46. Memorandum submitted by
the Transport and General Workers Union
INTRODUCTION
The Transport and General Workers Union (T&G)
represents more than 800,000 workers in the UK. Increasingly,
migrant workers are joining the T&G, in large part as a result
of the union's organising strategy which actively encourages migrant
workers to protect themselves by joining collectively and become
active trade union members. This strategy does not ask workers
to define themselves as "illegal" or "legal"
as the T&G does not recognise working, irregular or otherwise,
as an illegal activity.
The T&G has a long and proud history of
representing and supporting some of the most marginalised workers
in our country, not just in the workplace but in their communities
too. For instance, we opposed the introduction of vouchers for
asylum seekers as we believed they caused poverty, stigma and
racial division. We campaigned to secure the passage and full
implementation of the Gangmasters Licensing Act, setting up a
new agency with a remit to tackle the exploitation of workers
covered by the Act, many of whom are migrants. And through our
Migrant Workers Helpline, our education programmes and our organising
activities we support migrant workers' as they adapt to UK life.
For the T&G, this is not a question of immigration
status but about giving workers the confidence of a legal status,
both as citizens and employees, the lack of which makes them such
a temptingly exploitable pool of labour. Public policy cannot
continue to duck the issue of how status and exploitation are
intertwined.
In building strong relationships with migrant
workers we have come to understand that the problems they face
at work and within their communities are widespread—exploitation,
isolation, long hours but for poor pay. The question of immigration
status deepens these problems and brings the additional, overwhelming
worry for a worker that at any moment they could be arrested and
deported. This makes workers reluctant to speak up about mistreatment
or to act collectively through a union to combat this.
It is a source of much concern to the T&G
that many thousands of working people in this country have no
rights and no voice and live in fear of discovery and punishment
by the authorities. We therefore urge the Government to move away
from the rhetoric of punishing "illegal" workers and
to instead work on rights-led strategy that would help tackle
the circumstances that give rise to worker abuse and support migrant
workers in making legitimate contribution to UK life.
GENERAL COMMENTS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Migrant workers are among the most vulnerable
workers in the economy, most likely to be subjected to abuse by
their employers. Those migrant workers who do not have the security
of status are even more likely to be exploited, and to be exploited
systematically, from the point they consider leaving their homeland
throughout their tenure in the UK. Examples of this are set out
in the T&G's Migrant Worker Special (enclosed). [Not printed.]
The government has acknowledged the contribution
of migrant workers to the economy yet national policy denies migrants
rights. The absence of a clear sense of the rights which should
be attached to the status of migrant workers leaves them open
to abuse from employers.
Across the UK our experience shows how employers
exploit both documented and undocumented migrants, both legally
(for instance, by exploiting loopholes) and illegally (flagrant
breaches of the National Minimum Wage regulation or of health
and safety law). The absence of clarity in the law with regard
to the rights of migrant workers creates tremendous problems for
unions seeking to protect these workers from exploitation—and
it discourages workers from protecting themselves.
Government must also act to clarify the duties
of the relevant enforcement agencies so that it is clear that
the protection of workers, irrespective of status, is part of
their remit.
The T&G is playing its part in supporting
these workers. By organising them in their workplaces, they have
the security of protection and support of a trade union while
at work. But there can be no doubt that the absence of rights
places irregular workers in a highly vulnerable position, one
that unscrupulous employers are all too keen to exploit—and
can leave irregular migrant workers powerless and reluctant to
combat.
As the 2003 TUC report on Migrant Workers
in Britain states "`off the books' workers may have no
rights at all. Tribunals may decline to hear complaints from workers
deemed not to have legal contracts" and therefore cannot
enforce rights to the minimum wage. It would be rare to find an
irregular worker who is willing to take a case to tribunal in
the first instance for fear this would alert the authorities to
their status and will certain deportation.
Public policy is contributing to the isolation
and marginalisation of migrant workers. This is of grave concern
to the T&G and yet there are no indications that politicians
are concerned by the impact of their policy on workers. The T&G
is strongly opposed to the government's plans to introduce bonds
for migrant workers. We believe these will only add to the exploitation
and stigmatisation already endured by this group of workers.
Trade unions are playing a vital role in the
workplace in helping to integrate migrants but migrant workers
also want to contribute to society beyond the confines of their
place of work—without fear of censure or punishment. Society
could benefit from an approach that supports this. As the CRE
says: ". . . race relations are likely to improve if temporary
workers, even those who expect only to remain in the country temporarily,
are able to contribute socially beyond their work place commitments.
Migrants may be more likely to do so when the system allows the
possibility to switch to more permanent schemes, if they qualify
to do so".
Public policy must turn its attentions away
from vilifying irregular workers and towards measures that tackle
both the conditions for exploitation and those who exploit. This
must include measures to allow those workers already here an amnesty
and establishing a process whereby future migrants can regularise
their status and play a full part in British life.
THE 3D JOBS—DANGEROUS,
DEHUMANISING AND
DEGRADING
It is not for nothing that migrant workers are
regarded as employed in the 3D jobs—those that are dirty,
degrading and dehumanising. T&G officers around the country
have found that exploitation of migrant workers is widespread
including:
— Failure to supply workers with written
statements of employment particulars.
— Infringements of the Agricultural Wages
Board agreements, the National Minimum Wage, rights to paid holidays
and statutory sick pay, notice rights, rights to salary slips
and protections from illegal deductions from wages.
— Failure to abide by termination of employment
obligations.
— Breaches of working time regulations.
— Poor quality housing and accommodation
(usually in houses of multiple occupancy, Portacabins or caravans).
— Overcharging for housing and accommodation.
— Failure to provide tenancy agreements
or rent books.
— Use of underage workers.
— Abuse of tenancy rights with immediate
eviction of workers upon termination of employment.
— Withholding of workers' personal documents.
— Telling legal migrant workers that they
are actually working illegally, so as to deter workers from complaining
or seeking advice.
Other examples of abuse uncovered in recent
years include:
— In Norfolk, gang workers were paid just
£3 to cut 1,000 daffodils.
— In Bristol accommodation arranged by
a labour provider involved 27 people living in one house.
— In Suffolk migrant workers were housed
in a holiday camp with five workers in each unit, with each employee
£35 charged per week.
— In Cambridgeshire migrant workers were
forced to live in partitioned containers which had no water supply.
Rent and transport were deducted from the workers' wages before
they were paid. One worker earned £164 per week, from which
rent was deducted at £58.75. Another paid £83.85
and the rent deducted was £80.
— In the Midlands, a migrant worker was
charged £600 by a labour provider for documentation (which
was never produced).
CLARIFY THE
LAW—AND
ENFORCE IT
The T&G believes that a major factor in
the successful adherence to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) has
been the effectiveness of the Inland Revenue compliance teams
across the country in enforcing the law and prosecuting those
employers who fail to respect it.
Within Britain's "grey economy", however,
enforcement of the NMW is difficult. Wherever non-documented workers
are employed, particularly in the areas of agriculture, textiles
and construction, inspection is less likely, workers are less
likely to blow the whistle for fear of deportation, and the abuse
of the NMW is more likely to endure.
This could change in the food and agriculture
sector. In July 2004, the Gangmasters Licensing Act was passed.
The background to this legislation was that the T&G was extremely
concerned that deregulation within this part of the economy had
been so comprehensive that it was now impossible for the authorities
to inspect employers and enforce the law. As a result, workers,
including significant numbers of migrant workers, were suffering.
Following the passing of the Act, gangmasters
(labour providers) in this sector must be licensed, and in order
to be licensed they must demonstrate compliance with the law including
employment and health and safety. For the T&G, one of the
reasons that the Act represents a significant step forward is
that it brings all workers in that sector under its protection;
it makes no distinction regarding legality or status. The T&G
would like to see such a clarification in all sectors of the economy.
The T&G has also recommended that the Low
Pay Commission focuses on the issue of migrant and "off the
books" workers.
We also want the law to be clarified so that
employers may be prosecuted for not paying the minimum wage irrespective
of whether their workers have legal contracts or not.
The role of employment agencies in the experience
of migrant workers cannot be ignored. Migrant workers are far
more likely to be temporary and supplied by an employment agency,
which is why the government must agree to move to extend the definition
of "employee" so that it embraces and protects agency
workers. It cannot justify the continuation of a situation whereby
agency supplied labour sits outside the basic protections offered
to directly-employed workers.
There is simply far too much leeway for employers
to derogate all responsibility for the treatment of their workers
to the agencies supplying those workers. As a result, these workers
are left in a legal limbo, treated as second class in terms of
pay and respect at work, unsure whether they are an employee,
unclear about their rights and the responsibilities attached to
their status. Tighter regulation of agencies is needed by the
UK government, including regulation by EU Bolkestein directive
and the signing of the temporary agency worker directive.
Agency workers can also lose out on language,
citizenship and basic skills classes that have been negotiated
for the general workforce when they are the group that arguably
needs this most of all. The T&G is working to provide direct
help to migrant workers but this can be undermined by a public
policy agenda that is confused about their place in UK life.
BONDS FOR
MIGRANT WORKERS
The T&G has no comment to offer on benefit
fraud among migrant workers but we do have comments to make about
the level of debt these workers can get into, and the characters
that have profited from this indebtedness.
It is our experience of the everyday and systematic
skimming from migrant workers' pay packets, and the fear of exposure
in which many migrant workers live and work in this country, that
makes the T&G strongly opposed to the government's scheme
to introduce bonds for migrant workers from "higher risk"
countries.
The bonds are to be repayable on return to workers'
native country but we are deeply concerned that the government
should be considering such a scheme. In our view, and experience,
such a move would serve only to impoverish and stigmatise an already
poor and marginalised sector of the workforce.
Migrant workers can be the victim of exploitation
before they even leave their own country. The T&G's Migrant
Worker Special reports how workers can be induced to pay thousands
of pounds for passage to the UK and false documentation, including
passports and NI numbers. They then pay again to register under
the government's Workers Registration Scheme (and we have found
workers paying as much as four times more than the £75 registration
fee with the difference being pocketed by their employer) and
then again through their pay packet with deductions for everything
from travel to and from work to "administration". We
have come across workers who, after such deductions were made,
were left with around £1.50 for a 40 hour week.
We have also encountered workers who become
heavily indebted to their employers. This is easily done: an employer
can place a migrant worker on contract that does not guarantee
a minimum amount of paid work each week but does guarantee regular
deductions; he then makes regular deductions for travel, accommodation,
cleaning and so forth but fails to provide work; very rapidly
the worker's income is less than his expenditure and, very shortly,
he becomes indebted to his employer. We consider this to be a
form of modern-day slavery.
It is proposed that bonds will be an effective
way of covering the costs of tracking down and deporting migrants
who have overstayed their visa permissions. But in establishing
such a scheme, not only will the government further disadvantage
migrant workers and leave them open to abuse by their employers,
they will also be saying that the poorest workers in society must
pay for the enforcement of system which will punish them, even
if it means returning them to the country from which they originated
even if it is in ruin or abuses its citizens' human rights.
We believe that these bonds will have serious
knock-on effects in terms of community relations with the public
encouraged to distrust their fellow citizens, workers left doubtful
of the legitimacy of colleagues and existing communities stigmatised
as "high risk".
We therefore urge the Government to abandon
this policy now and instead to discuss a proper rights-based strategy
for ensuring migrant workers can play their full role in our nation's
life.
Chris Kaufman
National Secretary, Food and Agriculture
19 April 2006
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