UCATT Welcomes Select Committee Gangmasters Concern But Warns Against Further Delay

Construction union UCATT have given a cautious welcome to the Home Affairs select committee report on human trafficking.

The report recognised that there was a major issue of exploitation of migrant workers by Gangmasters in the construction industry and that if the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EASI) do not resolve the problem in two years then the Gangmasters Licensing Authority should be extended to cover the industry.

In recent years there has been a huge increase in employment agencies and gangmasters operating in the construction industry. This has further casualised the industry and has led to thousands of workers being exploited.

UCATT has led the campaign to have the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act extended to the construction industry. Last year the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform rejected UCATT calls for the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act to be extended after construction bosses claimed that there was not a problem with agency/ganged labour.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: “I am pleased that the Home Affairs select committee recognises the problems and misery that Gangmasters and Employment Agencies are causing in the construction industry. It is vital that Parliament looks at this issue properly.”

UCATT however rejects the suggestion that the Government should wait two years before taking action. EASI which is currently responsible for regulating Gangmasters and employment agencies in construction has very limited powers, very rarely prosecutes companies and is slow to respond to reported abuses.

Last July UCATT uncovered a Gangmaster working on a PFI hospital site in Mansfield whose workers were receiving just £8.80 a week. UCATT contacted EASI about the issue. The organisation was initially reluctant to take on the case, even when they were emailed all the relevant information; they took weeks to acknowledge that they were even going to investigate.

Unlike EASI, which can only examine cases retrospectively, labour suppliers in industries covered by the GLA cannot supply labour until they prove that they meet minimum standards of probity.

Mr Ritchie, added: “The lack of activity undertaken by EASI and the fact that that they can not prevent exploitation taking place in the first place, demonstrates that they will never be the answer to preventing exploitation in the construction industry. A two year delay will lead to further exploitation and misery, it is vital that the GLA is extended to construction at the earliest possible opportunity.”

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