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Sean Sellers is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) Network. Prior to joining WSR Network staff, Sean spent nearly fifteen years supporting the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) efforts to improve labor conditions in U.S. agriculture. From 2003 to 2010, Sean worked in several capacities on the Campaign for Fair Food. In 2011, his work pivoted to the implementation of the Fair Food Program (FFP) across the Florida tomato industry and beyond. Sean was a founding staff member of the Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC), the program’s third-party monitor, where he worked as a senior investigator until 2016. Sean has a BS and MA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Theresa Haas is the Director of Outreach and Education at the Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) Network. Prior to joining WSR Network staff, Theresa served as the Director of Communications for the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent labor rights monitoring organization, which works to protect and defend the rights of workers who make clothing and other consumer goods. While at the WRC, she helped to develop and launch the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a legally-binding agreement between workers and apparel brands to make factories safe. She is a graduate of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State University.

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Thomson Reuters recently announced the winners and honorable mentions of its annual ‘Stop Slavery Award’, comprised of companies and groups that are actively fighting against all forms of modern slavery, and are the leading examples of Corporate Social Responsibility in regards to modern slavery and human trafficking specifically. The initiative recognizes companies that have taken concrete steps to eradicate forced and other forms of modern slavery from their supply chains.

The primary prize winner was Adidas, with additional recognition as an “Outstanding Achiever” for excelling in every judging category, however Thomson Reuters’ also went on to recognize the other winners and short-listed nominee companies including Barclays Bank, The Co-Operative Group, C&A, Intel, Walmart Stores, Inc. and many others for their efforts to combat modern slavery. We at CHTCS want to congratulate all the companies recognized for leading the corporate fight against human trafficking and modern slavery.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

Two Hungarian nationals who were subjected to months of forced labour and poor living conditions were the focus of a court hearing today.

The victims were both living in Hungary when they were made aware of an opportunity to earn a living in the UK. They were offered living accommodation and regular salary for manual work.

One of the victims arrived in the UK about six years ago and initially settled in Sheffield but he was told of work opportunity in Leicester so decided to move to the area.

Quickly life changed for him and he worked long hours and wasn’t paid. If he refused to go to work he was assaulted and wasn’t allowed out of the property.

At a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court today the defendant, Kazmer Kolompar, 43, of HMP Birmingham, pleaded guilty to holding a person in servitude and a further related offence under the Modern Day Slavery Act 2015. He is due to be sentenced on Friday, November 10.

In 2015 Kolompar contacted the second victim in Hungary and told him he could earn four times as much in the UK and could come and live with him.

Again, for the first few weeks life was fine for the victim but then it changed. He worked and wasn’t paid, he was given very little food and whenever he asked for his salary he was assaulted.

Detective Constable Jo Turnbull is from the force’s modern day slavery team. She said: “This was an extremely difficult case to investigate. The victims were both very traumatized by what they were subjected to. They never ever thought that they would be living in such conditions or made to work for little or no money.

“We are pleased Kolompar has admitted to the offences which has meant the victims didn’t have to relive his crimes in the court room.

“The Modern Day Slavery Act has only been in existence for the last two years and this is the first prosecution in our force area under this legislation.

“The individuals who commit such offences prey on people’s vulnerabilities and offer them a life they could only dream of. In reality this isn’t the case and many victims are left distraught.

“We will continue to work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice and would encourage anyone who has any suspicions about a friend or neighbour who may be a victim of such crime to contact us.”

Source: Loughborough Echo

In a raucous of rumors, promises, and realities, the Trump Administration is vacillating a clear solution for updating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and a potential border adjustment tax. As a result, business on the U.S. border will continue as usual with business supply chains using the Maquiladora industry through the Maquiladora program, IMMEX, to manufacture goods.

Based on the eternal search for low-wage labor sources, the Maquiladora industry was born in Nogales, Sonora 50 years ago under the National Border Development Program (PRONAF) by the Mexican government. Subsequently, a diverse development of first, second, and third-tier maquiladoras now perform manufacturing services from simple assembly to more complex production operations. Growing with global economy demands for on-time delivery, quality manufacturing, and low labor costs, the Maquiladora industry is a mix of foreign-owned and locally-owned businesses found mostly along the U.S./Mexico border.
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WHAT IS ETHICAL INVESTING?

The Biblical-era concept of “Ethical Investing” has been edging into mainstream conversation under the auspice of Twitter and the hashtag #GrabYourWallet. The consumerism movement is broadly affecting companies through boycotting efforts like #GrabYourWallet and investment strategies that impact company leadership, company image, and overall revenue. Historically, investing ethically had been guided by religious guidance from Jewish law to the Qur’an focused on social justice concepts that advise investors to avoid interest in businesses such as liquor, pornography, gambling, and banks. Under the New Testament teachings of the Methodists and Quakers, an expansion of social justice embraced peace and nonviolence by avoiding profit from products designed to enslave or harm fellow human beings, including war.

The contemporary concept of Ethical Investing is synonymous with various investment terms; Sustainable-Responsible-Impact (SRI) investing, Socially Responsible Investing, and Impact Investing. In the last 60 years, ethical investing has interwoven itself into government policies, improved human rights, and environmentalism as shown in the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Acts, the advent of Earth Day, increased investment funds, the Domini Social Index, and the formation of National Action Plans (NAP).

Today, investors are driven by profit potential integrated with an evaluation of environment, social, and governance (ESG) factors through qualitative and quantitative analysis that aligns with their personal values and social priorities. As a result, a responsible and sustainable approach to ethical investing has culminated into three separate investment strategies.
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In April, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced multiple measures to further deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse. USCIS has begun taking a more targeted approach when making site visits across the country to H-1B petitioners and the worksites of H-1B employees. According to a press release, USCIS will focus on:

• Cases where USCIS cannot validate the employer’s basic business information through commercially available data.
• H-1B-dependent employers (those who have a high ratio of H-1B workers as compared to U.S. workers, as defined by statute).
• Employers petitioning for H-1B workers who work off-site at another company or organization’s location.

The targeted visits will allow USCIS to focus resources where fraud and abuse of the H-1B program may be more likely to occur and determine whether H-1B dependent employers are evading their obligation to make a good faith effort to recruit U.S. workers. USCIS will continue random and unannounced visits nationwide. These site visits are not meant to target nonimmigrant employees for any kind of criminal or administrative action but rather to identify employers who are abusing the system. Employers who abuse the H-1B visa program negatively affect U.S. workers, decreasing wages and job opportunities as they import more foreign workers. To further deter and detect abuse, USCIS has established the email address:

REPORTH1BABUSE@USCIS.DHS.GOV
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APSCA’s Executive Board are pleased to announce the acceptance of 3 new member organisations, bringing APSCA’s membership to 22. The new members are Counter Human Trafficking Compliance Solutions, Extensive Standard Technical Services Co., Limited (ESTS) and Openview Service Limited.

These new members have demonstrated the competencies required via an application process, Third Party Due Diligence and an interview, to ensure all members are professional organisations which meet APSCA’s standards.

APSCA is very excited to be growing at this pace, having 9 founding members in August 2016 and growing to 22 in April 2017.
Please join us in welcoming our new members!

Source: APSCA

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We at Counter Human Trafficking Compliance Solutions (CHTCS) were happy to close out the year being highlighted in Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s feature story “VF Puts People First” about improving corporate social responsibility throughout apparel companies in its December 2016 issue.

The story focused on the VF Corporation, a company who despite having no business in Rana Plaza at the time of Rana Plaza factory fire, found the devastating accident so tragic that it took matters into its own hands, “addressing potential problems with factory conditions, worker safety and sustainability within its own supply chain”, far before legislation and regulations required them to do so.

Our COO and CSO James Wiley was quoted in the article, saying “Companies might say [corporate social responsibility] costs too much money, but it will save a company money in the long run.” If you’d like to read the entire article, please click the button below.

Source: Supply & Demand Chain Executive