Post #4376369
2026-08-03 21:23 UTC
“Donald Trump is right. I never thought I’d say that.” Alan Fels on Australia’s slave labour situation.
I knew we had an issue with agricultural workers and labour hire companies, because it’s been reported in before. But, I suspect like many people, I’d somehow assumed that being reported meant that it had been addressed, because surely, in Australia, we wouldn’t let that sort of thing prevail on a significant scale?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-04/australias-hidden-modern-slave-labour-workforce-exposed/106968610?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
Replies (1)
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@Susan60@aus.social 2026-08-03 21:30
When I was teaching year 10 economics years ago, a colleague put together a unit on the chocolate industry & child/slave labour in Africa. I bought some fair trade chocolate from the supermarket to share with my class in the introductory lesson. When I went to buy more the next year, the only fair trade chocolate on the shelf was a big name brand, but only their milk chocolate. The other varieties were not fair trade. And the small producers had been forced off the shelf. And now most labels make some reference to fair trade policies, but apparently it’s largely a sham.