GUEST BLOG: Ian Powell – New Zealand government’s shameful modern slavery shutdown

Slaves had existed in both ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. However, the word ‘slavery’ has a subsequent Latin origin, ‘sclava’, meaning “Slavonic captive in reference to the 9th-century slavery of Slavonic people.

Over time it came to mean anyone in captivity, not just Slavs (nor for that matter, those in Greece or the Roman Empire). It existed when someone was in the control of another person; like bondage.

To put it simply, historically slavery has been a practice or institution that treats or recognises some human beings as the legal property of others. Slaves lived in a state of legal subjection.

Distinguishing modern slavery

Regrettably, slavery still exists today, including developed economies such as Aotearoa New Zealand. It does, nevertheless, differ from historical slavery.

Modern slavery today; illegal but still subjection (Getty Images)

One the one hand, there are more slaves than ever before. But, on the other hand, they are a smaller proportion of humankind.

Further, no-one seriously defends slavery any more (at least publicly). In contrast, today slavery is illegal everywhere. Corruption, persecution and crime are necessary prerequisites for modern slavery.

Umbrella terms like ‘trafficking in persons’ and ‘human trafficking’ referring to both sex trafficking and compelled labour are used as alternatives to ‘slavery’.

Responding to slavery concerns in Aotearoa

In July 2023 the then Labour government responded to growing concerns over slavery in New Zealand. It announced plans to make businesses publicly report on what they were doing to address exploitation risks in their operations and supply chains.

The initiative was developed with support from the government-established Modern Slavery Leadership Advisory Group, made up of business, union and human rights representatives.

The advisory group was chaired by former Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe. It also included World Vision NZ head of advocacy Rebekah Armstrong; Director of Business & Human Rights, Walk Free, Serena Grant; Chief Sustainability Officer, Air New Zealand, Kiri Hannifin; Manager Employment Relations Policy, Business New Zealand, Paul MacKay; and General Secretary of FIRST Union, Dennis Maga.

Forming the advisory group and the proposal it helped develop was a constructive endeavour to address a societal evil.

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister disestablishes expert modern slavery advisory group

However, in May, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden disbanded the group arguing that slavery was not a priority for the government.

Retrograde decision

On 17 July Newsroom’s national affairs editor Sam Sachdeva brought this retrograde decision into the public eye: Government shuts down modern slavery group.

Newsroom’s Sam Sachdeva reports retrograde decision

Sachdeva reports sacked advisory group chair Rob Fyfe noting that modern slavery legislation was necessary to bring New Zealand into step with a number of key trading partners and to meet the expectations of domestic and international consumers.

In Fyfe’s words:

We [New Zealand] have a proud heritage as a nation standing up for what’s right and fair. Yet our voice is now missing on this issue, while people are being abused and their lives destroyed, producing goods and services that we consume.

Disappointed Rebekah Armstrong responded that 70% of over 200 New Zealand businesses surveyed by World Vision had no mechanisms in place to address modern slavery.

Further, she observed that without legislation many firms would not do the necessary work to examine their supply chains and procurement practices.

In the reported words of modern slavery specialist and business consultant Gary Shaw:

Modern slavery is not just an important issue: it is a fundamental challenge to our definition of success, and if our trade, prosperity and growth is built on the backs of people in slavery, what kind of success are we celebrating in New Zealand?

Migrant labour exploitation and ‘late capitalism’

Retired union advocate Mike Treen has raised the slavery-related issue of migrant labour exploitation.

He was responding to the release of the Human Rights Commission report on the subject as reported by Radio New Zealand (18 August):   New Zealand work visa scheme linked to human trafficking concerns.

Mike Treen places migrant labour exploitation as a feature of ‘late capitalism’ (Stuff)

Writing for Global Peace and Justice Aotearoa the same day, Treen located this extreme exploitation in the context of a feature of late capitalism: Migrant labour exploitation as an essential feature of late capitalism.

This is where he locates the new ‘accredited employers scheme’ for recruiting migrant labour:

… the previous Labour Government set up a new system of 28,000 “Accredited Employers” who were given the right to recruit workers. This year, as soon as the Covid-19 related restrictions were lifted, temporary visa issuing exploded back to the pre-covid level of 20,000 a month immediately. Most visas are bonded to employers for up to three years.

Many of the new visas are meant to be paying the median wage to discourage exploitation. Instead, the visas ended up being sold by agents for tens of thousands of dollars with no actual jobs being provided for many. The employment agreements also nearly all have a 90-day right-to-fire clause included.

What has become obvious is that there were virtually no checks done as to whether they were genuine employers. The capitalist economic theory that rules in places like MBIE and Immigration NZ is a neoliberal fantasy that treats employers as basically honest and there is no difference between someone running a liquor shop or an export industry that actually produces something useful. This time they also allowed dozens of labour hire companies without guaranteed work to qualify compared to a handful pre-Covid. Immigration New Zealand is an instrument for creating a system of mass migrant labour exploitation.

Shining a light on contemporary slavery in New Zealand

In 2023 the Walk Free Global Slavery Index reported in 2023 the results of a survey of slavery globally in 2021, including in New Zealand: Modern slavery in New Zealand.

The Index estimates that on any given day in 2021, there were 8,000 individuals living in modern slavery in New Zealand. This equates to a prevalence of 1.6 people in modern slavery for every 1,000 people.

At first glance New Zealand looks good with a low prevalence both in the Asia-Pacific region (25 out of 27countries) and globally (148 out of 160).

However, 8,000 is 8,000 too many people who were subjected to several forms of modern slavery in New Zealand, including forced labour, forced sexual exploitation of adults, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and forced marriage.

Exploited work-visa migrants in crammed Auckland house (RNZ)  

Specifically:

• Forced labour exploitation, including Pacific migrant workers, was reported in labour intensive industries such as agriculture, dairy, horticulture, viticulture, construction, hospitality, and domestic service industries.
• Forced commercial sexual exploitation of adults including reportedly experience non-payment of wages, passport withholding, abuse, and restricted movement within sex establishments. This was along with migrant women at risk of debt-based coercion where they were forced to pay fines or illegal recruitment fees to operators of sex establishments or brokers. There were also reports of migrants coming to New Zealand on false promises of work in restaurants or beauty parlours, only to be forced to repay migration costs by working in sex establishments.
• Commercial sexual exploitation of childrenincluding reports that parents play a significant role in facilitating sexual exploitation of children in New Zealand. Offences related to the digital exploitation of children have also increased.
• There was evidence of forced marriage; probably more visible in communities characterised by ‘conservativism’ and strict social doctrines.

And then along came Gloriavale

Two months after Brooke van Velden disbanded her modern slavery advisory group a multi-million-dollar class action lawsuit was filed against Gloriavale and five government agencies by former members.

The lawsuit was based on the claim they were held as slaves from birth by the ‘Christian’ community’s leaders.

This followed the successful legal case of former Gloriavale members that they were exploited employees rather than volunteers.

Radio New Zealand reported the lawsuit on 23 July: Former Gloriavale members file multi-million-dollar slavery lawsuit.

Gloriavale is an example of when something that looks like slavery, exploits like slavery and enslaves like slavery, is slavery.

Indefensible cowardice

The rationale for disbanding the slavery advisory group was not only weak. It was indefensible. Its work was neither high cost nor resource intensive. It was not distracting from other priorities.

The advisory group was focussed on how best to address unconscionable and brutal behaviour that largely is invisible to the wider public.

This work might not have been the top priority for Brooke van Velden but humanness required it to be a priority.

Relying on invisibility might be smart politics for some; for most it is cruel politics. It is also political cowardice.

 

Ian Powell was Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the professional union representing senior doctors and dentists in New Zealand, for over 30 years, until December 2019. He is now a health systems, labour market, and political commentator living in the small river estuary community of Otaihanga (the place by the tide). First published at Political Bytes