Industry-specific Risk Factors

Given labour migration is a global occurrence, there is migrant labour in every industry in almost every country in the world — and not all migrants work and live under problematic conditions. This issue focuses on three industries that are commonly identified with dangerous and discriminatory practices against migrant labour: construction, agriculture, and fashion and apparel. To identify potential risks for migrant workers in other industries, companies can access the CSR Risk Check.

Migrant labour is commonly found in the construction industry, in developed and developing countries. Construction — like agriculture — can be sensitive to economic, social, political and seasonal changes, which can mean highly uncertain working conditions for migrant workers. In some countries — such as the United Arab Emirates — up to 30% of the migrant labour pool is engaged in construction. Widespread abuses faced by migrant workers in the construction industry include fraudulent or exploitative practices, such as the withholding of identity documents, excessive working hours, arbitrary deductions or late payment of wages, and being made to work in unsafe working conditions, including not being provided with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE).

Construction-specific risk factors include the following:

• Difficult working conditions: Working conditions in construction are notoriously demanding and dangerous, with high levels of industrial accidents. Migrant workers are more vulnerable to being coerced into working in unsafe conditions that disregard occupational safety and health, especially where there are language barriers or a lack of knowledge of labour rights.
• Living accommodation: Migrant workers are often isolated and living in on-site or employer-provided accommodation, which gives employers control over workers. This often gives rise to risks of sub-standard accommodation or excessive wage deductions for accommodation or transport.
• Transferable skills: Construction skills are often transferable between projects and across countries, which means that workers may not be given specific training on their tasks or the safety and health procedures of a project. This can leave migrant workers vulnerable to abuse of rights and dangerous working conditions.
• Complexity of projects: The complexity of construction projects exacerbates a broad range of labour-related risks for migrant workers. Construction projects may involve hundreds of subcontractors. In many instances, contractors are not obliged to pay subcontractors until they have received payment from the client.
• Financial and economic changes: The sensitivity of construction projects to finance and economic changes can lead to periods of intense work. Migrant workers can be vulnerable to excessive working hours as they may want to earn as much as possible in short periods of time, which can result in unhealthy working time.

The fashion and apparel industry has many characteristics that make the exploitation of migrant workers more prevalent. Reports have highlighted that migrant workers were the worst affected in 2020 when international fashion brands cancelled orders from textile and apparel factories due to COVID-19 — particularly in Turkey and South-East Asia — resulting in unpaid wages and lost jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers.

Fashion and apparel specific risk factors include the following:

• Outsourcing: The industry uses a lot of outsourcing and home working, which makes it hard to trace where a product was made and by whom. This presents big risks for migrant workers who may be forced to work and live in dangerous circumstances, as labour inspectors are highly unlikely to ‘find’ them or witness these circumstances to foster change.
• Economic shifts: As with agriculture and construction, fashion and apparel manufacturing is vulnerable to economic changes, as seen in 2020 due to the economic downturn from COVID-19. This can leave garment workers without wages or work for long periods of time, which is particularly harmful to migrant workers who may not have secure homes, who may lose their visas or right to remain if they are not able to secure a new job and those whose ability to get other jobs is low.
• Labour abuses: Migrant workers in the fashion and apparel sector are vulnerable to wage and working time violations and occupational safety and health risks. This is due to challenges in the enforcement and application of labour laws, especially in the lower tiers of supply chains and subcontracting networks; a lack of specific legislation criminalizing the use of forced labour; weak monitoring of recruitment agencies and labour brokers; and increased international pressure to reduce production costs. Other factors include language barriers and cultural discrimination.

Agriculture is estimated by the ILO to employ around 1.3 billion people (2018) globally, around half of the world’s workforce, many of whom are migrant workers. The seasonal nature of agricultural work means that most agricultural workers are migrant workers who are able to relocate following seasonal patterns of harvesting, fish migration or livestock rearing.

Agriculture and fishing specific risk factors include the following:

• Subsistence workers: Migrant workers are particularly at risk of abuse in the agricultural industry as many live and work in a subsistence fashion, without any permanent accommodation or other form of income. This can result in employers taking advantage of workers and creating abusive conditions, such as excessive working hours, unsafe working environment, lack of PPE and withholding of wages.
• Worker accommodation: Reports show that temporary migrant worker accommodation in the agricultural sector has been a ‘hot spot’ for COVID-19 transmission during the global pandemic.
• Difficult to trace supply chains: Long supply chains and subcontracting make it difficult for businesses to ensure labour rights are respected for all workers, including migrant workers. Remote locations also mean labour inspections are less likely to occur, and workers are more likely to be isolated from their environment and therefore unable to reach out for assistance or to seek remedy.
• Dangerous work: Agricultural work is one of the most dangerous in the world according to the ILO. Migrant workers — particularly those who are undocumented or in an irregular situation — often do not have access to health care, so injuries or illnesses that result from agricultural work (such as heatstroke, repetitive strain injuries or exposure to chemicals) can go untreated, potentially leading to significant illness or injury.
• Fishing and whaling: Fishing and whaling are also dangerous occupations as they are mostly undertaken offshore where workers are vulnerable to dangerous tides, weather and storms. Fishing fleets can also stay at sea for months and even years, leaving workers extremely isolated, particularly if they have no access to the ship’s communication system. Fishing is heavily reliant on migrant labour and hard to monitor, which means that abusive labour practices are rife and workers are at high risk of being trapped on vessels or abused.