TUC Calls For Co-ordination To Prevent Migrant Worker Exploitation

A national strategy for dealing with migrant workers would lead to a greater degree of co-ordination between regional employment, health, education and housing services and would make it more difficult for rogue employers to exploit vulnerable workers, the TUC and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) have said.

A seminar in London on Wednesday will discuss how a more coherent, joined up approach to service provision could help end the confusion often faced by migrant workers arriving in the UK.

Coming to the UK, often with a poor command of English, many migrant workers struggle to get to grips with the basic information needed to ease their transition into British working life.

The seminar - to be attended by government ministers, senior civil servants, trade unions, government agencies and employers - will also hear how better co-ordination could help the various authorities deal with an influx of groups of workers, especially in parts of the country not historically used to dealing with waves of immigration.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "The UK economy would grind to a halt overnight without the massive contribution now being made by thousands of migrant workers. But people arriving on our shores often have few clues as to where they should go for advice on a range of work-related matters which we just take for granted.

"Unions have done much recently to recruit foreign nationals into membership as a means of combating employer exploitation, but if there was better co-ordination of advice on services available to migrant workers, it would make life harder for the rogue employers and agencies who seek to prey on the vulnerability of migrant workers."

Previous TUC research on migrant workers suggests that a minority of employers prey on language difficulties and ignorance of UK employment law to exploit migrant workers by paying them below the minimum wage, breaking working time rules and making excessive deductions for accommodation provided.

Recent EEDA research indicates that gaining access to information and recognition of qualifications are major barriers for migrant workers.

Simple tasks such as setting up bank accounts and accessing accommodation caused migrant workers major problems.

The research also found that highly qualified workers are often forced to take employment below their skill level because their qualifications are not recognised in the UK.

(SP)