Omega: End rogue recruiters

London – Some UK and foreign-based recruitment agencies are engaging in “sweat shop” practices when it comes to bringing skilled labour into the UK, claims Omega Resource Group, which wants these rogue firms driven out of business.

UK manufacturing and industrial companies are now very reliant on skilled labour from other EU countries such as Poland to cover skills shortages, according to James Strickland, group director of Omega, who is calling for measures to guard against abuse of potential employees.

Foreign job candidates, he said, are often ‘duped into a supply chain of hiring businesses, seemingly fraudulent paperwork and unethical practices such as deductions from hourly rates and poor accommodation.’

Such practices, said Stickland can be stopped but “only if the Gangmaster Licensing Authority hits offending companies very hard – and by that I mean putting them out of business.” Recruitment firms, he added, should vet client companies along with candidates and employ welfare officers from the country of origin to ensure work, pay and ethical standards are adhered to.

“The issue of migrant labour needs to urgently be addressed and this is increasingly important with the recent accession countries such as Romania and Bulgaria which joined the EU in January 2007. We are keen for restrictions to be put in place as control and candidate welfare is top of the priority list,” Strickland concluded.