The Equality and Human Rights Commission has just published the results of an inquiry into the meat and poultry processing sector which uncovered widespread mistreatment of migrant and agency workers. Workers reported physical and verbal abuse and a lack of proper health and safety protection, with the treatment of pregnant workers a particular concern. Many workers had little knowledge of their rights and feared raising concerns would lead to dismissal. Although migrant workers were most affected, British agency workers also faced similar mistreatment.

The inquiry uncovered frequent breaches of the law and licensing standards in meat processing factories (some of which supply the UK’s biggest supermarkets) and the agencies that supply workers to them.

The inquiry, which was launched in October 2008, examined the employment and recruitment practices in the sector to identify differences in pay and conditions between agency and temporary workers and employees with permanent or directly employed status.

One third of the permanent workforce and over two thirds of agency workers in the industry were migrant workers. At one in six meat processing sites involved in the study, every single agency worker used in the past twelve months was a migrant worker.

More than eight out of ten of the 260 workers that gave evidence said that agency workers were treated worse than directly employed workers. Seven out of ten workers said they thought they were treated badly in factories or by agencies because of their race or nationality. Based on the findings of the inquiry, the Commission will be making recommendations to the key bodies - supermarkets, agencies, processing firms, government, regulators and unions – to encourage a systemic change in behaviour. These recommendations include:

• Processing firms and agencies to use fair and transparent recruitment practices and provide workers with a safe working environment free from discrimination and harassment, where they are able to raise issues of concern without fear of the consequences
• Supermarkets to improve their support to and auditing of suppliers
• Government to provide sufficient resources for the Gangmasters LIcensing Authority to deliver on its task of safeguarding the welfare and interests of workers and broaden its remit to include other sectors where low-paid agency workers are at risk of exploitation.

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