This morning I woke up and was watching CNN's Freedom Project (more here), even though they haven't specified in great details how this amounts to modern day slavery I believe I am quite familiar with the practice of debt-bondage labour, not because I come from Cambodia, but because I know people who came to Switzerland on a similar 'scheme' shall we say. Without naming any names, the company is a fairly sized recruitment company and they supply a lot of the IT contractor streams to the big banks over here.

Basic concept of Debt-Bondage Labour:

1. Promise of a guaranteed job somewhere for X wage.
2. The promise is subject to a contractual agreement of work for a number of years.
3. The exit clause for the agreement is that you have to pay for 'a service' that you are obliged to take / subscribe to before you sign the agreement.
4. 'the service' is overpriced (We're talking tens of thousands) and is basically what will stop you from leaving.
5. You are usually subcontracted to work for the 'source of the money' and payed by the 'agent', the 'agent' will then honour part (1.) of the agreement but in practice is taking a big slice of the sub-contracting fee.


So conclusion:
If this is regarded as modern day slavery in Cambodia... is it fair to assume that this is Modern day slavery in Switzerland?

And as far as I'm aware a lot of people come over here on similar schemes where they are practically part of an extortion racket!

Opinions?

OUTRAGE anyone?

Should have put it in the daily life!

..and why are you so surprised that this exists here?

Some sarcasm is required here...

Look that's how IT subcontracting to India works. Companies love it because it minimises staff turnover, the Swiss government loves it because it means the Indian labour that's brought in can't leave the current employer, unions love it for the same reason, and there are enough people who apply because they prefer Basel to Bangalore.

What will you ask for next? Minimum wages? a 40 hour week? unfair dismissal laws?

Don't worry, we're all here on tenterhooks, with bated breath, hanging on to your every word, like coiled cobras, poised to strike, ready to roll, and many, many more metaphors and similes besides...


...just as soon as there's a glimmer of an iota of a piece of a whit of a fraction of a scintilla of a modicum of a smidgeon on a of a hint of whatever it is you're actually going on about.

Not surprised, I already accepted that this is how it works nowadays... Just thought it was a bit hypocritical for CNN to lecture people in cambodia when it's actually happening right under our noses! Right here right now!

Well sooner or later these people are gonna realise it's not worth it and they might start a mini revolution à la Arab Spring.

And your point being?

My point being, what is your point?

Is it ok to have these sort of practices in this day and age?

Do I really need to make another Poll?

sorry, i have a hard time believing that voluntarily taking up a job in one of the richest countries in the world, working in IT and sitting on an aeron chair in an air-conditioned building for a bank could be considered 'slavery' in the same sense of a worker who has had their passport withheld and forced to work in a cambodian factory.

Voluntarily is questionable...

Also you may be working in the same building as the CEO but you will be on substantially less than the average wage of permis, and your quality of life is not really going to be anywhere close to that of the typical 'expat' you are in fact just another form of 'cheap labour'...

Anyway I never said this is slavery in the conventional sense... hence the use of 'modern day slavery'...

Regarding the passport thing, it's just symbolic, you may have access to your passport here but slavery has always been about that feeling of being trapped and exploited regardless of the conditions that of course are gonna be better than in a third world country...

it has been argued that modern day slavery is the case in the US as well. Intriguing people to amount such financial debts that they are forced to work the borrowed money off.

I guess being roped in to take on debt you can not afford by playing on anyone's vulnrabilties / hopes / aspirations / difficult circumstances would lead to the same end result.

might as well call it "poor working conditions" or "bad deal" instead.

so long as there are effectively personal bankruptcy laws, then i don't think debt-servitude can be equated to slavery.

i would argue that US student could arguably be said to be in debt-servitude due to the near impossibility of getting rid of the huge student debts.

No need - I already made one.

ha ha well it's not a very good poll is it bet you won't get more than 10 votes

Agreed it's certainly a bad deal and the conditions are not great... But just goes to show how the media and generally everyone just assumes that it's ok to call it 'slavery' when it happens in third world countries but in the west it's just the norm and how dare anyone suggest that slavery may still exist...

Er, no. Slavery has always been about actually being trapped and exploited. You know, by force and everything.

It has nothing to do with spoilt expats who have no bleedin' idea how lucky they are to be doing what they do and actually getting paid to do it.

I accept your wager - let's say 50chf, just to make it interesting

there's also another kind of slavery, namely 'economic' slavery.
Physical slavery requires people to be fed and housed
Economic slavery requires people to be able to feed and house themselves.

These are the ones who can be considered as the 'human farm' working hard to increase the profits of their (owners) employers/landlords/tax councils etc

Guido

Bollocks. Absolute bollocks.

The fundamental principle behind slavery - real slavery, not this undergraduate socialist claptrap - is compulsion.

If you are not compelled, on pain of severe punishment, to work for someone, then you aren't a slave.

Simples.