One of the UK’s main supermarket brassica suppliers has denied reports in the Polish press claiming it mistreats its eastern European workers.
A report in the Polish Express quotes “ill-treated” Polish migrant staff employed by Lincolnshire-based M. Baker Produce, which employs up to 140 workers per season and has an annual turnover of £10-13 million, with several workers directing complaints at one senior staff member.
Steve Davis, a manager at M. Baker Produce, confirmed that the staff member in question is employed by the business but denies that there is any truth to the allegations.
“The staff member was dismissed as soon as we found out about this report, but we’ve since got our lawyers to look into the claims. They have dismissed every single one of them, so we’ve subsequently reappointed him,” said Davis.
“There has been no investigation by the police and we have since dismissed the agency which supplies us with the workers. I think that the fact that, since the claims, not one of our migrant workers has left the company tells its own story; this newspaper report is lies.”
However, Ilona Korzeniowska, editor-in-chief at the Polish Express, told FPJ: “We are an internationally renowned paper and would never report something frivolous. The M. Baker report was based upon signed statements from registered employees.”
Within the article, the newspaper quotes an unnamed representative from the agency that reportedly supplied M. Baker Produce with migrant workers. It reads: “As soon we heard about these claims we reported this issue to the management and contacted lawyers of M. Baker. We were not satisfied with the response that we received.”
FPJ can confirm that the agency which supplies M. Baker is registered with the Gangmasters Licensing Authority and in a statement, a representative from the GLA said: “We are currently looking into this issue and awaiting additional information from the HSE.”
The GLA has stepped up its campaign to stamp out worker exploitation in recent times, and agreed in May to work more closely with agriculture minister Jim Paice and other agencies to ensure bad practices are eliminated.
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