Unite comment on Home Affairs Select Committee report on human trafficking

Unite comment on Home Affairs Select Committee report on human trafficking

Unite comment on Home Affairs Select Committee report on human trafficking

Unite comment on Home Affairs Select Committee report on Human Trafficking – The evidence is clear; extend gangmasters law into construction

Commenting on the Home Affairs Select Committee report, The Trade in Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK, out today (Thursday), Unite deputy general secretary Jack Dromey said:

“The Home Affairs Select Committee has done an excellent job of shining a light into this country’s hidden workplaces. In pointing to the ease with which migrant workers can be forced into modern-day slavery, it reveals the ugly side of employment in the UK. Despite recent efforts to clamp down on abuse, there is still an enormous job to be done to root out those who prey on the most vulnerable in our workforce.”

Unite has been campaigning for the Gangmasters Licensing Act to be extended from food and agriculture into the construction, hospitality and social care sectors to give workers in those sectors the protection from employers who abuse labour laws. Today’s report gives further weight to the calls for an extension of that law into other sectors.

Jack Dromey continued: “When employers can get away with abusing migrant workers to drive down wages it harms workers everywhere. Every effort must be made to end such exploitation, not just because it is repugnant, but because it feeds division and fans fear in our workplaces and communities.

“But deterring the crooks who seek to turn a profit through workers’ misery doesn’t just mean stepping up enforcement so that it really does deliver for workers and good employers. It also means closing the yawning gaps in our laws, such as the failure to protect workers from illegal gangmasters right across our economy, particularly in construction where there is widespread evidence of abuse. A patchwork of protections and an on-off approach to enforcement lets the crooks off the hook.

“Now it is over to Government. The evidence of worker exploitation is piling high; Government can no longer ignore the calls to extend licensing and put in place a universal, transparent process for determining who is fit to supply labour in this country.”

Unite argues that licensing exposes bad practice and forces employers to improve or be barred from trading, and that the system works well in the food industry where licensing of labour providers (gangmasters) does exist.

However, the Government has resisted calls to extend the Act into other sectors, despite growing evidence that rogue gangmasters are operating in them, particularly in construction, driving down wages and conditions in the process.

In June, Jim Sheridan MP will introduce a Ten Minute Rule in the Commons which seeks to extend the Gangmasters Licensing Act into construction. Unite and its colleague union Ucatt are both backing the Bill.

– ENDS –

For further information please contact Pauline Doyle on: 07976 832 861.