Across transport supply chains, risks relating to remuneration, pay and access to social protection are systemic – closely linked to subcontracting, non-standard forms of employment and commercial pressures. Many remuneration structures, including piece-rate or productivity-based pay do not account for waiting time, delays or mandatory rest periods, driving excessive working hours, unsafe practices and income instability. Allowances, per diems and reimbursements also obscure real earnings, undermine minimum wage compliance and reduce contributions to social security systems.
Transport workers also face widespread wage abuse, including delayed payments, unlawful deductions and outright withholding of wages. These are indicators of forced labour under ILO standards and are explicitly identified as adverse human rights impacts under the OECD Guidelines.
The denial of social security, insurance and employment protections is a further critical risk, particularly for workers in precarious or misclassified employment. Self-employed workers or those engaged through agencies commonly have no access to pensions, sick pay, health insurance or unemployment protection – and migrant and cross-border workers who fall between jurisdictions face further barriers to access protection or remedy. Workers often end up bearing the economic and safety risks of supply chain operations without adequate safeguards, contrary to ILO decent work principles and HREDD obligations.
Companies must treat remuneration, pay and social protection as core labour rights across supply chains. That means embedding fair wage requirements – aligned with collective bargaining agreements and living wage principles – into contracts, procurement and pricing models, and ensuring that commercial practices do not incentivise wage suppression or unsafe work. Companies should also require that all workers, including subcontracted and non-standard workers, receive equivalent pay and conditions, including access to social security and insurance.
Through collective bargaining – including ITF Agreements in shipping – companies can ensure fair wage scales, enforceable standards, insurance coverage and access to grievance mechanisms. Worker-centred HREDD, labour impact assessments and ongoing monitoring allow companies to identify root causes such as pricing pressure or subcontracting practices, and to implement corrective action.
Companies must also strengthen prevention, monitoring and remedy by working with trade unions to establish transparent payment systems, accessible grievance mechanisms and effective remediation processes: prohibiting wage withholding, ensuring timely and full payment, guaranteeing repatriation and insurance coverage, and tackling root causes through responsible contracting and supply chain governance.