Bottom of the Barrel

And yet the nature of the global economy makes it nearly impossible to avoid buying products of forced labor. Trapped workers on plantations in Malaysia harvest basic commodities like rubber and palm oil (for toothpaste, cosmetics and biofuels). "It's like I'm out of hell," says one Indonesian who says he spent seven months at a Malaysian rubber plantation working 13 hours a day, seven days a week without pay until he escaped—only to be arrested, imprisoned, flogged and deported. His story is consistent with numerous accounts collected by nongovernmental organizations in Indonesia. But when that plantation's harvest goes to market, it looks just like rubber from anywhere else.

Even a good reputation may hide problems. Thailand-based Sirichai Fisheries supports the U.S.-based Marine Stewardship Council and practices environmentally friendly fishing. But NEWSWEEK has interviewed four past crewmen on Sirichai vessels and seen written complaints to a Cambodian labor-rights group from three others. All claim to have endured treatment that fits the ILO's definition of forced labor. They say their passports were confiscated, and they were forced aboard fishing boats, sent to sea and expected to work brutal hours for more than two years.

Crewmen who completed their tours say they were paid a third less than their recruiters promised. Sirichai's general manager, Wiriya Sirichai-Ekawat, admits there have been troubles with Cambodian recruitments, but he blames labor brokers who were paid by Sirichai for their services in 2005 but were "not our people." Asked if the company's treatment of foreign employees amounted to slavery, he said: "We never do that." In an e-mail to NEWSWEEK, the Thai company's managing director, Wicharn Sirichai-Ekawat, says Sirichai has only one policy: "To follow the law." He says Sirichai is the only Thai fishing company that does not use illegal labor.

Back on dry land, the British-based supermarket chain Tesco has its own problems with Bangladeshis who mop its floors in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. One janitor tells NEWSWEEK he spent his family's savings, sold land and borrowed from loan sharks to pay $3,000 to a job broker in Bangladesh. Now his gross pay of roughly $200 a month is less than half what the broker promised—before deductions for food, housing and job-placement fees. If he works marathon shifts until his visa expires, he might clear $600 for three years' work. "I was cheated," says another cleaning-crew member. "I had dreamed of making my parents comfortable. I wanted to leave something for my children." Tesco, the world's third largest retailer after Wal-Mart and the French chain Carrefour, denies using forced labor and says it conducts "regular audits" to make sure foreign workers are treated fairly.

So far, the international community has taken only small steps to control the traffic in forced labor. In response to complaints, Malaysia has called a temporary halt to imports of labor from Bangladesh. At the other end of the pipeline, the Dhaka government has vowed to investigate charges that Bangladesh's labor exports effectively constitute legalized slavery. But emancipation remains only a dream.

With Joe Cochrane in Indonesia and Sudip Mazumdar in New Delhi

© 2008