Government proposals to reform the Gangmasters Licensing Act (GLA) will put agricultural workers at risk according to the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Ministers want to scrap automatic inspections for businesses applying to use or supply groups of workers and claim the GLA should focus “on the worst excesses in the areas it regulates.”
Brendan Barber, general secretary at the Trade Union Congress, fears changes to the licensing regime will reduce protection for workers. “It will now be much easier for new gangmasters - including those who have lost licences previously - to set up without facing proper checks,” he said.
“Major retailers at the top of supply chains have customers who ask hard questions about the ethics of the goods they buy. They will now be able to offer far less reassurance that UK-sourced food is free from exploitation.”
Farming minister Jim Paice has promised the revised GLA will free up resources for inspectors to act more quickly and reduce the burden of red tape.
And the NFU welcomed the proposals, believing they will increase protection for British growers.
NFU senior legal adviser James Potter said: “The NFU welcomes the proposals’ focus on exploring alternatives to prosecution against a labour user who uses an unlicensed gangmaster and the move towards administrative fines and penalties for low-level and technical offences.
“Other worthwhile reforms include simplifying the licence application process, extending the licence period to two years and deregulating low-risk activities such as apprenticeships.”
The GLA was established in 2004 to protect agricultural workers from exploitation in the wake of the 2004 Morecambe Bay accident where 23 cockle pickers were drowned as they worked gathering shellfish for criminal gangmasters.
No comments yet