MIGRANT FISHERS AT SENA CALL FOR WI-FI & LABOUR RIGHTS

Migrant fishers at SENA call for Wi-Fi & labour rights via enforceable brand agreements. Voluntary measures and certification schemes have failed: forced labour remains a risk for fishers and seafood supply chains.

Representatives of a migrant fishers’ union in Taiwan, along with the Global Labour Justice-led Wi-Fi NOW for Fishers’ Rights Campaign, called on seafood industry leaders gathered at the Seafood Expo North to demand mandatory Wi-Fi access for all crew through Enforceable Brand Agreements (EBAs) that include protections against retaliation for raising safety issues and other labour and human rights violations.

Taiwan’s distant water fleet is a major supplier of canned tuna to the U.S. market. More than 20,000 migrant fishers spend up to 10 months or more working at sea without guaranteed Wi-Fi access. Cut off from their families, medical providers, union representatives, and regulators, fishers are unable to report violations in real time. This extreme isolation prevents the exercise of freedom of association and creates a high risk of forced labour in tuna entering the U.S. market.

“The isolation is not an accident of ‘bad captains’ or a handful of rogue vessels. It is built into the very business model of distant water tuna fishing. Vessels are at sea for months at a time, and Wi-Fi connectivity for crew is often treated as a discretionary perk rather than a right. As a result, forced labour, wage theft, and even deaths have become endemic in the supply chain that puts tuna on U.S. dinner tables,” said Jennifer (JJ) Rosenbaum, Executive Director of Global Labour Justice.

Masduki Priyono, an Indonesian fisher in Taiwan’s distant water fleet, addressed seafood industry leaders and allies at several SENA events. A father of two, Priyono worked for over a year without pay on the MSC-certified vessel You Fu in the Taiwanese fleet. Promised a six-month voyage, he was kept at sea for 15 months—sometimes without sufficient food, water, or medical care, and with no way to communicate with family or authorities. Upon reaching port, he was told he would receive payment only if he agreed to return to sea.

“Wi-Fi access for crew needs to be mandatory on Taiwanese vessels,” said Priyono, “With Wi-Fi, we would have been able to communicate with our union and our families, and check in real- time to see if we were being paid.”

Seafood brands are increasingly concerned about the reputational risks of forced labour in their supply chains, yet they have failed to mitigate that risk and continue to rely on ineffective audits and voluntary certification schemes, such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Fisheries Improvement Projects (FIPs).

“When Wi‑Fi access is left up to vessel owners or the captains, it can be shut down or denied, especially when fishers need it most. Without mandatory access accountable to workers, fishers are vulnerable to retaliation for speaking out. Wi-Fi access guaranteed through a binding agreement will ensure fishers can access their labour rights, including freedom of association and the right to be free of forced labour,” said Achmad Mudzakir, General Secretary of the migrant fishers’ union, FOSPI-PMFU.

The fishers were joined by a wide array of Massachusetts labour and community allies at a rally and vigil outside the convention centre.

“Every crew member at sea deserves the same fundamental labour rights we expect on land – safe working conditions, the ability to communicate,” said Katie Murphy, President, Mass Nurses Association. “Without it, abuse stays hidden, and lives are lost.”

Global Labour Justice –(GLJ) is a non-governmental organisation that works transnationally to advance policies and laws that protect decent work, to strengthen freedom of association and workers’ ability to advocate for their rights, and to hold corporations accountable for labour rights violations in their supply chains.

Image: Global Labour Justice