Scottish Migrants Network Conference at STUC

Workers Rights are Migrant Rights! Scottish Migrants Network Hosts Conference at STUC As the recession begins to bite across Scotland it is vital that all workers, including migrants, are aware of their rights at work. The Scottish Migrants Network (SMN) sponsored a half-day conference for migrant workers and support organisations in Scotland to share policy [...]

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 [...]

Listening to migrant workers at Holyrood

Lunchtime meeting, Committee Room 4 of the Scottish Parliament Wednesday 18 June 2008 read a report of the meeting below, or download in pdf format from Migrant Rights Network Summary The Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN) in conjunction with UNISON Overseas Nurses Network (ONN) and the STUC held a meeting in the Scottish Parliament, with the [...]

Health and Safety at work: resources for migrants

Earlier this year, the Health and Safety Executive launched a new website aimed at workers from overseas and their employers, at www.hse.gov.uk/migrantworkers The HSE migrant workers website is designed to provide essential information, guidance and advice on workplace health and safety for workers from overseas and their employers. The web pages have been specifically developed [...]

UNISON launches Migrant Workers Employment Charter

Unison press release, 17 June 2008: UNISON launches migrant workers’ charter to challenge rogue employers. Scotland’s largest public service union, UNISON, will tomorrow (Wednesday 18 June 08) take a number of migrant worker members to the Scottish Parliament to talk to MSPs, and to launch a Migrant Workers’ Charter, outlining a range of ‘good practice’ [...]

Call to scrap the Worker Registration Scheme

On May 20th, as the latest figures for the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) were published, an alliance of employers, unions and migrant groups called for the Scheme to be scrapped. This follows a call by Labour MP Stephen Pound the previous week, ahead of a Westminster Hall debate. From TUC press release: The TUC, the [...]

‘Papers Please’: MRN research into workplace ID checks

From May edition of Migrant Rights News, from the Migrant Rights Network Thousands of people are now being required to produce evidence of their immigration status by employers, since the ‘civil penalty’ regime – and maximum employer fines of £10,000 for employment of undocumented migrants – came into operation at the end of February 2008. [...]

Call for new deal for 2 million vulnerable workers

Two million UK workers are ‘trapped in a continual round of low-paid and insecure work where mistreatment is the norm’ according to the findings of the TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employment. The Commission’s report, available free on-line at www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk, found that migrants in the UK were particularly vulnerable to exploitation due to the nature of [...]