ACTION against worker exploitation has gone high on the agenda for Recruit Right, one of the region's biggest suppliers of temporary labour.
The company, operating in the commercial and industrial sectors, is incorporating Stronger Together good practice into its operations. Stronger Together is a business-led alliance sponsored by the UK's largest supermarkets to tackle modern slavery in business supply chains.
The rise in victims of modern slavery – those in hidden forced labour as a result of trafficking – has become an issue of national concern among MPs and charities.
According to official figures, potential victims being trafficked into Britain has increased by 245 per cent over the past five years, with 3,266 people last year thought to have been victims of modern slavery compared to 946 in 2011.
Recruit Right director Helen Cornah said: “These alarming figures show that people trafficking and slavery are thriving in the UK.
“As a major supplier of temporary labour in the industrial and commercial sectors, we believe it is our responsibility to raise awareness of an appalling situation that deals in human misery.
“By incorporating the Stronger Together good practice, our business can hopefully help to change this culture and bring about working practices that put people's lives ahead of profit.”
Helen explained that modern slavery takes many forms – people being forced to work when they don't want to, having to pay money to get work, being forced to live in accommodation against their will, their identity documents or bank accounts being controlled by others or families being intimidated.
She added: “Recruit Right operates in sectors where there is a high volume of temporary labour and we currently have an average of 600 temps working each day. However, we regard our agency workers as part of the Recruit Right 'family' and therefore have duty of care to them.
“Through implementing the Stronger Together good practice, businesses can be a force for change to encourage best practice and to help stem criminal activity that exploits vulnerable workers in supply chains.”
More information about Stronger Together at www.stronger2gether.org