New Gangmaster Audit Tool is a "major benefit" for temporary worker best practice
Greenvale AP, the UK’s largest supplier of fresh potatoes, has joined the Association of Labour Providers (ALP), the trade association for organisations that provide and use temporary, contract and seasonal workers. The move comes at a time when the ALP has launched its Gangmaster Audit Tool software program, which allows organisations employing seasonal workers to objectively audit the companies providing the labour.
"We rely on temporary labour and have been considering joining the ALP for some time," says Andy Ferguson, Greenvale’s Group HR and Health & Safety Manager. "The relationship will help us follow best practice in an area that is full of conflicting advice and regulations, not to mention highly complex legislation. Not only can the ALP provide us with expert assistance, they can also speak on our behalf directly to government and the regulators."
Gangmasters and temporary labour are also highly sensitive areas for Greenvale’s larger customers. "The Gangmaster Audit Tool is a major benefit," says Ferguson. "It allows us to accurately audit the supplier and show our customers that our worker policies follow best practice.
"We wanted to find a cost-effective and transparent system that would give labour users, labour providers and workers the protection they need. We’re happy that the ALP’s Gangmaster Audit Tool sets the standard. It is absolutely the right way for the industry to go."
For more information visit the Greenvale AP website at www.greenvale.co.uk
Editor’s notes
Greenvale AP is the UK’s leading supplier of fresh potatoes and was awarded the Queens Award for Innovation in 2006. Greenvale AP now supplies the UK’s premier retailers, caterers and processing outlets with quality potatoes, meeting the high standards demanded by the UK market.
Greenvale AP has developed sites in the major potato growing areas across the UK, resulting in three state of the art potato-packing operations situated in Shropshire, Berwickshire and Cambridgeshire. The company also has sales and marketing offices across the UK, including in Norfolk, Suffolk, Somerset, Hereford and Yorkshire. Greenvale AP’s Seed Potato operation is managed from a specialist office at Burrelton, near Perth in Scotland.
Vales Sovereign, a new potato variety from Greenvale AP, won ‘Variety of the Year’ in the Tesco Fresh Produce Category Awards, held on November 20th 2008 at Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.