The UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) has marked this year’s Anti-Slavery Day (18 October) with the launch of a Modern Slavery Policy for members, developed specifically for the sector in partnership with not-for-profit organisation Stronger Together.
As identified in the United Kingdom Labour Market Enforcement Strategy 2023/24, warehousing and logistics is a high risk sector for labour exploitation, with detected cases within UK warehousing escalating.
There are several reasons why warehousing is one of the highest risk sectors for forced labour and other serious forms of labour exploitation. Factors that contribute to the level of risk include the length and complexity of supply chains, intense seasonal peaks, combined with labour shortages and consequently the high proportion of agency and temporary workers employed.
The sector involves businesses in working with many third parties too, which further increases risk. Invariably, it’s not warehouse operators who are responsible for cases of forced labour, but rogue infiltrators that manage to penetrate operations and maintain control over certain workers.
The issue of modern slavery revolves around the workforce. It’s the responsibility of a business to know where its workers are coming from and to perform all the appropriate identification checks. Those who don’t do so increase the risk of having exploited workers in their operations.
UKWA CEO Clare Bottle commented, “Having a Modern Slavery Policy in place in today’s business environment is essential. It is an important aspect of ESG, enhancing brand reputation and helping attract employees. However, simply having a Policy to tick an ESG box is simply not enough. It must be backed by a strong framework of clear procedures for identifying, reporting and dealing with potential cases of exploitation. Accordingly, UKWA is recommending members to support the Modern Slavery Policy with a training pathway, so that they can recognise and respond to signs of this criminal activity in their own business.”
Stronger Together offers a wide range of resources to combat Modern Slavery, including training workshops, like the next online workshop for ‘Tackling Labour Exploitation in UK Warehousing,’ which will take place on 3rd December 2024, with subsequent workshops scheduled into 2025.
Many businesses are unaware of the risk of modern slavery within their own operations and supply chains, which ultimately damages not only the livelihood of individuals, but the reputation of the organisation. Similarly, many are unaware of their responsibilities.
Accordingly, the UKWA Modern Slavery Policy is designed to help raise awareness of this important issue among members, as well as highlighting their responsibilities, to protect them – and their workforce – from the risks involved.
Commenting on the UKWA Modern Slavery Policy, Co-CEO of Stronger Together, Jantine Werdmüller von Elgg, says, “‘Our vision is a world where all workers are recruited responsibly and have fair work free from exploitation. We commend UKWA on raising awareness on the risks and realities and on taking action by making available a UKWA Modern Slavery Policy to their members. We encourage every business within the sector to use the policy, as well as our free resources for UK Warehousing businesses and to take further steps to embed good practice. Together we can tackle this exploitation.”
Clare concludes, “The aim of Anti-Slavery Day is to raise awareness of modern slavery and to encourage businesses to take action to combat this inhumane crime. At UKWA, part of our mission is to support members in operating ethically, sustainably and profitably, so we are proud to be partnering with Stronger Together to combat modern slavery in our sector, and to be helping our members to do the same.”
Transport & Logistics – Driving The Industry Forward
