David Batsone and Manpower, Inc. Team Up To Fight Trafficking

World renowned journalist and anti-trafficking leader and activist David Batsone talks about the abolitionist efforts of Manpower, Inc. -- a super corporate ally in the fight against trafficking -- and the Not for Sale Campaign's upcoming Global Forum on Human Trafficking, where you can meet David Arkless of Manpower, Inc.

Like many of you, I travel quite frequently for work. And as I traipse about from one country to the next, I rarely take into consideration the various regulations that so many individuals must maneuver through when traveling abroad in search of employment. Individuals who have not been met with the same background, opportunities, and international status that life has so afforded me. As a business professional with an American passport and well established career, issues of contract, sponsorship, and work visas hardly ever cross my mind.

Recently I shared a cuppa joe with David Arkless, President of Government and Corporate Relations for Manpower, Inc., the world's leading employment agency. While David, like myself, rarely has to consider work contracts or restrictions on his personal movement across the globe, he is continuously striving to better understand the experience of those who do. He knows what the global talent pool looks like today: the industries that need it, the recruiters that find it, and the regulations that police it. As President of Government and Corporate Relations for the global leader and industry icon of labor recruiting, David is in an elite group of individuals who truly understand what the future of global labor will look like. He also understands how the laws regulating each country's labor recruiting can create ambiguity where coercive and manipulative labor recruiters find opportunity to thrive.

I am no stranger to the inspiring efforts of Manpower, Inc, first learning about their work while researching for my book, "Saving the Corporate Soul." I was impressed to discover Manpower's substantial commitment to combat human trafficking, where they've done so globally through the creation of the "Athens Ethical Principles."

In today's corporate world it is not uncommon for a company to create a major campaign to address a social issue. But it is rare to see a company take on an issue as extreme as human trafficking, and even more rare when that issue is intrinsically tied to that company's industry (a substantial amount of documented trans-national labor trafficking cases involve corruption, coercion, or misconduct by a labor recruiter on some level).  Not only has David Arkless put Manpower at the forefront of the fight on human trafficking, but he is actively recruiting from the top 1,000 corporate leaders across the globe to join them in this fight.

During my brief coffee with David, I was inundated with enough ideas to fill another three books on labor trafficking alone. I left that meeting increasingly certain of two things. First, that we must look to the models set forth by David Arkless and Manpower if we are to end the exploitative labor practices of fraudulent recruiters within labor industries across our globe. And secondly, that I want every business person I've met to hear David present on the issues of labor in our world and the future of the global talent pool.

I am so pleased to offer you an opportunity to do the latter. This October 8th and 9th you can join David Arkless, along with the leading global experts on combating modern-day slavery, at the first Global Forum on Human Trafficking presented by the Not For Sale Campaign and Humanity United.  David will present alongside individuals like Lou DeBaca, Ambassador-at-large to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking in the U.S. State Department. I hope you can join me at this momentous event. After seeing the inspiration a single cup of coffee with David Arkless can hold, I can only imagine the impact of an entire forum!

Photo credit: kwalk628