Unite says extend gangmasters law into construction
14th May 2009
Unite on Home Affairs Select
Committee report on human trafficking - the evidence is clear;
extend gangmasters law into construction
Commenting on the Home Affairs Select Committee report - The
Trade in Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK - out today
(Thursday), Unite deputy general secretary Jack Dromey said: "The
Home Affairs Select Committee has done an excellent job of shining
a light into this country's hidden workplaces. In pointing to the
ease with which migrant workers can be forced into modern-day
slavery, it reveals the ugly side of employment in the UK.
Despite recent efforts to clamp down on abuse, there is still an
enormous job to be done to root out those who prey on the most
vulnerable in our workforce."
Unite has been campaigning for the Gangmasters Licensing Act to be
extended from food and agriculture into the construction,
hospitality and social care sectors to give workers in those
sectors the protection from employers who abuse labour laws.
Today's report gives further weight to the calls for an extension
of that law into other sectors.
Jack Dromey continued: "When employers can get away with abusing
migrant workers to drive down wages it harms workers
everywhere. Every effort must be made to end such
exploitation, not just because it is repugnant, but because it
feeds division and fans fear in our workplaces and
communities.
"But deterring the crooks who seek to turn a profit through
workers' misery doesn't just mean stepping up enforcement so that
it really does deliver for workers and good employers. It also
means closing the yawning gaps in our laws, such as the failure to
protect workers from illegal gangmasters right across our economy,
particularly in construction where there is widespread evidence of
abuse. A patchwork of protections and an on-off approach to
enforcement lets the crooks off the hook.
"Now it is over to government. The evidence of worker
exploitation is piling high; government can no longer ignore the
calls to extend licensing and put in place a universal, transparent
process for determining who is fit to supply labour in this
country."
Unite argues that licensing exposes bad practice and forces
employers to improve or be barred from trading, and that the system
works well in the food industry where licensing of labour providers
(gangmasters) does exist.
However, the government has resisted calls to extend the Act into
other sectors, despite growing evidence that rogue gangmasters are
operating in them, particularly in construction, driving down wages
and conditions in the process.
In June, Jim Sheridan MP will introduce a Ten Minute Rule bill in
the Commons which seeks to extend the Gangmasters Licensing Act
into construction. Unite and its colleague union Ucatt are
both backing the bill.
ENDS
For further information please contact Pauline Doyle on: 07976
832 861
Email to a friend
