Because people from these EU Member States are not yet allowed to work for registered labour providers, criminal gangmasters are targeting them and using self-employment loopholes to indirectly 'employ' them, a recent seminar on working in the UK food sector, organised by the Food Ethics Council, in London was informed. This is undermining the services offered by legitimate firms, labour providers have warned.
Food processers frequently use labour providers to employ staff on a temporary basis, when they need to 'flex' staff levels to meet seasonal food demand and retailer-led promotions.
However, the low pay, uncertainty about working hours often because of the weather-dependent nature of the work and adverse effects on benefits, tends to put off UK nationals from applying for such temporary jobs. This has forced labour providers to seek staff from overseas. While legitimate providers argue that they offer fair conditions of employment, workers in the clutches of rogue providers are often badly exploited.
"I can only see things getting worse in this country, with the abolition of the Agriculture Wages Board," said Unite union official Rick Graham. "If it is flushed down the toilet the UK will become less attractive [for legitimate workers and labour providers]."
Under the conditions of joining the EU, Romanian and Bulgarian nationals have the right to live in the UK but cannot be employed for a transitional period, unless they are self-employed. However, exploitative gangmasters often from the same countries that provide housing for them, are getting around the law by not employing people directly.
Unlike the other eight accession EU Member States that became part of the EU in 2004 and whose nationals can work in the UK under the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS), nationals from Romania and Bulgaria known as A2 countries, which joined the EU in 2007 need a permit to work in the UK in a self-employed status. Alternatively, they could fall under the seasonal agricultural worker scheme (SAWS), mainly targeted at students, in which accommodation is provided.
What bogus employers are doing is providing individuals with the pre-requisite self-employment documentation they need to work and then pointing them in the direction of local employers.
Once working, they are charged exorbitant fees for often overcrowded housing. Unlike legitimate labour providers which fall under the scrutiny of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, set up in the wake of the death of 19 Chinese cocklers in Morecambe Bay in 2004 they often escape detection.
David Camp, director of the Association of Labour Providers, is concerned that the problems could be exacerbated when the WRS is discontinued on May 1 2011. This means workers from the A8 countries will be able to work freely in any EU country without constraint and may be attracted to better conditions elsewhere. "We are likely to see an exodus of skilled food industry bakers and butchers," he says.
Towards the end of this year, said Camp, the UK government will have to decide whether or not to extend its restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian nationals for another two years to seven, as was done for the A8 countries. If it does, the problem is likely to continue. "It would make sense for that to be repealed at the end of the year," said Camp.