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Forced Labor
"Monsanto will not engage in the use of indentured, slave, bonded, or other forced involuntary labor. Monsanto rejects corporal punishment of any type."
Although employee–employer relationships are almost always based on mutually
accepted legal and contract terms, there can be instances around the world when
employees may be forced to work against their will. Such forced, indentured or
bonded labor is never acceptable to Monsanto. We will permit only employment
at will — employment freely chosen, without force or coercion, and according to
mutually accepted contract and legal terms. No one should ever be forced to work
directly or indirectly for Monsanto or any of our business partners.
Indentured labor is work performed on behalf of an employer who forbids workers from terminating employment at the workers' discretion. Bonded labor is work done for an employer not for compensation received by the worker, but to pay off a debt, often a debt incurred by another person who is offering the worker's labor in payment.
Other forms of forced labor include situations in which labor contracts or workplace practices create unreasonable legal or practical limitations on a worker's ability to leave that employment. Such instances include employers' keeping of worker identification documents, the requirement that workers pay "excessive" fees upon entering employment, and the demand that workers pay a penalty upon termination of the contract.
All of these forms of forced labor are strictly prohibited by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
