Wage Slaves

Here's a great piece of investigative journalism from the Sunday Times that is in the best traditions of the UK press -  I thought at first that the GLA stood for something to do with Greater London, but the acronym stands for the Gangmasters Licensing Authority - a rather depressing and inappropriate title if you ask me.

In this day and age it's almost beyond belief that employers or 'Gangmasters' can be allowed to operate in this way - and with tens of thousands of workers involved apparently, you would think that this area would be ripe for a big, well resourced trade union recruitment campaign - aimed at preventing this kind of terrible exploitation.

If I were in charge of Unite or the GMB, I'm sure I would spend less of the members' money on the pursuit or politics and/or big financial donations to the Labour Party - and much more on the bread and butter issues that ordinary union members support and relate to - such as equal pay and the kind of workers exploitation highlighted by the Sunday Times.

I had a quick look at the GLA website, by the way, and the Unite and GMB unions are both represented on the GLA board - along with the TUC.      

‘Beatings and 17-hour days’: the life of Britain’s food slaves

By George Arbuthnott


Migrant fruit workers say they are forced to live in cramped conditions

WORKERS employed in food factories and farms that supply some of Britain’s biggest supermarkets are forced to do shifts of up to 17 hours for little or no pay, an investigation by The Sunday Times has discovered.

The workers — most of them from eastern Europe — are lured to Britain with promises of good wages but are then made to labour as modern-day slaves.

Police and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), which was created in 2006 to prevent the exploitation of workers in the food production sector, are investigating a suspected human trafficking ring that is alleged to be exploiting eastern European workers in food packaging factories that supply at least three of the biggest supermarket chains.

The probe was triggered in part by the testimony of a Slovakian man in his twenties who fled a meat processing factory. The man claimed he had been forced to work for three years for just £2.80 a day.

“I was being told to work double shifts sometimes seven days a week, but he [the gangmaster] was only paying me around £20 a week. It was like a kid’s pocket money,” he said.

He recalled one occasion when, after fainting due to illness and exhaustion, he was ordered to work a double shift as punishment. He said he and his co-workers slept in cramped conditions in a two-storey house, were given little food and had their bank accounts controlled by the gangmaster.

Another inquiry is being carried out by a charity-funded team of former policemen into claims that Polish workers at a fruit-packaging factory have been forced to work for less than £2 an hour. The factory is owned by a company that claims to supply five leading supermarket chains.

The Sunday Times can also reveal Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda have stopped dealing with a Kent-based gangmaster after an earlier investigation by police and the GLA into claims that workers were being exploited.

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It is claimed that Polish fruit-packaging workers were paid less than £2 an hour (Lya Cattel)The labourers, who mostly come from Lithuania, said they had been forced to work shifts of up to 17 hours for no pay and that they were beaten or threatened with fighting dogs if they objected. Police have made two arrests but no charges have so far been brought.


In another case, the GLA revoked the licence of a female gangmaster in London after she was found to be paying migrant workers less than the minimum wage and housing them in substandard accommodation. Her firm’s website states that it provides staff to suppliers of Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda.

Sainsbury’s confirmed the firm had provided staff for its suppliers but had since ceased to do so. Morrisons and Asda declined to comment.

While there is no suggestion the supermarkets are involved in or are aware of the exploitation of people working for their suppliers, critics say they could do more to ensure their promise that such firms would follow best practice is kept.

The Sunday Times is campaigning to raise awareness of modern-day slavery in Britain. Last week Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, described the problem as “intolerable” and Theresa May, the home secretary, told the Tory party conference that thousands of workers across the UK are being exploited.

According to the Serious Organised Crime Agency, 83 potential trafficking victims were forced to work in the food-processing industry in Britain last year, up from 38 in 2011.

However, many experts believe the true figure is far higher. An inquiry in 2010 by the European Equality and Human Rights Commission suggested one-fifth of almost 90,000 workers employed in the meat and poultry-processing industry in England and Wales had suffered physical abuse. The UK food and drink industry is estimated to employ up to 400,000 workers.

Paul Broadbent, the GLA’s chief executive, said: “The traffickers are locking people up for six, seven hours a day and then making them work 16 to 17 hours.

“The victims are absolutely trapped because they are financially tied to these people. Every conceivable fraud and deception is committed and they rule with an iron rod.”