‘Turn them back at the border’: Call for ban on forced labour goods

Low-cost fast fashion brands are experiencing a boom in business as Australians look for cheaper consumer goods, but international organisations are warning companies may be cutting costs by using forced labour.

Anti-slavery groups have raised concerns about the practices of fast fashion retailers such as Shein and Temu, calling for Australia to follow the lead of the United States and the European Union and to ban imports of goods manufactured with poor human rights practices.

Clothing and accessories company Shein now has close to 800,000 shoppers each month in Australia and is on track to reach a billion dollars in annual sales, according to Roy Morgan research, while consumer goods store Temu has more than 1.2 million Australian shoppers, amassing an estimated $1.3 billion in annual sales.

Shein is the 14th most downloaded free application on Apple’s Australian app store.Credit: Getty

US politicians and advocates in April called for the US Department of Homeland Security to investigate Shein and Temu. A US congressional report last June found there was an extremely high risk that Temu’s supply chains use forced labour and that Shein and Temu had dodged import taxes and had provided minimal information about the products and the companies involved.

Shein was accused in 2021 by Swiss Advocacy group Public Eye of underpaying its workers and forcing them to work up to 16 hours a day, prompting it to invest $15 million to improve worker conditions. A follow-up survey published in May found workers were still clocking 75 hours a week.

Both Shein and Temu say they operate ethically.

Professor Justine Nolan, director of UNSW’s Australian Human Rights Institute, said Australia’s existing legislation on forced labour paled in comparison to the EU and US.

The EU banned products made with forced labour from its market and introduced stricter requirements for companies to report adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their actions earlier this year. Meanwhile, the US in 2021 banned imports of items suspected of using forced labour by the Uyghur ethnic minority in China.

In 2019, Australia introduced the Modern Slavery Act, requiring large businesses to identify and address their modern slavery risks and to maintain responsible and transparent supply chains. But a review of the act found that reporting was not being taken seriously enough and recommended tougher measures.

Nolan said Australia should implement a ban on imports of products linked to forced labour.

“We want [forced labour] goods turned back at the border. That would be an immediate signal that Australia is taking it seriously, and is a risk the import company couldn’t take as they’d lose masses of money,” she said.

“Australia has a singular response with the act, requiring companies to report and assess modern slavery risks, but we need more than one solution.”

Be Slavery Free co-director Fuzz Kitto said the organisation had been lobbying for an import ban for about six years.

“The problem is if we don’t introduce a ban, we’ll get products redirected away from countries that do have forced labour bans,” he said.

Kitto said there was technology that made tracking an item’s provenance possible, and that there were apps that enabled workers to submit their experiences to help track forced labour.

A spokesperson for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the government was open to stronger laws.

“The government will consider ways to further strengthen Australia’s response to forced labour in offshore supply chains in consultation with the commissioner, once the appointment is made,” the spokesperson said.

Nicholas Bernhardt, chief executive of slavery prevention consultancy company Informed 365, supported the recommendation for penalties for non-compliant companies.

“While it’s good to work with organisations to not have issues in their supply chains, I think we’ve gone far enough in the space to start looking at penalties. It will be taken as the price to pay to do business,” he said.

Bernhardt said the rising cost of living was driving the popularity of cheap, but problematically produced, items.

“We’ve got a serious challenge on our hands to stop that juggernaut,” he said.

“Slavery is often difficult to prove. It takes place in the unseen jobs, and no one is going to advertise it.”

A Shein spokesperson said third-party auditors across more than 4000 workers at Shein supplier facilities in China found that they earn basic salaries (before overtime) that were an average two times higher than the local minimum wage, and more than 50 per cent higher than the Global Living Wage Coalition’s 2022 living wage for Shenzhen.

“We are actively working to improve our suppliers’ practices, including ensuring that hours worked are voluntary and that workers are compensated fairly for what they do, and also recognise the importance of industry collaboration to ensure continuous improvement and progress in this area,” the spokesperson said.

A Temu spokesperson said the company links consumers with independent, third-party sellers and does not manufacture products.

“Anyone doing business with Temu must ensure their own and their suppliers’ strict compliance with our third-party code of conduct and all applicable laws … [and] our standards align with those of other major US e-commerce platforms,” the spokesperson said.

“Before setting up their stores and listing products on Temu, every seller must sign an agreement pledging to maintain lawful and compliant business operations.”

Australia will appoint its first national anti-slavery commissioner this year, with $8 million allocated across four years for the office to respond to modern slavery by supporting victims and survivors, raising community awareness, and helping businesses address the risk of modern slavery practices in their operations and supply chains. NSW first introduced an anti-slavery commissioner in 2018 to focus on state-based human rights abuses.

The national commissioner will not have enforcement or investigative powers. The role was advertised on Friday.

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