Protecting workers: challenges in UK food and farming

A report of the November 2008 meeting of the FEC’s Business Forum

What responsibilities do businesses further down the supply chain, as well as consumers and government, have for improving working conditions in agriculture, horticulture and primary processing? The November 2008 meeting of the Food Ethics Council’s (FEC) Business Forum discussed what factors drive worker exploitation in these sectors.

The meeting was chaired by Charlie Clutterbuck, Director of Environmental Practice @ Work and a member of the FEC.

We are very grateful to Dr Ian Livsey, Chief Executive of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), for speaking at the meeting.

Key points from the meeting include:

• Gangmasters play a crucial part in food supply chains by providing seasonal and temporary labour. Most are law-abiding but a criminal minority abuses workers.
• There are 1,200 licensed gangmasters. 77 have had licenses revoked, 8 with immediate effect.
• Up to 200 other purported gangmasters operate illegally outside the system.
• A direct driver of this problem is that worker exploitation can be very lucrative.
• Migrant workers are especially vulnerable. Many legal workers do not know their rights and are sceptical of agencies charged with safeguarding them.
• The changing structure of the UK labour market and seasonal character of these sectors makes them heavily dependent on temporary workers from outside the UK.
• Government is ultimately responsible for ensuring human rights are upheld. The GLA was set up in 2004 to tackle exploitation.
• It does not absolve employers of their basic responsibility for safeguarding employees.
• Supermarkets share responsibility for labour standards but it is in suppliers’ interests to raise standards before pressed to do so.
• All should be mindful of displacing exploitation to other sectors or ignoring injustices in supply chains beyond the UK.