date: 16 April 2008

embargo: immediate release

TUC reaction to Acpo report on migrant workers

Commenting on today's (Wednesday) report by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), which finds that the influx of migrant workers into the UK has not led to a crime wave, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'The findings that the crime rate of migrant workers is much like the rest of the UK population should help tackle some of the prejudice and urban myths surrounding migrants. It certainly chimes with union experience.

'But the rise in migrant workers has led to an increase in law breaking - not by migrants but by bad employers who exploit their insecurity and their lack of knowledge of UK employment rights to deny them the minimum wage, holiday rights and other legal entitlements.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Brenchley T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: ebrenchley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (200 words) issued 17 Apr 2008