On Tuesday, February 23, our group spoke with Lauren Jackson who is the Research and Policy Officer at the Walkfree foundation. The Walkfree Foundation is based in Perth, Australia which made it very hard for us to interview them. Walkfree collects data and creates benchmarks in order to monitor companies and sometimes force them to do better. This benchmarking system is called the Global Slavery Index which is published every four years and is mainly directed for companies to monitor themselves instead of being targeted toward consumers.

The goal of the Index is to give companies a wake-up call when they are mistreating their workers. Walkfree visits these companies with their team and discusses solutions. Sometimes companies are very reluctant to speak with them which is a big struggle. This year they are re-evaluating companies and they expect that COVID-19 has made the forced labor issue even worse, which makes their benchmarks even more important. Lauren also talked about the migrant workers who were being left out of relief plans and made their lives even harder during COVID-19. This caused these workers to be even more desperate and forced people to make the tough decision to work in forced labor just to get the minuscule wages they earn there.

She also told us about the change that consumers need to make in order to pressure companies into treating their workers better. She recommends boycotting companies that use forced labor and talking to your representatives in order to change labor policies in your communities. This gave me more of an incentive to learn more about this topic so I can educate other people in the future. This interview inspired me to keep working and also educated me even more on the topic and the companies who abuse their workers.

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On Thursday, February 10th our group met with Meredith Dank. Meredith is a research professor at NYU, she specializes in commercial sex economy, human trafficking, teen dating violence, and LGBTQ issues. We talked to her about the work she does overseas and the labor issues she fights for. She talks with human traffickers and supports victims of human trafficking in other countries.

She told us about the people she met overseas and was saddened when she couldn’t help people in a horrible situation. She also talked about the dangers of being a “hero” and attempting to save people who are being trafficked, because most of the time dangerous missions can backfire and make life worse for victims of human trafficking. She relies on people to live out their horrible contracts, or escape from bad trafficking conditions in order to conduct her research and teach more about the topic. Her work is very important in solving this problem because if people aren’t educated well enough, they aren’t informed about the topic which allows it to go unnoticed.

I really felt for Meredith when she had to make the tough decisions to leave people who are in horrible situations and will most likely go back into the human trafficking system. I was shocked when I learned that people some people she talked to are so desperate that they will reenter the horrible working conditions they endure just to get a very small amount of money. Her experience opened my eyes and gave me a professional view of the issue, I am excited to continue fieldwork and learn more about our topic.

Meredith told us that

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On Monday, February 8th our group met with Jason Scherr. Jason Scherr is the founder and CEO of Think Coffee, he was originally a corporate attorney. But after many years on the job, he realized the lack of human connection he encountered in his job and was faced with a difficult decision. Should he quit his job and risk making less money, or should he stay in a job he didn´t enjoy? He chose the first option and in 1996 he started a small coffee shop as a hobby, called Think Coffee. Eventually, his little shop turned into a coffee shop chain, with 11 locations in NYC and a franchised location in Korea.

Jason talked to us about the background checks he runs on coffee farmers, and the contracts he makes with them that sometimes force them to treat their workers better. Think Coffee actively goes to countries where their coffee is sourced and inspects the farms, to make sure the farmers and the children in the neighborhood have access to stable living conditions and are treated fairly on the farm. Oftentimes Jason will make deals with coffee farmers, build homes for farmworkers, and supply library books for children. He currently has two employees working in Nicaragua and meeting with farmers. One of his biggest issues is spreading the word of his sourcing practices to his customers, he told us that ¨Seeing a Fair-Trade certification is very straightforward, but telling our story to customers who really just want a caffeine buzz in the morning is very difficult.¨

He mentioned that he has not seen any forced labor firsthand on any coffee farms, but he has seen workers being mistreated and neglected. But he says the main problem is the harsh living conditions and lack of education children are given. We asked him about any child labor that goes on the coffee farms, and he said ¨It depends on your definition of child labor.¨ In the United States does my 15-year-old son working at my coffee shop count as child labor, I don´t know¨ Some kids on the coffee farms help out their parents during the harvest in Nicaragua, but it is not usually all year, and it doesn´t usually ruin their education. I learned a lot from our visit and I am looking forward to doing more fieldwork in the future.

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On January 24th, my group presented our social justice project to the class. I helped create slides for our group and researched workers issues around the world. I learned a lot about the abuse of Thai fishermen abroad, and how they are fed with false promises. I was shocked by the conditions that migrant Tomato Farm Workers endure. They are worked long hours and are kept in filthy camps which are sometimes infested with bedbugs and rats. Workers are also illegally withheld pay. And sometimes children and even infants, are forcefully worked in tomato farms, in the blazing sun.

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