Industry | 2010.03.13
EHRC food factories report: Perfect storm has led to a race to the bottom | Felicity Lawrence
That such conditions exist is a scandal, and all the more appalling for having happened under Labour\'s watch
We are where we were: that\'s the insiders\' view. The EHRC report has simply put an official stamp on what many of us have known – and been deeply worried about – since early 2000. A combination of factors – deregulation, globalisation, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the formation of new pools of labour thanks to the expansion of the EU – led to a race to the bottom in terms of labour standards. The food and drink sector, driven by the supermarkets, has been at the forefront of this. New technology that allows supermarkets to order at the last minute only what they know they can sell has resulted in an unprecedented casualisation of labour, not just in rich western countries but in the poorer countries, too. Labour standards have been driven down everywhere.
The impact has been obvious on the ground for a very long time. In the UK the effect is particularly apparent in rural areas – but because many of these areas are Conservative, the government for too long ignored the protests of local workers, or dismissed them as xenophobic hostility to migrants.
In factories and on big industrial farms there has been an incredible transformation of work – such things as 24/7 shift patterns, and the constant pressure to cut costs have turned what used to be decent jobs into terrible ones. These newly terrible jobs have usually been taken by migrants, often illegal. In this climate, abuse and exploitation flourish, and racial tensions grow as people see cheaper foreign workers being used to undercut local, more established workers.
In 2005 the unions began a massive programme of reorganisation – collecting facts and figures, attempting to organise casual and migrant workers, and campaigning on these issues. But because the whole industry is riddled with subcontractors, blame is all too easily shifted down the line. Labour legislation exists which outlaws practices exposed in this report, and this legislation has been strengthened – but too often it hasn\'t been enforced, and regulators were deliberately not given sufficient resources to enforce it. The Gangmaster Licensing Authority (GLA) in particular is very underfunded.
Journalists have exposed individual examples of exploitation. The unions have been trying to fight it. Workers have expressed outrage. But government and industry have insisted that the abuses were isolated incidences. The abuse detailed in the report cannot be dismissed – the EHRC highlights that it is a systemic failure to protect people. It is a structural problem that has set labour rights back several decades.
When it comes to recommending what should happen, the report is weak. The EHRC seems shy of using its power to litigate and recommends that the industry puts its house in order voluntarily. This won\'t work. The report also recommends giving more money to the GLA for enforcement, but in the current climate this is surely wishful thinking.
Voluntary measures haven\'t worked, and won\'t work in the future. The system is fundamentally wrong and needs to change. You have to regulate; you have to litigate and enforce. That such conditions exist in the UK is a scandal, and all the more appalling for having happened under Labour\'s watch.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/m[...]ries-report-conditions-scandal
