RESIDENTS in Govanhill want the Government to investigate after the Evening Times exposed how immigrants are being exploited by gangmasters.
The gangmasters are linked to slum landlords and organised crime, it was claimed today. Local people are also concerned about race relations because of the large migrant population in the area.
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A petition seeking urgent help has been submitted to the Scottish Parliament and will be discussed by MSPs next month.
A source at HM Revenue and Customs told the Evening Times: "We
can confirm there are continuing investigations into gangmasters operating in Glasgow." A university study also backed that up and another report said the ringleaders were armed.
A separate source said: "You would have to be blind not to see migrants regularly being picked up by them in vans at street corners"
However, police told the Evening Times they had "no intelligence" about them.
Mike Dailly, of Govan Law Centre, said the Revenue and Customs investigation by a unit created after the Morecambe Bay cockle-pickers' tragedy - when 23 Chinese people drowned after being ordered to go cockle-picking by criminal gangs - discovered three sets of gangmasters, with the ringleaders armed with guns, operating in Glasgow.
Mr Dailly said he was also aware of one gangmaster agency using workers for industrial cleaning jobs.
Others are believed to be taken to meat-packing or chicken factories, while some end up picking fruit and there was anecdotal evidence of women being forced into prostitution.
Mr Dailly said: "We
also know there is bonded labour. There seems to
be a linkage between key slum landlords and the gangmasters.
"One client, a Slovakian man, was having to work for his landlord as well as paying him rent.
"People are being told that if they come to Glasgow they will get a better life, but what is happening is they are being exploited by slum landlords and gangmaster agencies."
Janice McEwan, who chairs Govanhill Housing Association, said: "We want the Government to look into what is happening
here in Govanhill."
There have been increasing calls for Government intervention since the Evening Times exposed the horrific conditions at three slum closes in Westmoreland Street dubbed "Ground Zero" by residents.
Six main areas of concern are specified in the petition:
The increasing number of slum private sector landlords.
The impact of slum living conditions on the health and wellbeing of migrant workers, their children, and the wider community.
The relationship and interaction between
slum landlords, agency gangmasters and organised crime.
The sustainability of the local community because of the problems caused through the exploitation of people by slum landlords and local gangmasters.
The risks to public health and safety from slum living conditions and gangmasters.
The solutions necessary to address the race relations, housing
and socio-economic challenges that threaten Govanhill's sustainability as a vibrant and successful multicultural community.
Ms McEwan said: "There are still 750 properties unimproved in the area and we have cases of exploitation in our community.
"We know from
research funded by the Community Health and Care Partnership working in Govanhill and carried out by the University of the West of Scotland there are gangmasters operating in Govanhill.
"Many of the economic migrants are being exploited by people who have promised employment and accommodation.
"When they get here many folk find themselves without employment, or just temporary short term jobs and land up living in severely overcrowded flats."
The petition urges the Government to provide dedicated additional funding and support.
City warned over slum landlords
MIKE DAILLY, of Govan Law Centre, is warning the type of slum landlord operating in Govanhill could soon be active in other parts of the city.
He said they target vacant properties in areas going into decline and buy them up.
"These unscrupulous figures are making millions out of exploiting vulnerable people," he said.
"Unless strategic action is taken, they will create all sorts of problems.
"These people are not just preying on migrant workers, they're destroying our communities."
Mr Dailly said a possible solution was for the city council, working with housing associations, to buy vacant properties and take them into social ownership.
"They can then be sold through the Government's shared equity scheme to first-time buyers," he said.
Govanhill Housing Association say additional funding is necessary to tackle the scale of the private housing stock problem "which is directly responsible for public health and safety hazards, overcrowding and worrying social and racial tensions".
Mr Dailly also suggested setting up an employment agency to help put illegal gangmasters out of business.
"A not-for-profit agency would undercut others in that line of business and put cash in the workers' pockets.
"We need the Government to acknowledge the problems we have in Govanhill because there's no other place in Scotland which has them."
First to face letting ban
SLUM landlord Mohammed Aslam became one of the first people in Scotland banned from renting out property after he was exposed by the Evening Times.
There were a string of complaints about dozens of rundown properties he rented, many of them in Govanhill.
One of the worst cases was a flat in Allison Street. The property, which housed four adults and seven children, was infested with cockroaches and there was a cooker next to the toilet.
Floors were riddled with holes and electrical junction boxes with exposed wires dangled from the walls.
As well as the closure of the Allison Street slum, the dossier against Aslam included two improvement notices and two prohibition orders served on gas appliances in his flats, council tax debts, believed to run to tens of thousands of pounds, and a criminal record.
