A person who organizes and oversees the work of casual manual labourers.
Example sentencesExamples
Only the statutory licensing of gangmasters will start the process of enforcing existing labour laws to protect gang workers.
If the Bill becomes law, it would be illegal for gangmasters to employ people without having a license.
There are an estimated 3,000 gangmasters, or labour providers, operating in Britain, with about 250 big players.
By exploiting these young and vulnerable people through cheap labour, the gangmasters are making vast sums of money.
Sources are said to have reported that workers preparing vegetables and fresh fruit around Britain were being kept under control by gangmasters armed with Stanley knives and guns.
They work long hours for low pay and live in cramped conditions, almost totally controlled by their gangmaster.
As it will be much harder for gangmasters to employ illegal labour, the Home Office will be able to deem the Morecambe Bay problem ‘solved’.
Recently, itinerant workers - some illegal immigrants - have moved into the trade, at the risk of being exploited by gangmasters.
We want legitimate gangmasters and legitimate employment agencies.
He said the proposed powers against employers were designed to catch companies, gangmasters and employment agencies who hire illegals on a large scale.
Others are employed in domestic labour or for gangmasters in farms and factories.
Even a parliamentary inquiry last year into illegal seasonal labour and exploitation by gangmasters appears to have achieved little in stopping the employment black market.
Detectives said the scale of the exploitation of the immigrant workers was ‘appalling’ and revealed they were closing in on the gangmasters suspected of sending the immigrants to their deaths.
In particular we heard no evidence to satisfy us that the alleged subcontractors had agreed with the labourers or their gangmasters, in advance, as to the terms and conditions on which they were hired.
They talk about gangmasters as being the only issue.
These sectors have regularly been found employing migrant labour through gangmasters who abuse workers.
It is thought that at least 3,000 gangmasters - employing up to 100,000 workers, many of them illegal immigrants - operate in fields such as shellfish collection, agriculture, food processing and packaging.
‘Unable to speak English and under the control of a gangmaster, these people were being paid one-fifth of the standard rate for their work,’ she added.
It is designed to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable groups of workers and regulate the activities of gangmasters.
It is important we bring in legislation that identifies these gangmasters so the people employed are treated with dignity and respect.