Slavery in India’s Brick Kilns & the Payment System: way forward in the fight for fair wages, decent work and eradication of slavery

Responsible businessIndia

Report revealing shocking levels of debt bondage and child slavery in brick kilns across Punjab. The report found that the recruitment and payment systems underpin this cycle of slavery, trapping seasonal migrant workers in bonded labour year after year, leaving women unpaid and not treated as workers, and encouraging child labour. It identified changing the piece-rate payment system into a time-based one, where workers are paid individually and regularly, as a systemic change that would help break the cycle of bonded and child labour.