A Trades Union Congress (TUC) published report shows that since the accession of 10 new countries into the EU on 1 May workers from central and Eastern Europe are being recruited to work in food processing, hospitality and agriculture, industries that have traditionally experienced difficulties in filling vacancies in the past.
Propping up rural and small town Britain: migrant workers from the new Europe is based on information gathered from contact that the TUC has had with workers from the eight new eastern European EU member states since enlargement took place in May.
The report shows that these new arrivals are heading for the smaller towns and rural areas. This marks a departure from earlier waves of migration, which were predominantly to urban areas.
Less than a quarter (23%) of migrant workers are based in London, a marked decrease from 48% of foreign nationals who were working in the capital in 2001.
More than four in ten are working in the rural counties of the Midlands, East Anglia and the South West, with Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Kent and Sussex home to the greatest numbers the research suggests.
Worryingly, migrant workers are suffering from employer abuse according to the report which says that agencies are amongst the worst offenders. Being charged to find work (a practice which is illegal in the UK) as well as docking money from workers’ wages when paying them by cheque were cited as common examples of exploitation.
Workers have also complained of hourly rates being lower than promised, of being paid less than British workers, and of non-payment for hours worked.
Excessive working days have also been reported to the TUC, with inadequate breaks between shifts, or that overtime is paid only at the standard rate. Poor and substandard accommodation – often linked to the job provided – also feature heavily on the list of migrant workers’ biggest concerns.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“Our research suggests today’s migrant workers are filling a very different economic role to earlier generations. It points to big changes in the rural and small town economy in recent years that have left an unmet demand for low paid labour.
“EU expansion has allowed these jobs now to be filled legally by Eastern European workers. But too often employers are trying to get away with denying them their rights or exploiting them. Some are trying to drive a wedge between these new workers and their British colleagues by employing Eastern Europeans on less preferable terms and conditions.”
Barber has called for employers to make a proper investment in training for this pool of workers as well as making better use of the skills of the better educated migrant workers.
The report recommendations include:
- European workers should have the right to register and be able to seek redress against employers who try to obstruct their attempts to do so. The current system for the issuing of registration certificates and the return of identity documents needs to be speeded up.
- Progress needs to be made on the Draft European Agency Workers Directive so that unscrupulous employers can no longer use agency workers to undercut local pay rates and impose less favourable conditions than those enjoyed by permanent employees.
- Better and clearer information on tax, access to benefits and national insurance should be made available
- Unions should recruit larger numbers of migrant workers into their membership
Home Secretary David Blunkett MP will deliver a speech today about the economic benefits of migration and action required to tackle illegal working at a major TUC conference taking place in London
Related articles:
