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February 08, 2004

Exploitation of the vulnerable

The tragedy in Morecambe Bay has certainly highlighted the vulnerability of those who come to these shores in the hope of a new and better life. It seems that, despite our endless laws on labour use and supposed "protection" of workers, there are those who can circumvent them and abuse a very vulnerable group. It demeans us all that this sort of thing is going on - and we all draw a benefit from their exploitation, albeit very indirectly.

Morecambe Bay is a death trap unless you know it intimately. These folk did not, yet they were sent out to do this work in an area notorious for its quicksands and for the speed with which the tide can sweep in and cut off the unwary. These workers obviously did not know the dangers or were afraid of displeasing the Gang Master by returning to soon. The result is a tragedy we must all take responsibility for.

I know that there is a huge argument about asylum underlying all of this, but there is also cynical exploitation of the desperation of the people who are driven to rsik everything in search of a better life. And it is not just the gangmasters who are to blame, there are all those who seek to "help" the asylum seekers by encouraging them to fight being sent home, by hiding them and by, again, probably unintentionally, steering them into the "Black" economy. Then there are the politicians who muddy the waters, keep changing the rules, meddle with the processes and use the issues as a platform for their own ends. And finally there are the "Gang Masters". Every society has them, and every society finds it convenient to allow them to function - as long as we don't have to see it right under our noses.

They are an indictment of us all. At the moment, the particular Gang Masters who sent the group out to gather cockles in Morecambe Bay on Morecambe Sands will be convenient scape goats for our consciences, but ever punnet of cockles anyone buys probably came from this exploited groups efforts. Yes, we can wring our hands, yes, we can lament their deaths, and we damnded well should. But, what are we actually going to do to prevent it happening again? It isn't the police, or the trading standards or even the HSE Inspector - its us. That is the real meaning of Social Responsibility. We may appoint people to do certain things for us, but we retain the responsibility for seeming that it is done.

I hope that the Morecambe victims did not die in vain. Now let us all seek to find real solutions to these problems.

No I am not going softly left wing or trying to be liberal, I am trying to practice what I preach.

Posted by The Gray Monk at February 8, 2004 11:21 AM

Comments

Even a libertarian point of view does have to stand for the concept of "do no harm" which includes the idea that permitting harm without response is 'doing harm'. Since the three main categories of 'doing harm' are titled MISfeasance, MALfeasance, and NONfeasance, this is a very old and long-held system.

Posted by: MommaBear at February 8, 2004 07:24 PM

Not only did those people have no right to be living in the UK, working here (taking away jobs from locals), they cost taxpayers a great deal of money trying to rescue them. Not only should they find the snake-heads who brought these people in and charge them, they should charge the bastards for the cost of the rescue operation.

Its a pity those people died but lets be honest they had no business being there or doing what they were doing.

These people were well aware that they were being illegally imported into Britain, so thus they do hold some responsibility for their own deaths.

Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge at February 9, 2004 03:13 PM