Exploitation of migrant workers intensifies

The exploitation of migrant workers in the UK has worsened in recent years due to the economic climate and the government’s race to the bottom on workers’ terms and conditions, says the Institute of Employment Rights (IER).

The think tank launched its new publication, Labour migration in hard times (see page 31) at a recent conference bringing together academics, other experts and trade unionists to look at how far the law is able to protect these vulnerable workers and how it might be improved.

Speakers included professor of migration law at Leicester University Bernard Ryan who argued that labour law reform for all workers is preferable to caps and net migration targets.

Professor of European socio-legal studies at London Metropolitan University Sonia McKay reported that female migrants are most likely to be educated to secondary level, but are typically working in low-skilled cleaning, housekeeping, caring, hospitality and agricultural work — sectors that are the worst regulated and the least likely to be unionised.

She said that the permit system restricting entry to jobs for migrant workers is disproportionately affecting women, and that for migrant workers your gender determines your job opportunities.

And professor Miguel Martinez Lucio from Manchester Business School advised trade unions to move away from funding-related “project work” and instead embed migrant worker issues into their structures to make organising in this field a longer-term strategy.

www.ier.org.uk/events/labour-migration-hard-times

www.ier.org.uk/publications/labour-migration-hard-times-reforming-labour-market-regulation