Seafood giant Thai Union Group is working to boost employment conditions in its shrimp supply chain by bringing all its shrimp processing operations in-house from the end of December.
The company said the move would provide it with “full oversight” of “all processing stages”. Thai Union said the change was necessary because, despite regular audits, it could not ensure that all contracted pre-processors were adhering to its code of conduct and providing Thai and migrant workers with safe and legal working conditions.
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The issue of labour conditions in the Thai seafood sector came into sharp focus in 2014, when accounts of forced labour, torture and murder on board fishing boats providing feed for the Thai shrimp industry were brought to light.
Thai Union said it is offering employment opportunities to up to a thousand workers currently employed by external pre-processors.
Thiraphong Chansiri, president and CEO of Thai Union said he was “pleased” to offer “safe and legal employment to thousands more workers”.
“This is a positive step towards our goal of ridding the Thai seafood sector of illegal labour practices. We are committed to leading improvements in the industry and we hope this reminds all operators that they must remain focused on promoting good labour practices – the abuse of human rights must not be tolerated.”
Last month Swiss food group Nestle detailed plans to tackle forced labour and human rights abuses in the Thai seafood supply, including changes to the way it sources seafood in Thailand.
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