UK Poverty Post

Turning The Tide – Oxfam’s new report examines how best to protect workers employed by gangmasters

Today Oxfam releases its report, Turning The Tide, which assesses the effectiveness of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, whilst also examining other sectors in which gangmasters operate.

The Morecambe Bay tragedy of 2004, in which 23 Chinese cockle pickers drowned due to the negligence of their employer, brought to light the grim reality for those hidden from the consumer, surviving on what can only be described as poverty wages. In the aftermath of Morecambe Bay, the Government felt compelled to act, and created the Gangmasters Licensing Authority – an employment rights enforcement agency tasked with licensing gangmasters (labour providers, often very similar in nature to agencies) in five areas of the economy: agriculture, forestry, horticulture, shellfish gathering and food processing and packaging.

But gangmasters are not limited to these sectors – and so it is unsurprising to find exploitation that is now an exception in GLA-regulated sectors, to be the norm elsewhere. As our report shows, exploitation in construction, social care and hospitality is endemic.

In construction, the explosion of subcontracting has resulted in workers being less trained in safety protection. We found systematic violations of health and safety procedures, with repeated instances of threats to sack workers if they raised concerns, putting both the worker and his colleagues at risk. Our report also found workers paying high rates for overcrowded, low-standard, tied accommodation. Tied accommodation means that if a worker leaves their accommodation – they lose their job and vice versa.

In hospitality – which underwent a proliferation in outsourcing over the past decade – our research found systematic exploitation in the hotel industry in London, which leads us to believe that this occurs in hotels up and down the country. Last night’s edition of Newsnight drew attention to the systematic underpayment of workers in a prestigious London hotel. Indeed, through our research we heard similar stories of workers being paid £2.29 per room, which means that they’d have to clean over two rooms per hour to make the minimum wage . Often workers are paid without wage slips, so they cannot even contest underpayment of wages.

In social care, an industry set to expand significantly as our population grows older, there are similar experiences. We know, for instance, that one-in-five care workers are paid below the minimum wage. Workers were often recruited abroad paying up to £2000 for a job in the UK to be arranged. Subsequently, workers were bonded to their employers, with some working almost 100 hours a week for very little pay.

Why, five years after the Morecambe Bay tragedy, can such abuse by gangmasters continue, you might ask. Currently, gangmasters operating in construction, social care and hospitality are regulated by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) – a poorly resourced, highly ineffective body, as explained in our report. With such woeful enforcement in construction, care and hospitality, it’s not surprising that gangmasters in these sectors exploit their workers as they seek to compete on the cost of labour.

Sectors now regulated by the GLA have been through the same problems – and such intense competition can have fatal consequences. The GLA has had a significant impact in the areas which it regulates: bringing gangmasters into the formal economy, requiring 70% of those initially licensed to improve their standards and revoking licences where appropriate. It is unacceptable that workers in one industry are not subject to the same level of protection as those in another. That’s why today, Oxfam is calling for an extension of the remit of the GLA to construction, care and hospitality.