The Association of Labour Providers (ALP) has called for supermarkets that drive down prices to be made aware of the knock-on impact that this has on labour issues.

Speaking at the ALP’s annual general meeting in London on Wednesday, chairman Mark Boleat recommended a joined-up approach to labour market regulation, as labour issues come to a head.

He said the trade association should position itself closer to the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) to better achieve their common objectives and he called for the GLA to engage those at the top level of the major multiples in order to take its operations forward.

He said: “We all know that the supermarkets, in particular, exert a downward pressure on prices, and often it is left to the labour provider to seek to comply with those demands as they are transmitted to him, or to give up the business because it is not profitable to do so.

“The GLA has recently been working more effectively with the supermarkets, but I think it needs to go further and engage people at the very top of some of the supermarkets who may not always be aware of the effect of driving down prices.”

Boleat stressed that a joined-up approach would not mean that the ALP has to agree with the GLA on all matters.

He said: “We want to rid the industry of malpractice, in particular that malpractice which means that those businesses operating lawfully, ethically and fairly are at a competitive disadvantage. This means we should want the GLA to take action against those who flout the laws, treat their workers badly and underpay them, because those are the businesses that undercut the reputable ones.”

Boleat appealed to the government to “stop the nonsense” of seeking to merge the GLA with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), first proposed a year ago.

He also urged the government to scrap the Agricultural Minimum Wage and the Worker Registration Scheme, both of which he dismissed as unnecessary and excessive.

He claimed there was “no justification” for the Agricultural Minimum Wage because of the existence of the National Minimum Wage, while he described the Worker Registration Scheme as an initiative that “charges the lowest-paid workers £90 simply to be part of a statistical exercise”.

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