Nick Broomfield’s latest drama ‘Ghosts’ was recently shown on More4. The film focuses upon the journeys taken by illegal Chinese immigrants travelling to work in the UK, and their experiences of employment once they arrive. The workers pack meat, pick spring onions and clear orchards. The women are offered sex work. The immigrants have limited understanding of English, and are provided with work through an agency, which makes large deductions from their wages.

The film culminates in the Morcambe Bay tragedy, when 23 Chinese workers gathering cockles drowned in fast rising tides. At the time the tragedy was instrumental in the decision to set up the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, the body that now regulates agriculture, food processing, shellfish gathering, and associated processing and packaging industries.

The Commission recognises that the increased regulation of these sectors is a positive step for vulnerable workers. It is also interested in evidence about the work of this authority, and will be considering the extent to which it is able to enforce its powers, and what lessons from its practice mean for other areas of vulnerable employment.

In 2005 the TUC commissioned a report from Dr Bridget Anderson and Dr Ben Rogaly that looked at wider issues of forced labour. It documented the experiences of migrants working very long hours, being paid below the minimum wage and working in dangerous conditions. Illegal employment practice was identified in a range of sectors including construction, hospitality, agriculture, food processing, horticulture, contract cleaning, nursing and care homes.

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