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Human Trafficking has been a predominant issue the world as a whole has fought for the past decade. Human trafficking is a broad term for a multitude of different sub-categories. These sub-categories are broken down into Sex-trafficking, Labor-trafficking, and commercial sexual exploitation. The majority of human trafficking that takes place is for the purpose of o abor and slavery. The majority of this occurs in third world, or underdeveloped countries that feed the United States with product as part of our booming national ecommerce markets. Many companies outsource their production efforts to other countries in an effort to save money and avoid paying labor taxes. The problem derives from the high demand for product and the inability to find willing participants to work for the low wages offered. Many third-world production companies find themselves labor-trafficking their human work force to meet these incredibly high demands and tight deadlines.
There are really only two options to stop this egregious crime. Both fall under targeting production at its source. The United States has implemented labor laws for people whom operate and work for companies within its borders. However, there are no restrictions implemented for those working outside its borders. Tariffs exist for indirect imports into the United States from some countries, but direct imports are not usually affected. With the lack of ability to enforce these direct imports, and the inability to monitor and enforce rules and regulations in other countries, our ecommerce industry is feeding into the human trafficking business by making slavery and labor trafficking a profitable market. Without addressing this issue, the horrible sourcing of innocent people for slavery will continue.
The first option I propose, is taxing direct imports to a similar extent that production within the United States would impose. For example, if a lot of 1,000,000 cell phones would cost a company $75,000 in taxes including labor tax, and product tax make the import tax $75,000 so the incentive to outsource the items is removed. The advantage of this could include keeping these jobs in America, reducing the need for illegal workforces oversees thus eliminating labor-trafficking and allowing companies and regulatory agencies direct oversight of production ensuring quality standards are met. The disadvantages of this are; increased pricing to the consumer, higher initial production and labor costs, and potentially lower returns to investors.
The second option I propose is regulating workforce for companies that operate within the United States in all countries of operation. This would be different from imposing similar taxes to take away the appeal of outsourcing production. By regulating work force in other countries the United States would require each company to submit documentation of the workers willingness to work and right to work. The United States would also require third-party internal audits of working conditions and employee satisfaction. If employee conditions were not to standard or employees were dissatisfied because they were not working at their own will, the United States would deny direct imports until these qualifications were met and potential assess a fine against imports once these qualifications could be reasonably proven that they were within standard compliance. The benefits of this are: keeping production costs lower, implementing a way to monitor and enforce violations, allowing companies to conduct business without too much government interference, eliminating the need for labor-trafficking and keeping outsourced working conditions decent and acceptable. The disadvantages of this are: potential increased pricing to the consumer for non-compliant businesses, lack of product imported into the United States due to non-compliant companies, and decreased returns to shareholders for non-compliant companies. Ultimately, this is an option that allows businesses to keep their operating costs low, while eliminating the need and use of labor trafficking. Fines and denials of imports would only be assessed against a company if they were non-compliant with the United States regulations. If businesses maintain good compliance, they can still have a reduced production cost and directly import their product into the United States to feed the consumers.
Although labor trafficking is not a common issue in the United States, it has become one of the largest sources for human trafficking in other parts of the world. The United States has gone to extraordinary efforts to eradicate this issue by placing labor laws into act and devising regulatory agencies to monitor and enforce compliance within all work places. It is the hope of many, that one day labor trafficking will be eliminated because companies and corporations will move their operations into their country of origin. Until that happens, we face an undeniable issue of slavery. The commonwealth of all individuals is important, not just those in our country. We should derive a mindset that our greed has adverse effects on those who are tasked with making the products we demand. Everyone can do their part by purchasing items made in the United States.
References
- Global Centurion (ND) The Problem of Modern Slavery https://www.globalcenturion.org/programs/theproblem/
- Human Trafficking Hotline (December 2017) Labor Trafficking https://humantraffickinghotline.org/type-trafficking/labor-trafficking
- L. Miller (April 2018) Why Labor Trafficking Is So Hard To Track https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/why-labor-trafficking-is-so-hard-to-track/
- U.S Department of Labor (January 2019) Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/our-work/child-forced-labor-trafficking
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