Sentences for criminal bosses who use forced labour are "unduly lenient" and do not deter modern slavery Paul Broadbent, chief executive of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) said in an interview. “Often the punishment doesn't fit the crime”, he said.
He cited two recent cases in Northern Ireland, where unlicensed gangmasters were fined £500, despite making more than £60,000 and £10,000 respectively from unscrupulous labour practices, including charging extortionate ‘finding fees’ to workers brought over from Eastern Europe.
“We'd worked out the amount of money they'd made out of exploiting those people was way in excess of that fine”, Broadbent said, “so it's actually worthwhile doing it on the off chance you'll get caught, because when you do get caught and fined it's absolutely a drop in the ocean compared with the money you've made.” He added: “The gangmaster was making thousands of pounds. To make thousands of pounds and be fined 500 is almost seen as a hazard of the job and no deterrent, which can't be right.”
He says he is “disappointed” that the farmers, who pleaded guilty to using the labour, were let off without fines. “The farmers have said we're the innocent party, but they got offered labour at a price that was too good to be true – and it was”, Broadbent said. “There had to be exploitation involved... There were Filipino workers sleeping in leaky cow sheds. It wasn't difficult to identify these people.” He added: “Farmers should have a lot of responsibility to make sure that the people that are being hired on their behalf aren't exploited.
The GLA's funding will have reduced by 17 per cent between 2011 and 2014, with next year’s annual budget set at £3.9m. They have already cut back staff and worse is on the way. In its latest strategic plan the GLA admits that there is still a £100,000 shortfall for 2014 and that more job cuts expected. It now has just 31 staff at its headquarters in Nottingham and 37 investigating officers to monitor the whole country. the remit of the GLA doesn't cover construction, it doesn't cover hospitality, it doesn't cover care homes. It predominantly investigates labour exploitation in agriculture. It currently monitors 400,000 to 700,000 workers employed nationally on farms, in food packing and processing and in the shellfish industry, but will no longer regulate 'marginal' industries, such as forestry and apprenticeships.
Broadbent admits that gangmasters operating in workplaces not covered by the watchdog use lower standards because they know they will not be policed. “We're aware of recruitment agencies and labour providers who operate employment models which are compliant in our sector, but operate employment models in other sectors that wouldn't be compliant with our standards”, he said. “It is worrying that people seem to think it's ok to operate different types of employment and tax models in different sectors and don't operate those in our particular sector because they know they'd fail our standards. Those standards were created for a reason, which is to protect vulnerable workers, so it'd be naive to think there wasn't any vulnerability in the sectors that aren't currently regulated.”
Broadbent admits he is constantly holding the line against a government and an industry that appear more interested in being rid of the organisation altogether. Commenting on the scrapping of the Agricultural Wages Board, which used to set farm labourers’ pay and will be closed at the end of this month, he said: “We've got concerns that some people will seek to exploit workers more and more."
The powers-that-be do not see this as a real crime because it is essentially following the logic of the entire exploitative capitalist system on which this society is based. Maximise free surplus labour and the rate of profit, grind down wages and other production costs. In this case the free surplus labour more than outweighs the incidental cost of the fine. UK Plc is about the rich getting richer and the rest of us slowly becoming a form of slave labour to meet their needs. What should happen is that these parasites should be fined/imprisoned and have all the profits of their exploitation confiscated as the proceeds of crime. But that of course would risk imperilling the same systematic theft and exploitation taking place on a more massive scale in the commanding heights of the economy.
He cited two recent cases in Northern Ireland, where unlicensed gangmasters were fined £500, despite making more than £60,000 and £10,000 respectively from unscrupulous labour practices, including charging extortionate ‘finding fees’ to workers brought over from Eastern Europe.
“We'd worked out the amount of money they'd made out of exploiting those people was way in excess of that fine”, Broadbent said, “so it's actually worthwhile doing it on the off chance you'll get caught, because when you do get caught and fined it's absolutely a drop in the ocean compared with the money you've made.” He added: “The gangmaster was making thousands of pounds. To make thousands of pounds and be fined 500 is almost seen as a hazard of the job and no deterrent, which can't be right.”
He says he is “disappointed” that the farmers, who pleaded guilty to using the labour, were let off without fines. “The farmers have said we're the innocent party, but they got offered labour at a price that was too good to be true – and it was”, Broadbent said. “There had to be exploitation involved... There were Filipino workers sleeping in leaky cow sheds. It wasn't difficult to identify these people.” He added: “Farmers should have a lot of responsibility to make sure that the people that are being hired on their behalf aren't exploited.
The GLA's funding will have reduced by 17 per cent between 2011 and 2014, with next year’s annual budget set at £3.9m. They have already cut back staff and worse is on the way. In its latest strategic plan the GLA admits that there is still a £100,000 shortfall for 2014 and that more job cuts expected. It now has just 31 staff at its headquarters in Nottingham and 37 investigating officers to monitor the whole country. the remit of the GLA doesn't cover construction, it doesn't cover hospitality, it doesn't cover care homes. It predominantly investigates labour exploitation in agriculture. It currently monitors 400,000 to 700,000 workers employed nationally on farms, in food packing and processing and in the shellfish industry, but will no longer regulate 'marginal' industries, such as forestry and apprenticeships.
Broadbent admits that gangmasters operating in workplaces not covered by the watchdog use lower standards because they know they will not be policed. “We're aware of recruitment agencies and labour providers who operate employment models which are compliant in our sector, but operate employment models in other sectors that wouldn't be compliant with our standards”, he said. “It is worrying that people seem to think it's ok to operate different types of employment and tax models in different sectors and don't operate those in our particular sector because they know they'd fail our standards. Those standards were created for a reason, which is to protect vulnerable workers, so it'd be naive to think there wasn't any vulnerability in the sectors that aren't currently regulated.”
Broadbent admits he is constantly holding the line against a government and an industry that appear more interested in being rid of the organisation altogether. Commenting on the scrapping of the Agricultural Wages Board, which used to set farm labourers’ pay and will be closed at the end of this month, he said: “We've got concerns that some people will seek to exploit workers more and more."
The powers-that-be do not see this as a real crime because it is essentially following the logic of the entire exploitative capitalist system on which this society is based. Maximise free surplus labour and the rate of profit, grind down wages and other production costs. In this case the free surplus labour more than outweighs the incidental cost of the fine. UK Plc is about the rich getting richer and the rest of us slowly becoming a form of slave labour to meet their needs. What should happen is that these parasites should be fined/imprisoned and have all the profits of their exploitation confiscated as the proceeds of crime. But that of course would risk imperilling the same systematic theft and exploitation taking place on a more massive scale in the commanding heights of the economy.
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