Human Trafficking in Our Transportation System Every day around the
world, women, children, and men become victims of human trafficking and are
exploited for domestic work, sweatshop labor, or sex. Too often, those exploited
arrive at their destination through our vast transportation system. It’s
estimated that 27 million people fall prey to modern-day slave traders. And if
you think this is not a problem in the United States, you would be wrong. The
United Nations tells us that human trafficking is a $32 billion-per-year
industry, with half of those profits made in industrialized nations. And in
fact, a UNICEF brief explains that the United States is “a source and transit
point for trafficking and is considered one of the major destinations for
trafficking victims.”
That’s why the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) is joining the
effort to better educate transportation workers about the horrors of human
trafficking. Transportation workers are uniquely positioned to help combat this
global scourge on humanity. The TTD Executive Committee, made up of leaders of
33 unions with members in the transportation sector, has endorsed the
Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking initiative led by the
Department of Transportation (DOT) in partnership with the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), praising Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood for his
leadership on this difficult issue.
As part of the DHS Blue campaign, DOT has begun training
its 55,000 employees and 20,000 contractors in ways to identify the warning
signs of trafficking, and Amtrak, whose workforce is largely represented by TTD-affiliated
unions, is training its 20,000 workers on how to recognize and safely report to
authorities instances in which passengers appear to be trapped in a trafficking
situation. Other employers are following suit and we will cooperate in this
effort.
The
policy statement adopted by the TTD Executive Committee affirms our
commitment to do our part given the fact that traffickers rely on our nation’s
transportation network to move their victims inconspicuously and hide their
crimes in plain view. With modern communications tools and strategic partnering
with employers, transportation workers are perfectly situated to spot someone
being trafficked and help in the fight to end to this global human tragedy. |