Fresca Group has denied “grossly unfair” allegations that it is running a “sweatshop” and operating as “fat cats” after the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) launched an investigation into working conditions at Thanet Earth.
The independent investigation was launched after union Unite organised protests and accused the business of denying agency workers holiday pay, denying work as a result of taking holidays, and workers being employed for years on a casual basis without fixed contracts.
Fresca strongly refuted the allegations, claiming Unite has targeted the supermarket supplier but lacks understanding of the fresh produce industry’s challenges.
Fresca’s communications manager Judy Whittaker told FPJ: “There are huge gaps in understanding about the food chain as a whole, and the role of businesses such as ours when it comes to providing consistent supplies of good quality, delicious, safe, sustainable food for the retailers. Of course we have pressures over being competitive on cost, and we’ve had to build our business around a cost model that takes into account the low margins of our industry. To paint us as the fat cats creaming profit at the expense of the agency worker is erroneous.”
Whittaker said the Kent business has “huge fluctuations” in its need for labour and just last week 121 additional agency staff were used one day, and 214 another.
She added: “This is our busiest time of year. Sunshine increases demand and production within our greenhouses and we have to staff accordingly. If the clouds come over, the demand isn’t there and we have to scale back. Our required staffing level in November or January will bear no resemblance whatsoever to the staffing levels on site now.”
Unite regional officer Dave Weeks told The Guardian it is “taking [its] fights to the top of the food chain - the supermarkets that employ Thanet Earth. They have an obligation to make sure workers who help generate their healthy profits are treated fairly from root to basket. We know many shoppers think if you buy local you buy ethical - that’s the message Thanet Earth might have you believe - but these workers have been treated like sweatshop labour.”
Fresca responded: “The term ‘sweatshops’ is entirely inappropriate and grossly unfair in this context. Unite may have issues about the administrative side of agency worker employment, but to use such graphic, emotive wording which ought to be reserved for truly abusive working conditions is misleading and dangerous. It’s entirely this language which keeps Unite in the headlines and maintains the image of unacceptable, unlicensed, unregulated working conditions that the industry left behind years ago.”
Thanet Earth Marketing said all the agencies it uses - Kent Staff, HR Go, Red Eagle and Worldwide Recruitment - were fully audited and licensed by the GLA.
The GLA expects to announce its findings later this month.
FPC CEO Nigel Jenney said: “Allegations continue to be fuelled by Unite and others seeking publicity for their own ends. It’s vital for the GLA to act firmly and swiftly to protect the reputation of reputable labour users.”
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