The NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner, Dr James Cockayne and QUT Centre for Justice PhD student, Justine Coneybeer, have jointly authored a submission to the Inquiry into the Ethical Clothing Extended Responsibilities Scheme 2005 (NSW) by the NSW Parliament Modern Slavery Committee.
The submission is informed by research interviews undertaken with a number of key stakeholders, including people with lives experience, unions, researchers and government officials.
The paper also considers the state of play in the Scheme, and compares it to the relevant international standards to which Australia has committed (UNGPs, OECD framework, ILO Forced Labour Protocol).
The submission makes suggestions for how the Scheme might be better aligned with those standards, and with existing anti-slavery infrastructure, including the Guidance on Reasonable Steps published by the Office of the Anti-slavery Commissioner and through use of the Anti-slavery Commissioner’s existing powers.
Our recent submission found workers in the TCF sector are:
– Primarily female, older (39% over 55 years), and from a migrant and non-English speaking background (38% speak a language other than English at home; the most common language is Vietnamese).
– TCF workers, especially outworkers, exhibit significant indicators of vulnerability to workplace exploitation, abuse and immobility.
– 10% of full-time employed TCF workers appear to earn wages placing them on or below the poverty line.
– TCF workers report vulnerability to coercion and threats, and often work significant unpaid overtime.
– Outworkers suffer three times as many injuries as factory workers.
– In some cases, children appear to assist with work. (There is no minimum age for children to perform this work in NSW.) The outworker workforce is also largely non-unionised.
Read the full submission here.
Congratulations Justine on such an impactful piece of work.
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