The issue

The UK’s agricultural system is highly seasonal and fluctuations in demand for labour have traditionally been met by temporary labour providers or ‘gangmasters’. The system is legal but unregulated and as the supply of domestic labour for such jobs has fallen, unscrupulous employers and even criminal gangs have presented themselves as legitimate businesses to meet the demand of growers, pack-houses and food processing facilities. Complex subcontracting, forgery and the presence of many foreign workers who speak little English, make detection of the worst offenders difficult.

Consequently there has been a dramatic rise in the exploitation of temporary and migrant workers. Extreme forms of abuse have been reported, including slavery, violence, intimidation and health and safety malpractice leading to fatal accidents. Many workers are forced to work long hours for sub-minimum wages and live in poor conditions.

The goal

Our goal is government regulation – temporary labour providers should have a licence to operate that demonstrates conformity to international labour standards. The commercial supply chain will then have the tools to work alongside government to ensure workers’ rights are respected.

Key achievements and challenges

• We forged a cross-industry alliance to work with government that includes representation from all relevant sections of the agricultural and food industry and government departments.
• We drafted a code of practice for gangmasters and designed a process for field-testing and further developing the code.
• Having successfully lobbied for government resources and participation in field-testing the code, we gained ministerial commitment to consider the outcome of this work and the case for legislation.
• We identified good practice to be developed into tools for legitimate labour providers.