Bumble Bee Foods dodges demands for better working conditions at sea

(CN) — A federal judge on Wednesday denied a group of Indonesian fishermen the relief they sought in a legal dispute over working conditions on fishing boats that sold tuna to Bumble Bee Foods.

The four fishermen, all from rural Indonesia, accused Bumble Bee Foods of violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act by forcing them to work in intolerable conditions and under the threat of violence.

They requested the court prevent Bumble Bee Foods from benefitting from tuna harvested without making sure its venture partners put certain protections in place for fishermen, including access to Wi-Fi, prompt monthly payments, returning to port every three months and guaranteed minimum rest hours.

However, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant, a Barack Obama appointee, found the fisherman lacked standing.

The fishermen claimed they have experienced ongoing harm from the loss of job opportunities in the commercial fishing industry.

Specifically, the fisherman said commercial fishing is a lucrative sector of the Indonesian economy and Bumble Bee’s size and influence in the tuna market mean its policies and practices have a widespread effect on regional fleets. They said the likelihood they will suffer the same physical abuse and forced labor prevents them from working in the industry.

“Though the court is sympathetic to challenges plaintiffs may face in seeking employment, plaintiffs have not alleged deprivation of a financial benefit for which they are certainly owed,” Bashant wrote.

Bashant also found the fact that the fishermen had previously experienced forced labor on vessels supplying tuna to Bumble Bee doesn’t mean that the fishermen continue to experience that harm now that they are no longer working on those vessels.

“​Since plaintiffs do not allege that they are currently working as fishermen, that Bumble Bee Foods’ allegedly violative practices have directly prevented plaintiffs from working as fishermen and/or earning a livelihood, or that plaintiffs would secure immediate employment as fishermen if the court were to grant plaintiffs’ requested injunctive relief, the court finds that plaintiffs have not sufficiently demonstrated injury-in-fact to obtain injunctive relief,” Bashant wrote.

The fishermen’s accusations stem from their experience working aboard a commercial fishing boat they thought would offer well-paying jobs supplying tuna in the Bumble Bee Foods network. Instead, the men were forced to work long hours without rest, severely beaten, denied medical aid, starved and ensnared in a debt bondage scheme for months, they said in their complaint.

The men said they were isolated and cut off from any assistance or communication on the boat due to the nature of the fishing supply chain. They said they remained at sea while supply ships restocked the boat and collected the fish they caught in a practice known as “trans-shipment.”

The fishermen claimed they were prevented from returning to shore until they banded together and demanded that their captain take them home.

They requested both injunctive and monetary relief from Bumble Bee Foods. The company argued the fishermen must choose one or the other, but Bashant found otherwise.

“The court also finds that plaintiffs’ allegations that Bumble Bee Foods will continue its practices to be sufficient for plaintiffs to allege that damages alone are inadequate,” Bashant wrote. “However, in addition to alleging damages alone are inadequate, plaintiffs must fulfill the elements of Article III standing in federal court to proceed on their claims for injunctive relief.”

It was there that the fishermen’s request faltered. Bashant granted Bumble Bee’s motion to dismiss the fishermen’s claims for injunctive relief with prejudice, barring them from raising them again. Bashant in November had declined to toss the fishermen’s lawsuit.

Neither Bumble Bee Foods nor the fishermen responded to a request for comment before press time.

According to the United Nations, about 128,000 people are trapped in forced labor at sea. The issue has been pervasive for international labor organizations, according to Greenpeace, which played a key role in the investigation of the Bumble Bee Foods case.