Modern Slavery Act

The United Kingdom has recently passed a law titled the Modern Slavery Act that will attempt to crack down on forced labor in that country. Concerned about business concerns, the original bill did not do anything to force corporations to take accountability for their supply chains, but a grassroots effort forced a provision in the bill that will force companies to make public their efforts to stop slave labor by their suppliers. It’s interesting to read how corporate journals respond to laws like this as they advise businesses. This is one good example, but which is basically arguing that businesses should get out in front of these problems while not making any statement that could allow the “gaggle of class-action lawyers” to hold them accountable and in fact to take no actual accountability at all. In other words, the response is to do as little as possible while protecting the business. Such advice is not surprising. And maybe it does a bit of good. But a company could also actually take that responsibility over the supply chains and ensure that the goods are produced ethically. This is not actually very hard to do. It would simply take corporations paying as much attention to this as they do to keep costs down from those suppliers.

The source for that image is here and is actually a White House initiative to promote the end of slave labor.