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For those of you that don’t know - I work in recruitment … and have done for almost 8 years.

I heard a news story the other day via an on-line newsletter that we get directly to our email at work. It was about a gangmaster  - forcing foreign workers to live in poor conditions under threat of no more work and no money.

How did he achieve this? He made them pay rent out of their earnings… read this as took rent money from their wages before he paid them anything at all. They had to pay rent (massively over charged rent at that) at houses where [in one house] he had 4 adults 2 children and a baby living in one room, 13ft by 11ft. He scared them into working for less than minimum wage by holding their passports and ID from them, paralysing them from acting against him.

Now - I hear a lot [read as: a lot, a lot, a lot and some more] of people moaning about foreign workers in my line of work. They ‘ come and steal our jobs’ - ‘they’re taking our housing’ and abusing our benefits system… blah blah blah.

The fact is - in the general day to day - I hand out factory production work to over 80 people a day. The English lads/ladies turn up 2-3 days out of 5. They’re late. They’re sloppily dressed, poor attitude, and very often they’re just not there.

Then they have the audacity to whine that there isn’t enough work and that too may jobs are being given to people that aren’t ‘local’. I’ve even had one guy accuse me of being racist because when he turned up 15 minutes late for the third time that week, there was no place for him on the line.

It’s not rocket science kids.

There is no explosive chemistry or orbital physics here. Of course there are the ones that are here for an easy ride. Of course there are bound to be people here that are trying to find the easy life.

But, man alive - we have a doctor - a surgeon no less, working on a production line in one of our factories - just because he sees a better life here for his family.

It’s plain and simple to me that when there are any people willing to work this hard - work in fields, picking flowers in the freezing cold or standing in production lines packing chicken meat or tea bags into boxes to support their families and their children and above all that willing to work in poor conditions and be paid practically nothing to live in one room with 6 other people - just because they’re grateful to be here in this country - it is only just that we are finding Gangmasters like the above and getting rid of them.

It makes me so angry.

And if you have the cheek to whinge that you don’t have enough work but you’re not willing to do the same - then really….