The new GLA boss will be monitoring retailer price pressures for the impact they have on gangmasters. Richard Clarke reports
Some would like to see the Act’s remit widened further. “There is more activity outside the agricultural and shellfish sectors than there is in it,” says Whitehouse. “If there is displacement after the GLA begins operating and gangmasters move off into other sectors, such as catering, we will be telling ministers they need to extend the remit of the Act.”
You could be forgiven for thinking Paul Whitehouse has it in for the major multiples. The ex-police chief constable of Sussex is the first chairman of the new Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) and has warned retailers they could be exposed or prosecuted if it was found that their suppliers were breaking new laws governing the use of labour providers, or gangmasters.
“Supermarkets do not want to be on the front pages with headlines suggesting they use slave labour,” was his somewhat chilling appraisal reported in the national press.
Whitehouse stands by the comments but insists the GLA, which comes into being on April 1, would never humiliate or prosecute a retailer unless it refused to act when an illegal practice was found in its supply chain. He has also promised that the GLA will take a “proportionate” approach.“We’re not actually interested in getting prosecutions,” he says. “What we want to end up with is everyone licensed and workers not being exploited.
“The supermarkets have said they want to do things properly and we applaud that. But if they choose to ignore what we say then we shall be suspicious of their motives.”
Whitehouse says retailers are not only fully behind the Gangmasters Licensing Act, which governs the GLA’s activities, but they would like its scope extended. “Their view is that processing needs to be put in because it is part and parcel of this issue,” he says.
Under the Act it will be illegal for a gangmaster to operate without a licence or for somebody to hire one operating without a licence. At present, the Act only applies to agricultural and shellfish gathering activities. High profile incidents, such as the death of 21 Chinese cocklepickers in Morecambe Bay a year ago, have prompted swift action to protect workers in those sectors. However, consultation is taking place into widening the Act’s scope to cover processing of agricultural products and shellfish.
While retailers may back gangmaster
licensing, Whitehouse’s comments in the press irked some in the retail chain. Chris McCann, ethical trading manager at Asda, says: “I am no lawyer, but I am not sure what a supermarket would be prosecuted for, or whether it could even be prosecuted.”
So can retailers be held responsible for the activities of their suppliers? Morally, at least, they should be, says Dan Rees, director of the Ethical Trading Initiative. “Enforcing this law requires active participation. The supermarkets have a responsibility to ensure their suppliers are implementing national laws on labour standards.”
Legally, however, it remains unclear whether a retailer could be held responsible for something its supplier has done. It may well be that when it comes to punishing retailers, naming and shaming would be the only weapon in the GLA’s arsenal.
Prominent on Whitehouse’s radar is the issue of the downward price pressure retailers are accused of putting on suppliers.
“Retailers need to build into their systems recognition of the real costs of labour so the supplier is not squeezed improperly,” he says.
Whitehouse warns that this is an issue he will be monitoring carefully. Defra recently issued guidelines on the minimum amount per worker per hour a farmer should pay a gangmaster (see The Grocer, February 26, page 50).
It’s wrong to say that Whitehouse has it in for retailers as he is acutely aware that he can’t do his job without their help. But in firing his first public salvo before the GLA has begun operating, he has made it clear he is not afraid to take them on if need be.
Some would like to see the Act’s remit widened further. “There is more activity outside the agricultural and shellfish sectors than there is in it,” says Whitehouse. “If there is displacement after the GLA begins operating and gangmasters move off into other sectors, such as catering, we will be telling ministers they need to extend the remit of the Act.”
You could be forgiven for thinking Paul Whitehouse has it in for the major multiples. The ex-police chief constable of Sussex is the first chairman of the new Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) and has warned retailers they could be exposed or prosecuted if it was found that their suppliers were breaking new laws governing the use of labour providers, or gangmasters.
“Supermarkets do not want to be on the front pages with headlines suggesting they use slave labour,” was his somewhat chilling appraisal reported in the national press.
Whitehouse stands by the comments but insists the GLA, which comes into being on April 1, would never humiliate or prosecute a retailer unless it refused to act when an illegal practice was found in its supply chain. He has also promised that the GLA will take a “proportionate” approach.“We’re not actually interested in getting prosecutions,” he says. “What we want to end up with is everyone licensed and workers not being exploited.
“The supermarkets have said they want to do things properly and we applaud that. But if they choose to ignore what we say then we shall be suspicious of their motives.”
Whitehouse says retailers are not only fully behind the Gangmasters Licensing Act, which governs the GLA’s activities, but they would like its scope extended. “Their view is that processing needs to be put in because it is part and parcel of this issue,” he says.
Under the Act it will be illegal for a gangmaster to operate without a licence or for somebody to hire one operating without a licence. At present, the Act only applies to agricultural and shellfish gathering activities. High profile incidents, such as the death of 21 Chinese cocklepickers in Morecambe Bay a year ago, have prompted swift action to protect workers in those sectors. However, consultation is taking place into widening the Act’s scope to cover processing of agricultural products and shellfish.
While retailers may back gangmaster
licensing, Whitehouse’s comments in the press irked some in the retail chain. Chris McCann, ethical trading manager at Asda, says: “I am no lawyer, but I am not sure what a supermarket would be prosecuted for, or whether it could even be prosecuted.”
So can retailers be held responsible for the activities of their suppliers? Morally, at least, they should be, says Dan Rees, director of the Ethical Trading Initiative. “Enforcing this law requires active participation. The supermarkets have a responsibility to ensure their suppliers are implementing national laws on labour standards.”
Legally, however, it remains unclear whether a retailer could be held responsible for something its supplier has done. It may well be that when it comes to punishing retailers, naming and shaming would be the only weapon in the GLA’s arsenal.
Prominent on Whitehouse’s radar is the issue of the downward price pressure retailers are accused of putting on suppliers.
“Retailers need to build into their systems recognition of the real costs of labour so the supplier is not squeezed improperly,” he says.
Whitehouse warns that this is an issue he will be monitoring carefully. Defra recently issued guidelines on the minimum amount per worker per hour a farmer should pay a gangmaster (see The Grocer, February 26, page 50).
It’s wrong to say that Whitehouse has it in for retailers as he is acutely aware that he can’t do his job without their help. But in firing his first public salvo before the GLA has begun operating, he has made it clear he is not afraid to take them on if need be.
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