[ssf] From the Guardian: this is big news!

[dave thompson]

hi, 

this is dynamite and should be circulated/forwarded as
wide as possible,please do so, indymedia, friends,
colleagues, etc. It really shows the sordid squalid
reality of our 'economic miracle': the squalid truth
of our deregulated labour markets. The the
spinelessness of our trade union leaders and the
complicity of so called independent academics who are
all suppressing this very revealing document.

' A group of 32 nurses from Asia were paid just £46 a
week by an NHS trust after deductions to their
agency.'

Damning migrant report delayed

Government fears pre-election backlash

Hsiao-Hung Pai
Thursday February 3, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Refugees_in_Britain/Story/0,2763,1404701,00.html


The publication of a ground-breaking report on forced
labour and the exploitation of migrant workers in
Britain has been delayed after attempts by the
government to hold it back until after the general
election.

The Guardian has obtained a copy of the draft report,
which is marked "confidential, not for further
distribution". Written by independent academics, it
explores the relationship between forced labour and
deregulated markets under the Labour government.

Forced Labour and Migration to the UK was delivered
last August to the International Labour Organisation
in Geneva and the TUC in London, which jointly
commissioned it in January last year. But six months
later it remains unpublished.

It catalogues the coercive techniques used by private
employers to force migrants to work for low wages and
in poor conditions, from physical and sexual violence
to debt bondage and blackmail.

It also gives examples of where the government has
paid wages well below the minimum legal wage,
following deductions to agencies.

The research focuses on building work, farming,
contract cleaning and residential care. Its findings
conclude that:

· many foreign migrants were forced to work through
violence and intimidation and were prevented from
seeking help;

· many have been forced into debt bondage, having
taken loans to fund their travel to the UK repayable
at exorbitant rates of interest. One woman had
borrowed $1,000 (£530) to come here and had not paid
the debt off four years later;

migrants were often working in dangerous conditions,
and for excessive hours. Some deaths of migrants at
work had been identified;

nurses brought to Britain to work in the NHS and in
private care homes in particular complained of
exploitative deductions from their wages. A group of
32 nurses from Asia were paid just £46 a week by an
NHS trust after deductions to their agency.

The ILO/TUC publication was supposed to come out
during the TUC conference last September. But
according to sources in both bodies, pressure from
government departments has pushed back its release
until after the general election, expected in May.

A senior TUC official said the timing of publication
was delayed after an intervention by Whitehall. "ILO
was threatened with funding cuts by the Department of
Work and Pensions (DWP) if the report were to be
published," the official said.

The official believed the report was being held back
until after the election because it would embarrass
the government. "Contrary to the idea of a social
Europe, Britain's economy is marked by the reality of
a deregulated labour market and the super-exploitation
of migrant workers," the official said.

The union movement has become increasingly alarmed by
the growth of forced labour in Britain. However, there
is a heated debate inside unions about whether to
sound the alarm before the election.

An ILO official in Geneva familiar with the report
said the delay had followed "extensive comments from
the British government". There had been "some very
sensitive discussions".

Among the most disturbing findings in the research
paper is evidence of exploitation of migrants working
for government bodies such as the NHS. It cites the
case of Conrado, a qualified nurse brought from Asia
to Britain by a labour agency to work in a hospital.

He and several others were made to pay £700 to labour
agencies, followed by a month's deposit and rent for
accommodation.

When they started working for the NHS their monthly
pay of £805 was reduced to £198 - £46 a week - after
deductions were made at source by the NHS trust and
handed to the agency.

The report also cites cases of Indian nurses working
for private care homes under contract to the
government where each nurse was charged £3,000 for
registration.

One group of Indian nurses were told they would have
to pay £2,000 to their employer if they wanted to quit
the job.

The ILO is the UN body which promotes workers' rights
in 177 countries. The British government, led by the
DWP, is one of 10 countries with a permanent seat on
its governing body. It is understood to have paid
£20,000 towards the costs of the forced labour
research.

A spokeswoman for the ILO said the working paper had
not yet been completed, and no publication date had
been set.

The TUC said the paper would be published shortly, but
revisions had to be made.

Its authors, Bridget Anderson of Compas, a
left-leaning centre on migration policy and society
based at Oxford University, and Dr Ben Rogaly,
lecturer in human geography at Sussex University and a
member of the Sussex Centre for Migration Research,
declined to comment.

 


	
		
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