A minimum wage has been invaluable for big pools of unskilled workers, said David Welsh, a Southeast Asia country director for labor rights group Solidarity Center. “Any elevation of wages benefits workers. Remove minimum wages from the policy equation and you have a recipe for disaster.”

“[W]hen faced with authoritarian regimes or institutions that deny people their basic rights, unions and other civil society organizations face a choice: Step up, form coalitions and build true economic and political freedom. Or, appease the ruling elite which will, eventually, work to destroy the labor movement,” writes the Solidarity Center’s executive director, Shawna Bader-Blau.

Anti-slavery certification schemes, accolades and awards are hardly reliable indicators for the public when choosing between companies, according to Neha Mira, a trafficking expert with the U.S.-based workers’ rights charity Solidarity Center. “The same time as you’re giving a gold star to a company, they’re firing workers for trying to organize in the workplace … or women for getting pregnant at work,” she said.