feature Descriptor here ‘‘
We’ve got more migrant workers being abused in agriculture than anywhere else. If the government wants to get serious about preventing abuse and exploitation, it needs to reform the [then] Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA)
Bev Clarkson, [then] Unite national officer
"It’s exploitation, dehumanisation. It’s unacceptable in any country that claims to value fairness and workers’ rights. But we are not disposable; we are human beings.”
Landworker also caught up with Gabriela Cunha, a new rep who works at the 2 Sisters poultry plant in Wolverhampton. Like David, she came to the UK to start a new life – in her case, from Brazil, to marry her Dutch husband who settled here.
Gabriela said she wishes more people understood just how hard life can be as a migrant worker in the UK.
“Many migrant workers don’t understand their rights,” she explained. “It’s hard when you can’t speak English fluently. Also, like me, many of us did not have manual jobs before coming here.”
Gabriela herself was a primary school teacher before coming to the UK.
“I think most people don’t understand just how difficult these manual jobs can be – the shifts are very long, and the job itself is literally painful. But they are also important jobs.”
At a time when anti-migrant sentiment is rising in the UK, Gabriela urges British people to understand that migrant workers are “not the enemy.”
“We aren’t coming here to take people’s jobs; we come here to work hard with everyone together. The UK needs migrant workers. We want to build a life for ourselves – to pay tax and contribute to society.”
She urged migrant workers to join Unite.
“Sooner or later, all of us will need support,” she said. “It’s hard to know what your rights are when you first arrive in the UK, especially if English is not your first language. Don’t be afraid. Unite will support you.”
Outgoing Unite national FDA officer Bev Clarkson, who retired last June, said it was vital that migrant workers, who form the backbone of the food sector, are given greater protections.
Outlining what she sees as the biggest problems remaining in the sector, she said, “Everything we eat and drink stems from agriculture, and we’ve got more migrant workers being abused in agriculture than anywhere else.
“If the government wants to get serious about preventing abuse and exploitation, it needs to reform the [then] Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority* (GLAA).”
Bev highlighted that the GLAA’s predecessor, the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) was first formed after pressure from Unite following the Morecambe Bay cockling disaster, when 21 migrant cockle pickers drowned at work at the hands of abusive employers.
But since then, the present GLAA has become, in Bev’s words, “a talking shop” with no union representation at the table.
“I’m not condoning any type of exploitation, but the GLAA is only going after the easy targets, like the Vietnamese nail bars and hand car washing businesses,” she explained.
“The biggest abusers, really, are the supermarkets, because they are profiting from the abuse of migrant workers in the food sector – big retailers like Sainsbury’s and Tesco and others are the ones who ultimately benefit from exploitation, so they are the ones who should be held accountable.”
A recent study commissioned by the department of environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) and Seasonal Worker Scheme (SWS) taskforce examined the feasibility of the so-called ‘Employer Pays Principle’ (EPP).
23 uniteLANDWORKER Summer 2026
n By Writers Name n By Hajera Blagg
This would entail supermarkets, farmers and recruitment agencies bearing the costs of recruiting seasonal migrant workers, instead of the cost being borne by the workers themselves, which is how the system works now.
Organisations supporting migrant workers believe this is one way to combat exploitation in food supply chains. It is also a way of holding supermarkets more accountable, as Unite has called for.
But in response to the report, a Defra spokesperson said the government “has no plans to impose the Employer Pays Principle for seasonal workers.”
* Since this feature was written the GLAA has been replaced by the Fair Work Agency
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Sooner or later, all of us will need support. It’s hard to know what your rights are when you first arrive in the UK… Don’t be afraid. Unite will support you
Gabriela Cunha, Unite rep, 2 Sisters, Wolverhampton
Alamy
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