The Gangmasters Licensing Authority risks becoming “emasculated” unless the Coalition Government provides it with enough teeth and funding to protect temp workers in the food industry properly, a recruitment consultancy has warned.
James Paice, Minister of State at DEFRA, later claimed that the future of the agency was secure when asked to reassure the House of Commons about how the GLA operated and was funded by Labour MP Jim Sheridan during Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions.
Paice said that the GLA’s work was “still extremely important” and that discussions were currently taking place within government on whether DEFRA was the right place for it. “But the existence and purpose of the GLA is absolutely right and will be maintained,” he added.
But Mark Mitchell, chief executive of recruitment agency
Meridian Business Support, warned that it was not simply enough to maintain the current status quo or to allow the GLA’s powers to be further eroded.
Creeping exploitation
“The GLA needs to be given more teeth and resources, not less, to fulfil its goal of protecting the people of Britain who pick and process the food for our tables. It’s the only thing we have to protect vulnerable temp workers and it’s in danger of being emasculated rather than reinforced as part of the Government’s Red Tape Challenge,” he attested.
The problem was the “creeping exploitation” of low-paid workers in high-volume, low-cost production food industries where conditions were poor and housing bad, he added.
“Current UK legislation doesn’t give the GLA the teeth and resources it needs to protect people like the cockle pickers and I fear that, while the GLA may be saved, its ability to do its job may be further diluted,” Mitchell said.
Some 23 Chinese cockle pickers were swept out to sea and drowned in Morecombe Bay almost seven years ago. An investigation found that they had not been equipped or prepared for the conditions in which they were working. The gangmaster was found guilty of 21 counts of manslaughter. Two bodies were never found.
The tragedy led to the passing of the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 and the creation of the GLA a year later in order to "safeguard the welfare and interests of workers whilst ensuring Labour Providers operate within the law" primarily within the agriculture and food processing sectors.
At the start of last week, The Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility, a church-based investor coalition and membership body, also sent a letter to the Government, co-ordinated by the Institute for Human Rights and Business, urging the retention of the GLA in its present form and to broaden its remit to other employment sectors that it does not currently cover such as care work, hospitality and construction.
