GMB calls on Lord Mandelson to investigate employment agencies breaking law

2 November 2009

GMB ask for investigation of breaches in Slough, Bristol and Dartford and does not rule out enforcement proceedings against Business department and the government if they fail to act

Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary, has written to Lord Mandelson asking that he and his department instruct the relevant agency to investigate cases of Employment Agencies breaking the law in the Royal Mail dispute and to properly enforce the law for which he and his department are responsible. GMB last month set up a hotline 0208 971 4217 for members of the public to report breaches of the law by employment agencies.

In the letter GMB brings to Lord Mandelson attention some specific cases involving Manpower in the Royal Mail dispute that GMB considers he should ask the agency to investigate. GMB refers to evidence that Manpower’s office in High Street Slough and other local offices of that company supplied hundreds of agency workers to a Royal Mail location in Langley Slough SL3 8AQ. GMB bring to his attention the case on the front page of the Guardian of 29th October regarding Manpower recruiting staff for Royal Mail at the Western Approach distribution Centre in Bristol. In both cases these workers supplied by Manpower seem to be doing the jobs of workers on strike.

GMB letter also refers to the comprehensive reports in both the London Evening Standard and the Daily Mail regarding the recruitment and deployment of agency staff doing the work of Royal strikers in locations in Dartford Kent and Bristol.

In the letter Paul Kenny writes"There is an agency in the department you run that has a duty to investigate breaches and it has a very poor track record in enforcing the law.

I am calling on you and your department to instruct the agency to investigate these and other cases and to properly enforce the law for which you and your department are responsible. GMB reserves the right, if you and your department fail to carry out your lawful responsibilities or act in a prejudicial way, to seek enforcement proceedings against your department and the government."

---

Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to ePolitix.com. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the ePolitix.com service.

As such, ePolitix.com does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.