Aug

Thai Seafood Company Slave Case Heats Up

A US judge has asked lawyers for two US-based seafood companies to appear in court on September 19 for a scheduling hearing after seven Cambodian nationals filed a civil lawsuit against four companies they say knowingly profited from companies which employed them in “slave-like” conditions.
The case, filed in June by lawyers for the seven Cambodians, names Phatthana Seafood and SS Frozen Food, two Thai seafood companies that export to US corporations, and Rubicon Resources LLC and Wales & Co Universe, two importers based in California which sell shrimp and fish to US outlets like Walmart.
In the complaint, the seven plaintiffs – two women and five men – say they were recruited by a local employment agency in Cambodia between 2010 and 2012. They were all sent to work at Phatthana Seafood in Thailand, where they say they were forced to endure conditions of “forced labor, involuntary servitude, and peonage.”