Gangmasters Licensing Authority

Tackling Labour Exploitation

Tony Byrne

Senior Investigating Officer

• Working in partnership to protect vulnerable and exploited workers

GLA History

2

Essex

• The gathering of Shellfish is being reported on a daily basis to EHO at Southend Local Authority

Regulated Sector

•Agriculture•Horticulture•Shellfish gathering•Food and drink processing and packaging

Labour supplied by agencies to a Labour User

The GLA regulates the supply of labour

• COMPLIANCE

• Regulatory - 8 civil standards

• Application and compliance inspections

• ENFORCEMENT

Law enforcement - Criminal offences

• Power of arrest, search, seizure

• Prosecution – conviction

Compliance and Enforcement

Legislation

• The Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 created four offences:

• Supplying labour without a licence• Possessing a false document• Using services of an unlicensed labour provider• Obstructing a GLA Enforcement/Compliance

Officer

Partnership Working

• Police (National Crime Agency)• United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre• Her Majesty Revenue and Customs (Tax)• Health and Safety Executive• UK Fire Service• Local Authorities • Charities (Migrant Helpline and Salvation Army)• Employers (Labour Recruitment- Stronger Together )

Compliance• Initial licence application (UK Based OR in

Europe)• 8 national Licensing Standards• ‘Fit and Proper’• Pay and Tax• Treatment of Workers• Accommodation• Working Conditions• Health and Safety• Contractual arrangements

Overseas Labour Providers• There cannot be any work finding fees charged to any

workers.• Services must be completely optional and not be an

integral part of the work finding process.• The worker must not be penalised in any way if they opt

not to use any of the optional services• Services should not be “sold”• All optional fees and services must be clearly explained

and understood by workers.• Services should not be offered that are meaningless and of

no benefit to the worker

Two enforcement teams

Intelligence lead

Home-based covering entire UK (England, Wales,

Scotland and N Ireland)

3 Jurisdictions

Work closely with partner agencies

Enforcement

The GLA is active in Identifying and tackling:

• Forced and bonded labour• Human trafficking• Tax evasion• Health and safety negligence• Fraud• Breaches of Employment Law

• But without legislative power !!

Emerging Trends

• Increase in number of OCGs involved in the supply of labour

• Nationalities generally exploit “their own”• Increase in labour exploitation – Eastern

European males• Polish, Romanian, Slovakian, Lithuanian• Low risk/high return• Links to benefit and tax fraud• Credit Card Fraud• ID Fraud

Perceptions/Reality

•Workers being held under lock and key•Workers only allowed out to go to work•Workers being accompanied by controllers at all time•Workers having no control of documents

•The reality is that some of those indicators are prevalent but often the coercion and control is more subtle.

Forced Labour is perceived as:

Recent Cases

• Workers recruited in home country • Brought to addresses in the UK• Placed in houses with a controller/enforcer• Placed in work in regulated sector with licensed agencies• No control over bank cards• Taken to withdraw money• Fear of assault if wages not paid over• Actual assaults if step out of line• Become alcohol-dependent

•How were the workers recruited•Have they had to pay to get a job/accommodation•Can they choose where they live or work•Do they have to pay anyone to get work•Can they leave freely•Do they receive all of their wages•Do they have access to and control all of their money•Do they live in fear

Considerations: dealing with workers

Case Studies

• Operation ATWOOD and MORKUNAS

Operation Atwood

• A worker went to the Salvation Army in Derby for help, claiming to be a victim of human trafficking

• The subsequent investigation led to Operation Atwood - a multi-agency initiative involving Police, GLA, UKHTC, Red Cross and the local authority

• All brought expertise and powers to the case and all involved at the earliest planning stage, to include CPS input

• Day of action main perpetrators remanded

The extremes of trafficking

Brothers Marek and Igor Marcin lived in a typical Derby semi.They trafficked men into the UK from Slovakia and the Czech Republic

The Marcin’s trappings

•They housed 11 workers in a three-bedroomed house•They controlled all their bank accounts•They paid them between £5 and £20 per week•They claimed benefits in their names•They wore expensive jewellery•They drove expensive cars•Their wives stole ‘ready cash’ from the workers•They made in excess of £1.3 million!

They lived in a normal house

No one suspected what was happening in their own street

The workers’ reality

• Slept two, three, or more, to a room …• … mostly on bare mattresses …• … in rooms infested with insects• Woke up covered in bites• Were given one salami each … to last a week• Were fed only plain potatoes and pasta in the evenings• Were driven into debt• Were threatened, beaten and forced to work

Operation Atwood – Outcome for the workers

• 11 workers were rescued from the Marcins’ control• All entered the National Referral Mechanism • 8 workers were assisted in returning to their homeland• 3 have remained in the UK …worked with Slovak

authorities

they wanted to stay and work for a decent wage

The Traffickers

Marek and Igor Marcin and their wives were arrested on 15 July 2013In February 2014 both men admitted human trafficking chargesMarek got 40 months in prison – Igor got 52 months

The Wives

Marek’s wife Gabriela received an eight month sentence for theft.Igor’s wife, Dagmar, got 10 months

East of England• 2012 onwards – Andrius MORKUNAS exploited

Migrant workers

• In November 2014 lost an appeal against his seven year jail sentence.

MORKUNAS

• He put workers into jobs in agriculture and at food processing factories around East Anglia, charging them a fee to help them get work and to open a bank account.

• made about £100,000 from 250 immigrants who he placed in cramped, sub-standard accommodation

• May 2012, he and three ‘henchmen’ attacked a worker who was not paying up and was getting into debt.

The Appeal judges

• Mr Justice Blake and Judge Alistair McCreath, “This case involved the well-organised exploitation of a large number of migrant workers, by the control of their accommodation and bank accounts.

• “There was a background of threats, violence and intimidation.

• “He displayed no remorse or empathy with the victim.”

Modern Slavery Act

• Received Royal Assent on 26th March 2015• Newly appointed Anti-Slavery commissioner • Modern Slavery Act 2015 is the first of its kind in Europe to

specifically address slavery and trafficking in the 21st century !

• Increase maximum sentence available for most serious offenders from 14years to life imprisonment

• Toughest confiscation regime• Consolidation of existing modern slavery offences into one

Act• Reference to the GLA remit – Section 55

GLA Results• Direct intervention on behalf of 3,064 workers to protect them from exploitation• Modern slavery/labour exploitation training and awareness to 2500 supply chain and

public sector staff from 314 organisations pledging to raise the risks of labour exploitation to an estimated 367,154 workers.

• Steps to recover over £3.5 million on behalf of workers being exploited financially• The identification of over £5.1 million in proceeds of crime including vehicles,

properties.• 779 potential victims of labour exploitation have been identified and given support

to remove them from danger • Involvement in the rescue of 38 potential victims of trafficking for labour

exploitation• Regulating the labour supply in an industry worth £100 billion with a budget of 0.004 per

cent of that amount• 22 convictions and 15 pending trial• 32 organised crime groups identified/disrupt• Creation of a European network of enforcement agencies whose primary role is to

address labour exploitation (18 countries to rise to 32 by 2016)

GLA 2015 and beyond

• Greater working partnership with our overseas partner agencies (ILO)

• GLA visits overseas for compliance checks on Licence holders !

• Partnership and intelligence sharing with embassies and labour Inspectorates based in Europe and beyond!

• Education & Awareness• Political changes – Amalgamation of Enforcement effort in

UK as announced by Prime Minister in last 2 weeks• Modern Slavery Legislation

Any Questions?

Contact

• www.gla.homeoffice.gov.uk• enquiries@gla.gsi.gov.uk• 0845 6025020

• tony.byrne@gla.gsi.gov.uk• Mobile 07818 596398