Modern slavery experts at the University of Nottingham are part of a new partnership to promote ethical labour in the UK construction industry.
The ‘Alliance against Exploitation’ brings together the University’s Rights Lab; SCAPE, one of the UK’s leading public sector procurement authorities; the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority; modern slavery charity Unseen; and Achilles, a leader in supply chain risk and performance management.
The partnership has been formed to eradicate modern slavery and labour exploitation across the construction sector by sharing intelligence, identifying emerging trends and committing to robust auditing procedures.
In interviews with 1,200 UK construction workers, almost half said they had not received written terms and conditions of employment while almost one in three admitted using non-standard evidence of right to work documentation to gain employment.
The interviews, conducted by Achilles across the industry, also revealed four out of five workers had not been spoken to about modern slavery.
Dr Alexander Trautrims, associate director at the Rights Lab and professor of Supply Chain Management, said: “This newly formed alliance will help to make real progress in addressing modern slavery in the construction sector through public sector procurement processes. Modern slavery continues to be a significant management challenge across the construction supply chain and collaborative initiatives like this are key to developing the knowledge that is required for progress.”
