A Skull discovered at Morecambe Bay during the summer this year has been confirmed as one of the 23 Chinese cockle-pickers who drowned there in 2004. The 23 cocklers were swept out to sea as they harvested cockles against a rising tide at Morecambe Bay. The tragedy sparked an immediate investigation and brought to light a world of cheap labour, human trafficking and worker exploitation by criminal gangs.
The man responsible for sending them to Morecambe Bay in February 2004, gangmaster Lin Liang Ren, was convicted of manslaughter and handed a 14 year sentence. The disaster was one of the biggest police operations Lancashire police have handled in recent years and legislation was drawn up in an attempt to prevent further tragedies of this nature occurring.
This led to the inception of the Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004 and shortly therein it was established as an independent authority that helps regulate all aspects of business.
In light of recent planned governmental cuts Ian Livsey, chief executive of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), has made it clear that the quango will be unaffected and continue to operate.
Their operations will ensure that businesses maintain legal working conditions, vulnerable workers will not be exploited and the GLA standard will create no distortions among legitimate business essentially levelling the playing field.
Investigations into rogue operators continue and their careful monitoring of GLA accredited companies ensures that a high standard will be maintained.
