ETI Temporary Labour Working Group Press Release

Industry unites to fight exploitation of workers in UK food and agriculture

Wednesday November 17th, 2004

Labour providers, including gangmasters, in the food and agriculture sector must demonstrate that they are complying with the law - or they will lose contracts and may even face prosecution under the new gangmasters licensing arrangements when they come into effect in 2006. And labour users must play their part by using only those labour providers that can demonstrate that they are complying with the law.

That was the warning issued today (midday, Wednesday, November 17th, 2004) by the Temporary Labour Working Group (TLWG), a consortium of retailers, food producers, growers and suppliers and trade unions - and backed by government - who have joined forces to produce a Code of Practice which sets out minimum standards to be observed by labour providers operating within the industry.

Labour providers are being urged to make a commitment to bring their businesses up to the standards required by the code now. They should do so by joining a voluntary register set up by the Temporary Labour Working Group and by arranging an independent audit to benchmark their business. This will provide them with an action plan for improvement and enable them to demonstrate compliance with the law to contractors.

The Code is seen by government and the industry as a means to improve practice across the fresh produce supply chain and, by helping labour providers meet the standards which may be required under the new licensing arrangements, as an important step towards licensing. It could also help deter labour users who seek to cut their costs by using labour providers who do not comply with the law.

Launching the Code and report, the Minister for Farming and Food, Lord Whitty said:

"I urge labour providers to sign up to the new Code of Practice. For the first time labour providers can be audited against clear, agreed criteria to ensure that they are abiding by the law and respecting their workers. Those that do should win the contracts, those that do not should not expect to profit.

"Labour providers help meet the demand for a flexible workforce for the agriculture, food packaging and food processing industries. However, abuses of workers and the law are frequent. The government is committed to tackling such abuses but for action to be really effective, the entire supply chain - from labour providers to supermarkets - needs to be involved in stamping out illegal practices."

David Gregory, Head of Food Technology at Marks & Spencers, one of seven supermarkets in the TLWG, added:

"This Code is a clear demonstration of the retail community's commitment to improving labour practice across the industry. For the first time we have a mechanism which will help labour users distinguish good employers from the bad ones. This will assist us, the retailers, growers, suppliers and workers’ representatives, when it comes to ensuring that contracts go to labour providers who comply with the law. Customers can therefore have confidence in the process behind the food they eat."
 

Concerns about exploitation

The TLWG– which includes leading retailers Waitrose, Marks & Spencers, Tesco, Somerfield, Sainsburys, Morrisons, the Co-operative Group and Asda, the Fresh Produce Consortium, the Association of Labour Providers, the National Farmers Union, the TUC and the Transport and General Workers Union – developed the Code amid concerns that levels of exploitation and criminality within the industry are rising.

A recent audit by the TWLG of 6 labour providers and workplaces representative of the fresh produce industry in the Lincolnshire area found routine health and safety malpractice but also incidences of severe forms of coercion and abuse of workers, including:

• Insufficient systems for monitoring working hours
• Failures to respect working time rules. Some workers were found to have no right to even one day off per week.
• Failures to pay the minimum wage or issue adequate pay slips.
• Unauthorised deductions made from pay for items such as transport or ‘administration’.
• Many workers without a National Insurance number. In one instance, workers who were discouraged from obtaining National Insurance numbers were fearful this would leave them ineligible for dental and health care.
• Workers too scared to leave their employment until debts incurred in travelling to the UK were paid off.
• Failure by labour users to provide health and safety training even for workers using dangerous machinery.

In addition there were routine non-compliance issues in the packhouses such as blocked fire exits and insufficient access to toilet and cleaning facilities. The findings are detailed in a report, A Licence to Operate, issued today in conjunction with the Code of Practice.
(See below to download both documents.)
 

Industry must act now

Although licensing will not be introduced until 2006, the TLWG is calling on the industry to take action without delay to put its house in order.

Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the T&G union, a TLWG member, said:

"Labour providers are an undeniable part of modern-day agriculture. But it is not acceptable that some cowboy operators force their workforce to exist in some twilight world where the law is ignored. Together, the Code and new legislation should mean that operating in the shadows becomes less attractive – and certainly less lucrative – for those who evade the law and exploit their workers."

According to Mark Boleat, Chairman of the Association of Labour Providers:

"The code of practice is a huge step forward but is only part of the solution. Labour providers trying to work within the law frequently find it difficult to get business because some labour users are willing to use illegitimate businesses and refuse to pay a rate that enables legal requirements to be met. Supermarkets and packhouses must ensure that the rates they pay suppliers are sufficient to enable the code to be complied with, and the tax authorities must be more effective in dealing with tax evasion which is the means by which illegitimate labour providers earn their profits."

Dan Rees, director of the Ethical Trading Initiative, and chair of the TLWG added:

"The new legislation has the potential to be a real driver for change across the industry, but it will take a year or so of robust enforcement before it bites. In the meantime, the entire food supply chain must work together to promote compliance with the law and deliver changes that customers expect.

"Supermarkets must encourage their suppliers to use labour providers that demonstrate they provide decent working conditions. Suppliers must be willing to pay an hourly rate that meets the costs of legal compliance and labour providers must demonstrate openly the progress they are making. There can be no passing the buck - from farmyard to food hall, every part of the industry has a duty to act."

Meurig Raymond, vice-president of the NFU concluded:

"The NFU has always called for proper enforcement of the law to prevent the exploitation of workers but the Code will help educate and inform the industry."
 

Labour providers can register for the Code of Practice at www.lpcode.co.uk by calling Impactt Ltd on 020 7242 6777, or emailing enquiries at lpcode.co.uk, or by writing to Temporary labour Working Group, c/o Impactt Ltd, 33 St John’s Mews, Holborn, London WC1N 2NA.

[Ends]
 

Downloads

Report - A Licence to Operate [PDF, 278kb]

Code of practice for labour providers to agriculture and the fresh produce trade [PDF, 166kb]

 

See also

Summary of Temporary Labour Working Group Activities in past two years, Nov 2004

ETI Activities: Experimental Projects: Temporary Labour (Gangmaster) Working Group
(Seasonal & migrant workers in the UK food industry).