Unscrupulous employers and hospitality recruitment agencies are “oppressively exploiting” legal migrant workers, a new trade union report has claimed.
Many workers in take-aways and restaurants have been subjected to “forced labour”, had their passports confiscated, and endured “long hours and no pay”, said the TUC in its Forced Labour and Migration to the UK report.
“A simple immigration control approach does nothing to reduce exploitation, as unscrupulous employers take on new workers and exploit them in turn,” the report concluded.
A TUC undercover investigation in the summer also found many agencies were charging to find people work, a practice that is illegal. “Abuse of migrants in the hospitality industry is well documented,” a spokesperson said.
Cases of abuse include one woman who failed to pay off a US$1,000 debt to her employer, despite working for four years on £2 per hour in a fish and chip shop and as a barmaid.
The TUC report recommends: “Work permits should not be tied to one specific employer, giving the migrant more freedom to leave employment on reasonable grounds.”
The TUC also wants agencies to be monitored, including blacklisting those who under-perform, and more efficient complaint mechanisms to be put in place to give migrant workers protection against “abusive recruitment practices”.
Roddy Watt, chief executive of hospitality recruitment agency Berkeley Scott, agreed with the TUC’s: recommendations. “Linking government schemes to one employer is complete nonsense in our industry,” he said.
Watt added that he would be happy for agencies to be monitored. “It would get rid of the dodgy agencies that do our industry so much damage,” he said. “The expansion of the European Union is also helping to clean up the industry.”
Kerry Robert Associates director Rob Maloney said: “If the Government is to monitor agencies, it should do so without added paperwork. It is up to agencies to be responsible for the migrant worker.”
by Shirley Kumar
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