CAMPAIGN Migrant workers
n Mark Metcalf
Speaking the right words Unite fights migrant worker exploitation – by translating rights into community languages
Migrant workers should be protected by the same laws that protect other UK workers receive equal pay to those doing the same work. The problem is that many just don’t know their rights. Invisible from other workers, it’s all too easy for them to be exploited.
Seeking to organise workers of all nationalities, Unite has produced a series of Know Your Rights cards in 12 community languages, Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Ukrainian and Tetum.
According to Unite press officer Donal O’Cofaigh, “The cards point
out that workers are entitled to statutory rights and protections when they start work. “They are in multiple languages because many workers don’t speak English and are being misinformed about their rights by their bosses.
“The cards also provide details about contacting and joining Unite. It is one thing having rights but as the enforcement of them by the
authorities is terrible, then only by combining together in a union can workers make real improvements. “Workers can take the cards home and pass them on to their friends whose working conditions may be little more than modern slavery, which Unite is highlighting and combating.”
A recent report shows how distributing such information everywhere is vital.
“Debt. Migration and Exploitation”, (by the Landworkers’ Alliance) examines the recruitment practices and working conditions of seasonal fruit and veg pickers employed under the government’s Seasonal Worker Scheme.
It reports that recently some Nepalese workers have been pressurised into paying extortionate, illegal broker fees of around £4,300 to third-party recruitment agencies in their home countries to secure a visa. The report provides a breakdown of the work process for a fruit picker, and shows how workers endured debt bondage, long hours, abuse by supervisors, and systematic wage
16 uniteLANDWORKER Winter 2023/24
theft. Meanwhile, the government has yet, despite its promises to do so, undertaken a full review of the SWS in the agricultural sector in this decade.
Little wonder then that a number of NGOs have written to the immigration minister Robert Jenrick MP asking him to act.
Now with the passing of the Illegal Migration Bill, it is going to be even easier for employers to exploit migrant workers.
Find out more You can download your copy of
the Know your rights leaflets from the Unite Ireland region website. But Unite Communications has just published a generic Know your rights pocket guide available in Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Lithuanian, from the Unite publications library.
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