Jun

Slave Labor Victim Speaks Out

Dy The Hoya, a program officer at labor rights group Central who worked on the case, said a total of seven victims, five men and two women, had filed complaints to the Federal Court in Los Angeles, California, and named Walmart, Rubicon Resources Corporation Company, Wales & Co. Universe and a branch of Thailand’s Phatthana Seafood as the companies which violated laws related to human trafficking in the United States.
“The reason for filing complaints to these four companies was because we found that Phatthana Seafood supplies products to US company Walmart, so a team of lawyers in the US is helping get compensation,” he said.
He added that this case has been worked on since 2012, the lawyers have finished their search for evidence and the US court received the case in June. Lawyers also filed a complaint in the Thai court system because the company’s products are made in Thailand, where they are then bought by US companies.
“Because we ran out of patience, in April 2012 all the workers started a mass protest, which led to Thai officials using guns and firing warning shots in the air to threaten and to stop the protest,” he said. “The workers protested because they could not stand the repression and the way the company disobeyed the labor laws.”

This post is also available in: Khmer

Cambodia, SeaFood, Slavery, Thailand, United States, Walmart