Verité’s Debt-Bondage Labor Conference, December 9-10, 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand

This year’s Verité Research & Best Practices Conference - Protecting Overseas Workers: Strategic Perspectives on Labor Rights among Foreign Contract Laborers will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, December 9-10, 2004. The Conference will present for discussion and action the results of a year-long study into the legal status and actual conditions of foreign contract laborers in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. This Conference is part of a Verité initiative in the past year to raise awareness and promote solutions on the issue of foreign contract labor.

Foreign contract laborers travel from their home countries for work, generally placed by labor brokers in their home countries. Brokers often charge exorbitant fees at high interest rates in order to place workers. Verité audits revealed that Filipino and Thai workers paid labor brokers from $364 to $5,500 in US Dollars for jobs earning only $200-$500 per month. They often secure these payments with collateral including property. Upon arrival in the destination country, workers are often subject to extreme conditions, and are forced to bear abuse, harassment, long working hours, unsafe working conditions and unhealthy living arrangements, for fear of losing their jobs, being unable to re-pay their debt, and losing their collateral.

For the past year, Verité has engaged workers in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as well as factory owners, NGO’s, multinational company representatives and government officials in a detailed investigation of the range of issues foreign workers have faced when working abroad. The Verité Conference offers the opportunity to present the findings of a yearlong exploration of conditions faced by foreign contract workers and the legal frameworks that often fall short of providing sufficient protection. The Conference and market study will also offer individualized recommendations for the following stakeholders:

Governments - Provide a basis for the development of better laws and regulatory mechanisms and programs in both receiving and sending countries that protect migrant workers.
Financial Institutions - Provide insights on existing financial services available to outgoing contract workers in their own countries, with a view to developing financial services that are less costly to the worker, and that can be used for more than just recruitment and placement fees.
Corporations - Provide a basis for educating suppliers on recruitment and placement fees, and in making sure that the restrictions and protections in countries of origin are honored in factory-worker contracts as well as in factory policies and pay and benefits schemes.
Migrant Workers – Provide information that will encourage and support migrant workers’ efforts to strengthen and expand existing organizations and networks and to develop strategies and programs that promote and protect their own interests.

Presenters include Heather White, Founder and President of Verité, Marie Apostol Director of Verité Southeast Asia, as well as corporate social compliance officers, government and NGO leaders and others from the international community.

For more information about the Conference and to register, please visit our website at www.verite.org. You may also contact Sara Radjenovic in External Relations, at (413) 253-9227 or sradjenovic@verite.org.