Search

Attention: industrial and social affairs correspondents

Gone west - The harsh reality of Ukrainians at work in the UK

The Government needs to make it more difficult for unscrupulous employers to mistreat migrant workers coming from beyond the EU to work, says the TUC today (Tuesday), as it publishes a report describing the experiences of Ukrainians employed in the UK.

'Gone west: Ukrainians at work in the UK' has been written for the TUC by a Ukrainian student, and contains interviews with Ukrainian migrant workers working in construction, food processing and agriculture - sectors well-known for their use of migrant labour.

In an introduction to the report, the TUC sets out how it believes Government policy should change. It says that more attention needs to be paid to the rights of individuals - regardless of their immigration status - and says that a failure to put employees' interests at the heart of managed migration schemes is leaving migrant workers extremely vulnerable to abuse.

The TUC report says that following EU enlargement, in a little under two months' time, workers from Poland and Lithuania will no longer have to rely on temporary entry schemes to find work. It predicts that as a result bad employers, who wish to employ undocumented migrant workers for long hours on low pay, will need to look outside the EU for replacement workers.

'Gone west' says that many Ukrainians working in the UK will have come here legitimately, on the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (a fifth of SAWS entrants in 2002 were from Ukraine); the Sector Based Schemes (SBS) that supply workers for the meat and food processing, and hospitality industries; or as students.

However, because of the way in which the various managed migration schemes are run, many Ukrainians can end up paying bribes of £1,000 or more to agencies to get on SAWS, or find themselves shelling out $4,000 for visitors' visas to get to the UK. In these circumstances, it's not difficult to see why they don't return home when they should, says the TUC, as many will still have huge debts to pay off.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "Certain parts of our economy are now heavily dependent on migrant labour, and anyone coming here to work should be treated fairly and paid decent wages. But sadly for many, working in the UK often means harsh treatment, poor wages, excessive hours and appalling living conditions.

"Hundreds of unscrupulous agencies, gangmasters and employers are getting very rich, very quickly, off the backs of migrant workers. Media and political anger should be directed at these exploiters, not the migrant workers coming here to make a bit of cash to build themselves a better life back home. If we want to end this immoral profiteering, we must find ways of cracking down on employers using undocumented workers, so this is no longer a viable business option.'

'Gone west' suggests a number of changes to Government policy, which, if enacted, could start to make life more bearable for migrant workers, and more difficult for exploitative bosses:

· Changes should be made to SAWS and SBS to prevent unauthorised fees being levied on Ukrainians back home by colleges and agencies, workers instead could perhaps register with the UK embassy or on government-administered websites.

· UK employers should not be allowed to pass any charges they incur for using SAWS and SBS on to any migrant workers they employ.

· There needs to be some way of ensuring that employers fulfil contracts, and a system whereby workers can report abuses without fear of punishment.

· Workers who have their passports seized or withheld by employers should have some effective means of redress.

‘Gone west’ contains details of a number of case studies, including:

· Paul from Vinnytsya has been to the UK on SAWS several times, and says that the living conditions are very bad, even for people working legally through the scheme. As soon as his visa expired, he continued to do the same job, packing mushrooms and cabbages, but this time on half the salary he was on before. Every time the police came, he had to flee into the woods along with all the other undocumented workers.

· Vasyl had to pay $1,000 for a visa to come to the UK, and was employed picking strawberries for which he had been told he would receive £2 a box. But when the employer realised that the Ukrainians were hard working and were picking the fruit quickly, the price of a box was reduced to 50p. He says that it took ages to fill a box, and many of his fellow workers became ill because they were pushing themselves so hard just to make enough money to survive.

· Ivan is here on a student visa, and is studying in an English language school in London. He had to pay £1,000 for the visa - £600 for the school, and the rest was the travel agency’s service charge. He says he had to choose a school that does not require attendance because he has to work 50 hours per week in order to pay the school’s tuition, pay back the money he borrowed to get here, and send some money home to support his family.

Notes to Editors: Copies of 'Gone west: Ukrainians at work in the UK' are available from the TUC Press Office. Additional copies can be purchased for £20 from the TUC website http://www.tuc.org.uk/publications

The report was written for the TUC by Stepan Shakhno, a Ukrainian student, who is also chair of the European Youth Parliament in western Ukraine. It is based on interviews he conducted at various locations with Ukrainian migrant workers last summer. Stepan is available for interview.

- 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: Liz Chinchen 020 7467 1248 or 07699 744115 (pager) or email media@tuc.org.uk

Press release (1,100 words) issued 9 Mar 2004