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Cockle gatherers in TV spotlight Oct 13 2005




Martin Shipton, Western Mail


SERIOUS concerns about foreign cockle gatherers working for gang masters in
Wales will be aired in a TV documentary tonight.

The ITV Wales This Week programme will focus on the industry's changing face
in West Wales.

It will tell how a 32-strong group of Polish gatherers is being run by a
woman from Morecambe Bay, where more than 20 Chinese gatherers died last
year.



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The programme will also reveal how in early September a joint operation by
immigration officers and other agencies caught seven suspected Chinese
illegal immigrants involved in cockle gathering in Wales.


Meanwhile Wales Euro-MP Eluned Morgan and Llanelli MP Nia Griffith have
joined forces to tackle the plight of migrant workers suffering economic
exploitation in Wales.


The Labour politicians are calling on the European Commission to consider
changes to European law to prevent gang masters using legal loopholes to
take advantage of Eastern European workers.


They are particularly concerned about the situation in Llanelli where Polish
migrant workers, many from Mr Pinior's Wroclaw constituency, are asked on
their arrival to sign contracts committing them to paying a labour agent £35
a week for accommodation and up to £25 a week for transportation.


Wales This Week programme - entitled Shell Shock - will be shown at 11pm.