2010 finding in meat 2015 indication in food and fish and poultry industries processing industries in Scotland in England and Wales Widespread This was not reported to be the case. No mistreatment and segregation of workers by nationality was exploitation of migrant found, indeed a mix was the picture reported. and agency workers Physical and verbal Health and Safety was found to be on the abuse, lack of proper whole satisfactory. No systemic physical and health and safety verbal abuse was found but isolated protection, poor examples were reported. Good expectations treatment of pregnancy for pregnant workers were reported in the workers food processing study and some isolated concerns identified in fish processing factories. Isolated examples of poor practice (breaks and toilet breaks, shouting and seem attributable to latitude ‘punishments’) exercised by individual supervisors. Workers with little The knowledge of workers of their terms and knowledge of their rights conditions as reported was considered to be and fear that raising inadequate and employers should take steps concerns would lead to to address this. Workers were fearful of being dismissal identified for speaking out. Recruitment practices Recruitment practices were considered to be indirectly blocked British open to all with no deliberate different workers from getting practice for different migrant nationalities. jobs in the industry However, the predominant method of of ‘word recruitment can have the effect of mouth’ reinforcing particular groupings (nationalities) of workers which whilst pragmatic rather than deliberate could nevertheless foster resentments if other nationalities (including Scottish) feel excluded. Breaches of the law and There is a concern relating to the application licensing standards and of holiday pay by some employers. poor conditions Overall the treatment of migrant workers complies with requirements but reports of one-off examples point to supervisors having too much discretion to follow poor practices and management perhaps turning a ‘blind eye’.
2010 finding in meat and poultry industries in England and Wales 2015 indication in food and fish processing industries in Scotland Widespread mistreatment and exploitation of migrant and agency workers This was not reported to be the case. No segregation of workers by nationality was found, indeed a mix was the picture reported. Physical and verbal abuse, lack of proper health and safety protection, poor treatment of pregnancy workers Health and Safety was found to be on the whole satisfactory. No systemic physical and verbal abuse was found but isolated examples were reported. Good expectations for pregnant workers were reported in the food processing study and some isolated concerns identified in fish processing factories. Isolated examples of poor practice (breaks and toilet breaks, shouting and ‘punishments’) seem attributable to latitude exercised by individual supervisors. Workers with little knowledge of their rights and fear that raising concerns would lead to dismissal The knowledge of workers of their terms and conditions as reported was considered to be inadequate and employers should take steps to address this. Workers were fearful of being identified for speaking out. Recruitment practices indirectly blocked British workers from getting jobs in the industry Recruitment practices were considered to be open to all with no deliberate different practice for different migrant nationalities. However, the predominant method of ‘word of mouth’ recruitment can have the effect of reinforcing particular groupings (nationalities) of workers which whilst pragmatic rather than deliberate could nevertheless foster resentments if other nationalities (including Scottish) feel excluded. Breaches of the law and licensing standards and poor conditions There is a concern relating to the application of holiday pay by some employers. Overall the treatment of migrant workers complies with requirements but reports of one-off examples point to supervisors having too much discretion to follow poor practices and management perhaps turning a ‘blind eye’.
experiences_of_migrant_workers_in_fish_and_food_processing_v2.docx