NAMING and shaming bad bosses will not wipe out workplace abuse, unions warned yesterday as the government named its first “exploitation tsar.”

Academic Sir David Metcalf will oversee three government agencies dealing with bad practices, underpayment and gangmasters.

The news came as Labour accused ministers of “dithering” over its promise to launch a new industrial strategy.

The government said it was spending £1.7 million on a campaign to raise awareness of the national minimum wage rate.

Business Minister Margot James said Mr Metcalf would ensure that “when unscrupulous employment practices are found, justice is done for those affected.”

But GMB general secretary Tim Roache warned: “Naming and shaming is not enough. We need to see a crackdown on those employers who are breaking the law.

“Sir David’s appointment must herald a long overdue move to step up the fight against worker exploitation in the UK in 2017.

“Just three employers have been prosecuted for paying workers below the minimum wage, despite HMRC finding 700 who have broken the law in the past two and a half years.”

Labour will launch a consultation on its own industrial strategy today, asking businesses, unions and the public to contribute ideas for a “high-skill, high-wage, high-productivity economy.”

Shadow minister Chi Onwurah accused the government of repeatedly delaying a green paper on industrial strategy that it promised last September.

“We need an industrial strategy to deliver the high-skill, high-wage economy the British people want,” she said.

“While the government dithers around Tory Party internal politics, Labour is getting on with the job.”

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