Union calls for reform on 20th anniversary

The Unite general union marked the 20th anniversary of the Morecambe Bay cockling disaster with a demand for urgent reform of the GLAA gangmasters and labour abuse authority. On the evening of 5 February 2004, more than 30 young workers, mostly Chinese nationals and many with little experience or knowledge of the sea, were trapped by rising tides and 23 died.

The union said “the widescale and often dangerous exploitation of vulnerable workers is still rife”, with insecure employment practices including employment agency, zero hours contract, bogus self-employment and gig economy work all increasingly normalised. But the GLAA, set up to prevent such tragedies, has been “successively weakened” by the government.