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date: Wednesday 8 April 2009

embargo: For immediate release

Keeping Eastern European worker registration scheme is perplexing, says TUC

Commenting on the Government's decision today (Wednesday) to keep the Workers Registration Scheme for workers from the A8 group of countries for a further two years, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'This scheme was never designed to limit the number of workers from the A8 group of countries coming to the UK. Keeping it will make no difference to their numbers. The decision to prolong it is therefore perplexing as it serves no real purpose.

'But if A8 workers do not register they are denied all employment rights, leaving them open to abuse by unscrupulous employers. This in turn threatens the pay and conditions of other workers.

'It would have been more sensible to allow this unhelpful scheme to expire.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The A8 group of countries are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland. They joined the EU in 2004.

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

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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 (300 words) issued 8 Apr 2009