IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fan/ecaqec/vhtml10.3280-ecag2017-003004.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Gangmaster Licensing Authority: An Institution Able to Tackle Labour Exploitation?

Author

Listed:
  • Johanna Katharina Schenner

Abstract

Labour market intermediaries (LMIs) and food production have enjoyed a long history. Today, LMIs - or gangmasters - in the United Kingdom that want to operate in the industries of agriculture, horticulture, shellfishing and food processing have to hold a licence in order to do so lawfully. This legal requirement has been in existence since the establishment of the Gangmaster Licensing Authority (gla) in 2005. However, despite the establishment of the gla, and the subsequent requirement for gangmasters to hold licences and to adhere to eight core standards, incidents of (extreme) labour exploitation in the same sectors continue to make headlines. This paper aims at understanding shortcomings associated with the gla in tackling (extreme) labour exploitation and potential problems in this respect with its succeeding body, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (glaa). To this end, this paper begins by providing a general review of the rise of LMIs, and of gangmasters in particular, before explaining why growers and farmers may decide to rely on labour supplied by gangmasters. This part also illustrates how (extreme) labour exploitation as a result of gangmaster employment may occur, by paying special attention to the idea of the triangular employment relationship. The second part of the paper retraces the developments of both the gla and glaa. Furthermore, a brief overview of how LMIs may be regulated is given. The paper then turns to a consideration of the perceived effectiveness of the gla and glaa in tackling cases of labour exploitation, drawing on material from both primary and secondary sources to do so - the former involving 17 semi-structured interviews with key actors. In this connection, the third part provides details of the methodology deployed, before the fourth part discusses findings in relation to the literature and questions of institutional effectiveness. Finally, an overview of methodological challenges is provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Johanna Katharina Schenner, 2017. "The Gangmaster Licensing Authority: An Institution Able to Tackle Labour Exploitation?," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 19(3), pages 357-381.
    • Handle: RePEc:fan:ecaqec:v:html10.3280/ecag2017-003004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=60739&Tipo=ArticoloPDF
    Download Restriction: Single articles can be downloaded buying download credits, for info: https://www.francoangeli.it/DownloadCredit
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrees, Beate. & Nasri, Alix. & Swiniarski, Peter., 2015. "Regulating labour recruitment to prevent human trafficking and to foster fair migration : models, challenges and opportunities," ILO Working Papers 994880853402676, International Labour Organization.
    2. Peter Swiniarski & Alix Nasri & Beate Andrees, 2015. "Regulating Labour Recruitment to Prevent Human Trafficking and to Foster Fair Migration: Models, Challenges and Opportunities," Working Papers id:7253, eSocialSciences.
    3. Guy Davidov, 2004. "Joint Employer Status in Triangular Employment Relationships," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(4), pages 727-746, December.
    4. Stephanie Ware Barrientos, 2013. "'Labour Chains': Analysing the Role of Labour Contractors in Global Production Networks," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(8), pages 1058-1071, August.
    5. repec:ilo:ilowps:487848 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Vera Bitsch & Stefan Mair & Marta M. Borucinska & Christiane A. Schettler, 2017. "Introduction of a Nationwide Minimum Wage: Challenges to Agribusinesses in Germany," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 19(1), pages 13-34.
    7. repec:ilo:ilowps:488085 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Chris Benner, 2003. "Labour Flexibility and Regional Development: The Role of Labour Market Intermediaries," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6-7), pages 621-633.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Johanna Katharina Schenner, 2018. "The Governance of the Horticultural Supply Chain in the United Kingdom: A Source of Forced Labour?," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 20(1), pages 29-54.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Johanna Katharina Schenner, 2018. "The Governance of the Horticultural Supply Chain in the United Kingdom: A Source of Forced Labour?," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 20(1), pages 29-54.
    2. Virginie Xhauflair & Benjamin Huybrechts & François Pichault, 2018. "How Can New Players Establish Themselves in Highly Institutionalized Labour Markets? A Belgian Case Study in the Area of Project†Based Work," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(2), pages 370-394, June.
    3. Lakshmi Parvathy & Rajalaxmi Kamath, 2024. "Labour Contractors (Thekedaars) to Human Resource Companies: Labour Market Intermediaries in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 67(1), pages 197-219, March.
    4. Steve Kwok-Leung Chan, 2022. "Transnational Brokers and the Desire for Labour Migration: Decision-making Process of Myanmar Migrant Workers in Thailand," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1987-2007, December.
    5. Ligia Kiss & David Fotheringhame & Joelle Mak & Alys McAlpine & Cathy Zimmerman, 2021. "The use of Bayesian networks for realist evaluation of complex interventions: evidence for prevention of human trafficking," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 25-48, May.
    6. Margareet Visser & Matthew Alford, 2024. "Governance and Power Across Intersecting Value Chains: The Case of South African Apples," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 69-86, January.
    7. Gerhard REINECKE & Anne POSTHUMA, 2019. "The link between economic and social upgrading in global supply chains: Experiences from the Southern Cone," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(4), pages 677-703, December.
    8. Norma M Rantisi & Deborah Leslie, 2021. "In and against the neoliberal state? The precarious siting of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) as counter-movement in Montreal, Quebec," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(2), pages 349-370, March.
    9. Matias Ramirez & Ian Clarke & Laurens Klerkx, 2018. "Analysing intermediary organisations and their influence on upgrading in emerging agricultural clusters," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(6), pages 1314-1335, September.
    10. Kim Hoque & Ian Kirkpatrick & Alex De Ruyter & Chris Lonsdale, 2008. "New Contractual Relationships in the Agency Worker Market: The Case of the UK's National Health Service," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(3), pages 389-412, September.
    11. Greg Schrock & Marc Doussard & Laura Wolf-Powers & Stephen Marotta & Max Eisenburger, 2019. "Appetite for Growth: Challenges to Scale for Food and Beverage Makers in Three U.S. Cities," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 33(1), pages 39-50, February.
    12. Jos Gamble & Qihai Huang, 2009. "One Store, Two Employment Systems: Core, Periphery and Flexibility in China's Retail Sector," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(1), pages 1-26, March.
    13. Jan Kordes & Robert Pütz & Sigrid Rand, 2020. "Analyzing Migration Management: On the Recruitment of Nurses to Germany," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, February.
    14. Philippa Collins & Joe Atkinson, 2023. "Worker voice and algorithmic management in post-Brexit Britain," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(1), pages 37-52, February.
    15. Nichola J. Lowe, 2007. "Job Creation and the Knowledge Economy: Lessons From North Carolina's Life Science Manufacturing Initiative," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 21(4), pages 339-353, November.
    16. Nichola Lowe & Jacqueline Hagan & Natasha Iskander, 2010. "Revealing Talent: Informal Skills Intermediation as an Emergent Pathway to Immigrant Labor Market Incorporation," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(1), pages 205-222, January.
    17. Lilith Brouwers & Tess Herrmann, 2020. "“We Have Advised Sex Workers to Simply Choose Other Options”—The Response of Adult Service Websites to COVID-19," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-15, October.
    18. Andrew Crane & Genevieve LeBaron & Jean Allain & Laya Behbahani, 2019. "Governance gaps in eradicating forced labor: From global to domestic supply chains," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 86-106, March.
    19. Natasha Iskander & Nichola Lowe & Christine Riordan, 2010. "The Rise and Fall of a Micro-Learning Region: Mexican Immigrants and Construction in Center-South Philadelphia," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(7), pages 1595-1612, July.
    20. Malanski, Priscila Duarte & Schiavi, Sandra & Dedieu, Benoît & Damasceno, Julio Cesar, 2022. "Labor in agrifood value chains: a scientometric review from Scopus," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 25(3), March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fan:ecaqec:v:html10.3280/ecag2017-003004. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Stefania Rosato (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.aspx?IDRivista=214 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.