The co-ordinated action of a multitude of agencies, from the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary to the Lithuanian Embassy, has led to the revocation of three gangmasters’ licences after flower pickers in south-west England and Scotland were found living on less than £10 a day.
The investigation led to the revocation of the licences of AAW Contract Services Ltd, JDSS Ltd and E U Labour Ltd after the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) found overcrowded accommodation and workers attempting to survive on less than a living wage.
The GLA unearthed a deliberately complex and deceptive set up whereby one gangmaster supplied the workers, while another provided both accommodation and transport so that the third labour provider was kept as a “lifeboat licence’ that could be used to transfer the workers to if the other licences were revoked.
The information about the practices of these gangmasters came to light after one Lithuanian worker called his embassy and simultaneously through action taken during Migrant Workers Action Week - a multi-agency operation in Cornwall involving Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, Kerrier and Penwith District Council, Cornwall County Fire Brigade and VOSA.
The GLA found that the workers, who were housed in overcrowded caravans, were only paid “subs” of £50 a week and occasionally less, with the rest of their wages held back until their contract had finished.
However, workers who had left the employment of AAW Contracts Services had not been paid what they were owed, with no evidence of forwarding addresses seen by GLA officers for the money to be sent on to the workers. The pickers were not supplied with payslips. The gangmasters failed to afford the GLA payroll details and bank statements and to notify it that accommodation and transport were being provided.
Michael Smith, director of AAW, has lost his licence and abdicated responsibility for the running of his business to Magdalena Gojtowska, but failed to check the work she carried out. Both have been declared by the GLA not “fit and proper” people to hold GLA licences. Maximum occupancy of the caravans was breached in 22 out of 25 caravans used, the vehicles used to transport workers lacked repair records and they had inadequate tyres
Meanwhile, Joanna Stewart of JDSS Ltd based in Brandon, Suffolk, lost her licence due to three critical failures involving attempting to mislead the GLA, worker accommodation and worker transport. She has also been declared "not a fit and proper person to hold a GLA licence.
And Miroslav Bulczak of E U Labour Ltd based in Falmouth, Cornwall, lost the licence due to evasive behaviour and not keeping the GLA informed of his whereabouts or how to contact him. He has now been declared as “not fit and proper” to hold a GLA licence
The GLA suspects that E U Labour Ltd was a “lifeboat licence” and that if either of the other two businesses’ licences were to be revoked, the workers would simply be transferred to this business and the non-compliant activities would continue.
Gojtowska was also named on the E U Labour Ltd licence and had previously worked for gangmaster Jonathan Beckson of Timberland, whose licence was revoked in 2008.
A spokesman for the GLA exonerated the growers involved in the operations. He said: “We don’t believe the growers did anything wrong in this instance. The accommodation was based away from the farms where the workers were picking and they were paying the gangmasters enough.”
