Exploitation And Forced Labour Practices Of Working Holiday-Makers In The Australian Fresh Food Supply Chain: A Structural Approach

Abstract

This thesis examines the dynamics and processes that drive exploitation and forced labour of temporary migrant workers in the Australian fresh food supply chain. The thesis argues that forced labour needs to be understood as a broader paradigm to capture the multiple factors and root causes that make supply chains in the Global North a site for exploitation. Through a study of working holiday-makers in the horticulture sector, this thesis explores the roles labour contractors, farmers, supermarkets and the state play in shaping a labour market that is conducive to the emergence of exploitation. Each of these actors, as part of the production network, affect the level of precariousness that working holiday-makers experience in horticulture. The study is thus motivated by the question of what produces and drives exploitation and forced labour at the intersection of the fresh food supply chain with the labour supply chain in Australia. This thesis integrates the theoretical concepts of forced labour and precarious employment into a “continuum of exploitation” research framework, which is then applied to examine the specific sector of horticulture. The qualitative methodological approach is two-fold. Firstly, secondary data were collected and evaluated. Second, expert interviews were conducted and evaluated through thematic analysis. This dual methodological approach addresses the factors and dynamics that drive and shape exploitation. In sum, the exploitation of temporary migrant workers in supply chains emerges as a product of precarious employment that is driven by structural factors. Therefore, this thesis concludes that exploitation and forced labour in supply chains in the Global North will not decrease unless it is addressed from a systemic perspective where response strategies are extended from an individual perpetrator approach to also include structural factors.