outlawed in Britain and the British colonies in 1834 and in the US in 1865.

But slavery is very much a part of life today and it impacts on us in the goods we buy.

Modern day slavery takes various forms. Currently in the USA there are about 2 million slaves, working in prisons. Prisoners have no choice and are paid about $20 per week.

A broad definition of slavery today is “situations of exploitation that a person “cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.” That includes human trafficking for both sex and compelled labour.

There is a further definition of slavery and it is very much a part of modern working life where casual employment is used for seasonal or short-term unskilled labour. That existence can be very much a hand to mouth sort of life, where a couple of days work buys a meal or two but barely covers other living expenses. The advantage for the employer of such slave labour is that there is no requirement to provide lodging and clothing, or food outside that agreed in the work contract.

It is estimated that around 50 million people are trapped in various forms of slavery throughout the world today.

In a recently read book, The Ten Types of Human, author Dexter Dias explores various means of control people use over other people. He included modern slavery, child slavery and human trafficking in the book, citing examples of cases he has worked on for the United Nations in various civil wars in Africa and other places, and as a Civil Rights Barrister and part time judge in UK courts. One example he describes is of a young Russian woman who has left her family home, seeking work in a regional city as a cleaner in a hotel. She is offered a ‘promotion’ to work in a fancy hotel in Moscow but in reality is being trafficked as a sex worker. Another is of a young boy sold into slavery by his father in the Central African Republic. His job was to catch fish in a very dangerous manmade lake which had not been cleared of the forests so the fishing gear was often tangled on the dead trees under the water and needed to be freed. The living conditions described and the treatment are appalling. And there was no pay.

We don’t think of slavery as parts of our lives but chatting with friends recently, the relatively new on-line retailer TEMU came up as a talking point. What incredible value, everything is so cheap, and not of bad quality. We wonder how they can ship stuff to our homes at such incredibly low prices.

Or another story told on the weekend, a pair of sports tights, the Lorna Jane type, was purchased online for a ridiculously low price, a close comparison between the new and the old pair being replaced showed that fabric, cut, quality were identical, the only thing missing on the new pair was the Lorna Jane logo. They could well have come from the same production line, perhaps a ‘sweat shop’ operation in Bangladesh which is renowned as a clothing manufacturing hub. Or from North Korea where China outsources garment manufacturing using the cheap, effectively slave labour available. North Korea has a large fabric manufacturing capacity and sells their produce to China, either as fabric in bolts or as manufactured clothing.

In a study, Addressing Modern Slavery, Justine Nolan and Martijn Boersma describe the labour conditions in North Korea as modern slavery where workers are paid subsistence wages and work in harshly controlled environments. To overcome trade restrictions that exist between North Korea and much of the west, manufactured goods, such as the clothes we buy are labelled ‘Made in China’, a Chinese manufacturer may outsource the goods to be made to a North Korean work (sweat) shop. Apparently a large order for Australian surf brand tee shirts was found to have been manufactured in North Korea rather than in China as claimed on the print inside the shirts. Wages paid are less than half that paid in China, but of those low wages, about 2/3rds goes to employment agents and the government. It is considered a patriotic duty to work for the nation and its leader, Kim Jong Un. And it is work or starve.

Another form of slavery is in the food industry, particularly agriculture where seasonal work is needed. The slavery comes in two forms. In the employment of casual labour, often backpackers but also Pacific Islanders who are employed through labour hire firms. In the case of Pacific Islanders, the money for getting to Australia is often loaned by the labour hire firm and paid back through deductions from wages earned. Additionally, rent is charged for accommodation and other costs deducted. Much the same for some back packers, staying in hostels or on-site accommodation, rent/board is charged and meals when they are living on site.

The amount left, in a bad season may be a negative, as in recent years in Queensland where floods and storms damaged crops and the workers were not employed.

Another factor which also amounts to a form of slavery is that the customers buying produce are the major supermarkets and have squeezed margins for the growers making the businesses unviable, unprofitable. While that may not look like slavery, the often family-owned enterprises are the source of income for the family and it puts them into a position of weakness, being forced to grow at the prices and quality demanded or go out of business when the property may be mortgaged, and overdrafts used for ongoing financing to pay wages and other costs.

In the dairy industry the main buyers of milk and milk products which used to be co-operatives owned by the producers are now consolidated into a few overseas owned manufacturers who have demanded lower prices from often family run dairy farms, making those enterprises border-line viable.

Similarly, food processors which used to include local bakers and butchers have been bought out or closed down so that the items we fill our shopping trolley with comes from fewer, powerful multinational organisations.

So we see our everyday lives are impacted by slavery. It is unseen, we go to the supermarket to do our shopping, we purchase stuff, clothes and other goods and price is a motivating factor, but the supply chain that brings us the goods employs enslaved workers, the supply chain operators include some of the largest and wealthiest multinational corporations who squeeze their suppliers for price and quality and pay their workers the least they can get away with. The attitude towards workers is much the same as that of the ancient Romans, seeing those people as somehow less than those who own the corporations, somehow less deserving, not even deserving of a ‘living wage’. But return on investment is sacrosanct for the owners of the means of production. Adam Smith’s quote ‘All for ourselves and nothing for the other people’ comes to mind as does the former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s comment on worker insecurity that workers ‘not ask for higher wages but accept lower living standards in exchange for keeping their jobs.’

I really don’t know what the answer is, but I did enjoy a recent discussion on how we define ourselves and perceive others… and how the things we buy and use go toward that self-definition and perception, where we live, the clothes we wear, the vehicles we drive and so forth. So much of how we perceive ourselves and others is defined in terms of consumption and consumption means inevitably deriving pleasure from the misfortune of others, the slaves who produce our stuff.