A realm of useful information has been produced by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) to help labour users, packhouse managers, processors and farmers protect workers from exploitation.

The series of brochures, handbooks and leaflets, as well as a DVD, is designed to help those in the agricultural, horticultural, commercial forestry, shellfish gathering, food and drink processing and packaging industries understand their responsibilities in relation to licensing to protect worker abuse.

GLA chairman Paul Whitehouse said: “Labour users can play a key part in the fight to end worker exploitation. By working together, we can drive out the unscrupulous operators. Report the rogues and we can do the rest.”

Nigel Jenney, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) said: “Now is the time to tell the GLA about the businesses and labour providers that can give the industry a bad name. We should use the resources of the GLA to focus on questionable practices and put pressure on those who undercut the prices of law-abiding businesses. There is no point complaining about the problems if you are not willing to take the first step to resolve them.”

The brochures include the Labour Users’ Guide, licensing standards booklets, workers’ rights leaflets in a series of different languages, and the GLA handbook for labour users.

All information is available at www.gla.gov.uk.