Nov 6, 2014
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The Gangmasters Licensing Authority, the institute that licenses the supply of temporary labour will appeal the sentence given to an illegal gangmaster (labour provider) who kept fellow Romanian workers in inhumane conditions in County Armagh.
The Gangmasters Licensing Authority, the institute that licenses the supply of temporary labour will appeal the sentence given to an illegal gangmaster (labour provider) who kept fellow Romanian workers in inhumane conditions in County Armagh. Migrant workers were employed as apple pickers, working in orchards in County Armagh under extreme working and living conditions. They were paid £100 per week, which is well below the minimum wage. The sentence was a mere £500 fine, a punishment that was described by the GLA as "shocking". The institute stated that it simply fails to see how this punishment fits the crime and how it can act as a deterrent for someone who preyed on vulnerable men. The maximum sentence under the Gangmasters Licensing Act for working as an illegal gangmaster is 10 years in jail.
English: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29547874
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.