n By Chris Kaufman
Why we must never forget the 2004 tragedy of the Chinese cockle pickers
Twenty years ago I met the grief- stricken relations of the 23 Chinese cockle pickers drowned in Morecambe Bay. I can remember the bitter-sweet moment as clearly as yesterday.
It happened in a small church in London’s Chinatown in 2004. I had been invited to a memorial held in their honour as the Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) officer responsible for agricultural and rural workers. It was unbearable to think of their loved ones trying to phone home on their mobiles as the chill waters rose around them.
In that bitterest of moments I was able to offer the one hope that the families could hang onto. That others could be spared the same fate. The union’s 50- year campaign for a licensing system to drive out cowboy gangmasters was set for victory in the House of Parliament.
But sadly my optimism was misplaced. The Gangmasters Licensing Authority founded in 2005 has become a hollow mockery. The rise and fall of the GLA has left the field open for rogue gangmasters to get away with murder.
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), successor to the GLA, is chronically underfunded and devoid of any union participation. There are so few workplace inspections that only one in 200 employers a year are visited by the pitifully stretched inspectors.
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Canny cowboy bosses can easily dodge enforcement of compliance with licensing rules.
In the words of Unite food, drink and
agriculture national officer, Bev Clarkson, “it has become a toothless body run by the government for the government. I haven’t got a good word to say for the GLAA. They go for the easy options, highlighting nail bars and car washes, not the big boys; the supermarkets like Tesco.
“They are signed up to the Ethical Trading Initiative for labour standards,” says Bev, “but the supermarkets fail to adequately check conditions in their supply chains. They make fine noises but allow undeclared agricultural workers and meat sector employees to be paid a pittance.”
The T&G-sponsored MP Jim Sheridan’s Bill established the GLA in
2005. It had cross-party support and a remarkable coalition of unions and employers – the NFU, legitimate gangmasters, supermarkets – as well as the Ethical Trading Initiative, the churches and Citizens Advice.
I was one of four union representatives on the GLA board (now there are none) along with reps from the coalition groups whose shared aim was to stop the exploitation of the workers who put the food on our tables.
It was the culmination of half a century’s campaigning by the old NUAAW agricultural and allied industry
Vulnerable workers can no longer count on a properly funded enforcement and compliance agency (now excluding union representation) the GLAA, to support them
union with Joan Maynard, Jack Boddy, Don Pollard and Paul Redgate to the fore. The campaign gained added clout when the union joined the T&G determined to protect seasonal agricultural and food workers.
Chris Kaufman, former Unite/T&G national officer
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After issuing its first licenses in 2006, the GLA “made the difference which the original coalition wanted”
according to former GLA chair Paul Whitehouse. Now it was a criminal offence for gangmasters in farming, food processing and packing, forestry and shell fishing to operate without a license or to use an unlicensed gangmaster.
19 uniteLANDWORKER Spring 2024
“It brought better conditions of employment for thousands,” went on Whitehouse, “more revenue for the Exchequer – by retrieving unpaid gangmaster taxes – and order to a sector which had been lawless.”
Unfortunately vulnerable, often migrant, workers can no longer count on a properly funded enforcement and compliance agency (now excluding union representation) the GLAA, to support them. Bad news for the 250,000 estimated workers toiling in the fields and in the associated food industries.
As a General Election approaches many union members will be hoping the Labour Party sticks to its pledges to step up workers’ employment rights. Many cowboy bosses will be hoping it does not.
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[The GLAA] go for the easy options, highlighting nail bars and car washes, not the big boys; the super- markets like Tesco
Bev Clarkson, Unite national officer
WHAT WE NEED • Proper funding for the GLAA
• Restoration of union seats on the GLAA board, to use their first-hand understanding of abuses at work
• Input to strategic oversight of enforcement
• Enough inspectors to be effective
• Enforcement of compliance with the licensing scheme
• Extension of coverage to hospitality, care and construction.
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