"Are Poor Social Audits Fueling Migrant Worker Abuse in Mauritius’s Garment Industry?"

Nearly a year after a damning exposé threw a spotlight on severely exploitative conditions in Mauritius’s garment industry that included indicators of forced labor, workers are still in a holding pattern that has seen little meaningful progress...

In August 2023, four months before Transparentem published its initial report, the AAFA and FLA, together with e-tailer Asos, business association Amfori and multi-stakeholder organization the Ethical Trading Initiative, co-signed a letter that it sent the Mauritius government. The missive applauded the work that the industry, through the Mauritius Exporters Association, the trade group also known as MEXA, had done to establish a code of conduct to protect workers, including those of migrant extraction. But it also raised concerns about reports from the U.S. government, the United Nations and Transparentem’s own work about labor trafficking, abusive living conditions and underpayment of wages in the garment sector, which undermines the “long-term sustainability of businesses sourcing from Mauritius.”

What came from the letter was a “real mixed bag,” said Sheela Ahluwalia, director of policy and advocacy at Transparentem. There were updated guidelines that increased the minimum wage for migrant workers by 40 percent but continue to allow companies to deduct wages for food and accommodation, which has confused applicants during the recruitment process, she said. The 2023 Private Recruitment Agencies Act enshrined the principle that workers should not pay for their jobs but didn’t clarify that agents must not charge them fees. And this past July, Mauritius enacted the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 2024, which amended other laws including the Private Recruitment Agencies Act and Workers’ Rights Act.

“This new act introduced a category of ‘labor contractors’—essentially Mauritian private recruitment agents who will directly employ migrant workers and contract them to local workplaces called ‘hirer employees,’” Ahluwalia said. “So this law is a step in the wrong direction, as the ‘hirer employer’ is not actually the legal employer and not fully liable to the worker for fair terms and conditions of employment.”... Abdul’s story matched, practically beat for beat, with others that Transparentem gleaned from 80 workers from DDI, Firemount Group, R.E.A.L. Garments and Aquarelle Clothing, the latter three hailing from the island’s Port Louis district, from 2022 to 2023...

Transparentem, for its part, stands by its investigation. The workers it spoke to describe the ways factories would hide problems from the auditors...

[For more on our coverage of Transparentem's report, published in December 2023, and brands' responses and non-responses see here.