Worker Registration Scheme: ‘abuse of human rights’

More questions, more calls for it’s abolition, but no answers yet on the WRS The MP for Glasgow South West has submitted a written question as to the future of the WRS, on behalf of a Glasgow Polish residents association. We await a response from the Minister. Meanwhile, the Lords have been asking questions, amid [...]

EU sanctions against employers of undocumented migrants

New European Union rules aim to crackdown on employers who expolit undocumented migrant workers, but migrant rights groups are worried that the imminent legislation retains the focus on the status of the migrant, rather than the exploitation by the employer. Under the Employers Sanctions Directive, employers hiring undeclared workers would face sanctions, including fines and [...]

Criminalising migration in Europe

Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe, writes in New Europe of the current wave of xenophobia in Europe, criminalising irregular migrants – including those seeking political asylum – under the guise of managed migration policies.

The Commissioner recommends member states to accede to the 1990 International Convention on Migrant Workers, the most comprehensive, international treaty on migrant workers reaffirming and establishing basic human rights. To date it has been ratified by four and signed by two Council of Europe member states, even though many European countries actively participated in its drafting.

East European migrant workers face ‘modern slavery’

Migrant workers from the EU’s Eastern member states face systematic discrimination when moving to work in ‘old Europe’, according to a new report presented on Monday 15 September at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels (CEPS). Discrimination against those workers is “a pan-European phenomenon,” says Professor Carby Hall, the author of the report, who cited abuses [...]

Website for Portuguese workers in UK

The TUC has launched a new Portuguese language website to support the large number of Portuguese workers in the UK. The website www.trabalharnoreinounido.org explains the rights workers can expect at work, from the national minimum wage (NMW) and working time, through to holiday entitlement and sick pay. The website – launched with the Citizens Advice [...]

Female migrant workers and the minimum wage

Report from the TUC of new research from COMPAS: New TUC research published today (Monday 11 Aug 08) reveals that female migrant workers may be more likely than any other group to be paid less than the national minimum wage (NMW). Reports of the abuse of migrant workers have become increasingly common and the research [...]

TUC response to BERR Vulnerable Workers Forum report

Responding to the Department for Business (BERR) Vulnerable Workers Forum report today (05/08/08), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘This provides a welcome response to the TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employment. As the TUC’s Commission recommended, the Government has decided that its internal workings need to be significantly streamlined if they are to offer genuine [...]

The Situation of the Roma Community in Glasgow

Facing increased hardship, racism and discrimination in Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of the state socialist regimes, the Roma have fled their worsening situation in greater numbers, first as asylum seekers and later, after May 2004, as ‘new’ citizens of an enlarged European Union (EU). However, they have been met by a new [...]

Undocumented: a life of poverty, exploitation and danger

An undercover investigation by the BBC looks at the hidden world of undocumented Punjabi migrants in London. The hidden-camera investigation (with sensationalist headlines “Migrant criminal network exposed” and “Life as an illegal immigrant”) reports that these mostly young, Punjabi men are subsisting through poorly paid, dangerous and demeaning work, and are forced to rely on [...]