Migrant workforce still being exploited

While this week's TUC conference in Brighton has been debating the rights of migrant workers, more evidence has surfaced of their exploitation in the construction sector.

A little-publicised regional report records migrant construction workers being paid well below the nationally agreed minimum rates, working long hours for little reward in poor and dangerous conditions, being denied contracts of employment or wage slips, living in unsatisfactory accommodation, and facing threats of or actual violence if they complain.

The regional study - Organising Migrant Workers in Construction - was carried out in north-east England by the local TUC in conjunction with UCATT and Northumbria University. It adds weight to the recent allegation by Labour MP John Denham that a flood of migrant construction labour in Southampton has seen the local going rate on site being cut by some 50% (CJ 6 Sept).

A further report from the Homeless Link organisation shows a sharp increase in the number of people sleeping rough in London, with migrants from eastern European EU countries now accounting for one in seven of the homeless in the capital. "Many of these are construction workers," said Bob Blackman, TGWU national secretary. "It indicates that people are being brought over here and just dumped on the streets."

The North East regional report cites wage slip evidence of two migrant bricklayers and a labourer being paid £4.19 per hour and a Polish bricklayer getting £4.75 per hour. Anecdotal evidence suggested one Newcastle worker was being paid £2.44 per hour. A UCATT official is quoted as having evidence of a worker being paid just £1.99 per hour.

The report adds: "What is also common are the hours of work that go beyond the 48 hours per week stated in the Working Time Directive after workers sign a waiver. A larger number of those encountered worked more than 48 hours but had not signed the waiver."

In addition, it states: "Certain employers were willing to use violence to get their way and this was a clear marker to the workers not to complain."

The UCATT regional secretary has specifically absolved main contractors from complicity in the exploitation of migrant labour or seeking to undermine the national agreement on pay and conditions. "There are positive examples of employers working with the unions and individuals to recruit migrant workers based on fairness and respect at work," the report concludes.

[Contract Journal, 13 September 2006, p 4]