Migrant workers in the East of England

in the East of England

PROJECT REPORTDr Sonia McKay, Senior Research Fellow.

Dr Andrea Winkelmann-Gleed, Research Fellow. Autumn 2005

EUROPEAN UNIONEuropean Social Fund

MIGRANT WORKERS

MIGRANT WORKERSin the East of England

139ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND 3

Furthermore we would like to thank themembers of the Advisory Group andSteering Group who generously gavetheir time and resources in support ofthe project. A list of the members ofthe Advisory Group and Steering Groupis shown at Appendix H.

The researchers would like to recordtheir thanks to the individuals andorganisations representing government,voluntary and community organisations,employers and trade unions whoagreed to be interviewed and who wereparticularly generous in providing theresearchers with their insights andexperiences of working with newmigrants. Many provided us with furthercontacts or facilitated access tointerview individual migrant workersand we are grateful for their assistance.

We would additionally like to record ourthanks to those employers and tradeunions who took time out of their busyschedules to complete and return thesurvey questionnaires. Above all elsewe are deeply appreciative to themigrant workers themselves who gaveup their own time to recount theirpersonal experiences of working andliving in the East of England.

Fieldworkers conducted many of theinterviews, sometimes in the migrant’sown language and we want to thankGeorge Fuller, Sylvia Roesch and DavidXiansheng Zhao for their work on theproject.

We hope that the findings andrecommendations contained in thisreport will make a contribution to the fair and equal treatment of newmigrants at their places of work, easetheir integration into wider society, and at the same time enhance theiropportunities to contribute to theeconomic well-being of the region.

While the researchers recognise theimportance of the participation andinvolvement of the many groups andindividuals to the success of this project,its findings and conclusions are thoseof the researchers alone who bearresponsibility for the final report.

We would like to express our thanks to the East of EnglandDevelopment Agency for funding this project and in particular to KateMcFarlane for providing invaluable support throughout its progress.

Acknowledgements

CONTENTS

MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND4

Contents

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Executive Summary

Introduction

1 The rationale behind the project and its objectives2 Literature review

2.1 Migrant worker definitions 2.2 Asylum seekers and refugees2.3 Statistics on the population of migrant workers 2.4 Migrant workers in the East of England 2.5 Profile of migrants by level of skills 2.6 Undocumented or unauthorised migrants2.7 The role of gangmasters2.8 Profile of three migrant communities in the East of England 2.9 Conclusion

3 Research methodology3.1 Key informant interviews3.2 The employers’ postal survey3.3 Trade union survey 3.4 Migrant worker interviews

4 The employer, trade union and migrant worker data4.1 Employer survey4.2 The trade union survey4.3 The migrant workers’ interviews 4.4 The interview guide

5 The scale of migrant employment in the region5.1 The number of new migrants in the region 5.2 Length of stay5.3 Countries of origin of migrant workers 5.4 The status of migrant workers in the region

6 The demographic characteristics of migrant workers in the East of England6.1 The age profile of migrant workers in the region 6.2 The gender profile of migrant workers in the region6.3 The educational and skills profile of migrant workers in the region 6.4 The impact of migrant workers on business and the economy

7 The motivations, aspirations and ambitions of migrant workers in the region7.1 Motivations in coming to the UK and the region7.2 Aspirations and ambitions

139CONTENTS


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8 The economic geography of migrant worker employment8.1 Agriculture and horticulture8.2 Manufacturing and food processing and packing, including retail8.3 The health care sector8.4 Construction8.5 Hotels, tourism and catering8.6 The university, professional and IT sectors8.7 Other regional employers

9 Routes of access to employment9.1 Employment through agencies9.2 Employment through gangmasters9.3 Obtaining work directly9.4 Experiences of Job Centres

10 Core terms and conditions of work10.1 Pay and hours of work10.2 Hours of work

11 Issues related to the well-being of migrant workers11.1 Work-related issues11.2 Family-related issues11.3 Accommodation11.4 Issues related to finances and banking11.5 Access to key services11.6 Relationships within the workplace and the wider communities

12 Conclusions and recommendations12.1 Conclusions12.2 Recommendations

BibliographyHome Office news release and statistical sources The UK Parliament sourcesNews reportsOther websites sourcesMap of the East of England

Appendix A Migrant Workers in the East of England - Key Informants Topic Guide Appendix B Employer surveyAppendix C Trade union surveyAppendix D Migrant worker interview guideAppendix E Reminder Employer surveyAppendix F Reminder Union surveyAppendix G Project flyerAppendix H Advisory - and Steering group members

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

6 MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND

Over recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of migrant workers coming to the East of England, with migrantsoriginating from all over the world making an essential contributionto the region’s ongoing economic success.

With 2.8 million economically activepeople in the East of England, it isdifficult to ascertain the proportion ofmigrant workers with any certainty.However, this research, focusing onmigrant workers who have arrived inthe East of England within the last fiveyears, estimates that their numbercould be somewhere between fifty andeighty thousand.

It is even more difficult to estimate thefiscal contribution of migrant workersto the East of England economy, a newstudy by the Institute for Public PolicyResearch (ippr)1 found that in terms of UKtax revenue, the foreign born populationhas a relatively higher contribution ratecompared to those born in the UK. The ippr estimates that each migrantworker contributes £7,203 in revenue.Using the ippr estimates, and based onour lower estimate of new migrants inthe East of England (50,000), revenuegains could be somewhere in the orderof £360m a year.

The CIPD Annual Survey Report 20052

has shown a growing reliance onmigrant workers among employers inresponse to recruitment problems.

The CIPD found that one in fiveorganisations nationally have opted to recruit staff overseas with migrantworkers filling posts where there is no suitable locally available labour.

Migrant workers range from the highlyeducated and skilled, to those who arehighly motivated but have no formaleducation; from migrants who come asseasonal workers, to those recruited by overseas companies to work ininternational businesses, to others whocame with their families, because therewere no employment opportunities intheir countries of origin. The surveyreport seeks to convey the scale anddemographics of migrant workers inthe East of England, their age andgender, the workers’ levels of educationand skills and the transferability ofthese skills, issues related to languageand communication, as well as a rangeof work related issues. Some of therecent migrants to the region possesshigh levels of skills and qualificationsthat they are not able to offer to theregion’s labour market, perhaps becausethe schemes under which they enterthe labour market confine them toworking in particular types of employment.

Executive summary

1 Sriskandaraja, D. Cooley, L. Reed, H. (2005) Paying their way – the fiscal contribution of immigrants in the UK, IPPR, London 2 CIPD (2005) Recruitment, retention and turnover, Annual Survey Report 2005

139EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

7MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND

The research has uncovered someappalling stories about the number ofhours many migrants work, the level ofpay they receive and the less than equaltreatment they experience at work. Theprevalence of exploitative agency workin some sectors also contributes totheir poor employment experiences.However, this does not convey the totalpicture of migrant working in the Eastof England. Migrant workers alsoreport being treated with dignity,working through reputable agenciesand possessing permanentemployment contracts. In these casestheir employment experiences includehaving had opportunities for promotionand advancement in their careers.

The research also exposes gaps in theexisting knowledge of the employmentof migrant workers in the region. Inparticular the absence of reliablestatistics on the size of the migrantworker population means that theresearchers have had to estimate itssize, based on information provided tothem by key informants, employers,trade unions and migrant workersthemselves. This is particularly thecase in relation to some sectors wherethe official statistical data is very weak

or non-existent. The research alsonotes that there is much anecdotalevidence of a significant presence ofundocumented workers in the regionand also evidence of such workersbeing moved both around the regionand into other regions, making itdifficult to trace them. This is not somuch a reflection of a desire to keepundocumented workers hidden as alabour force, but is more to do with thetype of transient work they areemployed in.

The research report is the outcome of asix-month research project conductedbetween October 2004 and April 2005 by the Working Lives Research Institute

based at London MetropolitanUniversity, on behalf of the East ofEngland Development Agency. Itcollates findings not only based on theexisting published and grey literature,but on reports and personal testimonyfrom migrant workers themselves, aswell as survey data from trade unionsand employers of migrant workers.Based on all these varied sources, thereport highlights the following keyfindings:

‘...The research has uncovered some appaling stories about the numberof hours many migrants work, the level of pay... and the less than equaltreatment they experience at work...’

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


Demographics and geography ofemployment

• As many as one in three employers in the sectors where migrant workers principally work - agriculture, construction, health provision, food processing, hotels and catering, cleaning and manufacturing - employ migrant workers

• the number of migrant workers in the region is somewhere between 50,000 and 80,000 at peak seasonal periods

• the migrant workforce is ethnically diverse, with workers coming from all corners of the world

• women are as likely to come in search of work as men. However, although their needs may differ there is little evidence of the existence of provisions or arrangements that specifically address the needs of women workers

• there is a wide range of ages within the migrant worker population, although most are clustered around the 25-49 year old group.

Skills and employment

• Most migrant workers are working in the region at below their skill level even though the skills they possess can be in areas where there are major skill shortages

• migrant workers possessing professional qualifications, particularly in medicine, have difficulty in obtaining employment at

their skill level. There are a variety of reasons for this, but re-qualification and re-registration schemes contribute to this exclusion

• many of the migrant workers in the region obtained at least their first employment through agencies, where often they have been made to pay large fees in return for access to employment. As a result some are deeply in debt and are working in jobs they would leave were it not for these debts

• there is little evidence of migrants accessing work through more traditional routes, like JobCentre Plus. Word of mouth and family connections are more likely routes into employment, particularly after initial employment

‘...Most migrant workers are working in the region at below their skilllevel even though the skills they possess can be in areas where thereare major skill shortages...’

139EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


• the interviews show some evidence of labour market shortages pushing up rates of pay, however, for many migrant workers pay at, or in some cases below, the National Minimum Wage, is commonplace

• migrants are often working long hours and although most do not believe that they are facing conditions that differ greatly from those of the host community, they are often in employment where they are the majority of the workforce.

Motivations and aspirations

• While financial motivations are important they are not the only reasons why migrant workers come to the region

• the motivations and aspirations of migrant workers coming to the region can differ widely, dependent on their age, family ties, experience and profession, with younger workers more likely to be coming to the region for shorter periods, to experience new environments; to learn or improve their knowledge of English or to earn money to return or move on

• while some workers have come with the aim of long-term settlement, manyof the migrant workers in the region see their period of work as an interludeand intend to return to their country of origin or to move to a third country atsome stage in the mid-term future.

Impact on the local economy

• Based on the interviews with employers and on the survey of employers, if migrant workers were not available, some businesses would not be able to function to full capacity. This is due to local labour market shortages, combined with the unwillingness of local communities to take up some of the jobs that are on offer.

Issues relating to well-being

A sense of well-being and of integrationby migrant workers in the region isaffected by a number of factors:

• their financial situation, together with their ability to send remittances to their family

• the yearning for contact with family members, but also the concern at their inability to adequately provide for family members who have travelled with them

• inadequate and expensive accommodation, which is sometimes unsafe and insecure

• difficulty in accessing English language courses designed to meet their needs.

‘...The report makes a number of key recommendations... and for thesepartnership working will be the key...’

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


The analysis of the findings has producedrecommendations for policy and practice.These are included within the reportand are grouped into five sections:

1 migrant workers’ access to information

2 migrant workers’ access to services3 housing issues4 skills issues related to language

skills and difficulties in gaining re-qualifications

5 regional research related to the level of information about migrant working.

The recommendations are addressed to a wide range of bodies, both regionaland national and focus on the keyissues raised within the report.Although these principally relate to theemployment experiences of migrantworkers they also address their welfareand, more generally, matters relevantto the East of England economy and to its need to address skill shortageswithin particular industrial sectors ofthe region.

139INTRODUCTION


However, in recent years the number ofinternational migrant workers hasincreased substantially. In part this is aresponse to the drying up of seasonalinternal migration. But it also reflectschanges in transportation with cheapermethods of travel increasing thepotential for seasonal mobility acrosscountries. While many of the migrantworkers in the East of England work inhigh skilled jobs, such as IT, as medicaldoctors or researchers, there is aneven greater number of lesser skilledworkers or workers who cannottransfer their existing qualifications intoBritish ones. These workers are notonly to be found in agriculture andhorticulture, but also in food processingand packaging factories, in hotels andcatering, supermarkets, onconstruction sites and within the healthcare sector. Furthermore, their labouris no longer purely seasonal. Whilesome sectors do experience seasonalpeaks and troughs (for example thehospitality sector) other traditionalemployers of seasonal labour (likefarming and agriculture) are nowcapable of year-round production. Thus,technological changes mean that theirrequirement for labour is notdetermined by the seasons alone but,

as this report demonstrates, by themarket for the products, requiring adifferent kind of casualised worker.

The term ‘migrant worker’ is often usedas a generic term covering any group ofworkers who exhibit a ‘difference’ fromthe perceived identity of the hostcommunity. In this report the termrelates to those who have come to theUK during the past five years,specifically to find or take up work,whether intending to remainpermanently or temporarily andwhether documented orundocumented. Refugees, although inthe UK for reasons related to flight,encounter many of the problems facedby migrant workers. Asylum seekersfall into an employment categorycomparable to undocumented workers.

Migrant workers have employmentrights under the law. But abuse ofthose rights is commonplace and evenwhere migrant workers are quitelegitimately employed, with rigorousattention to rights and health andsafety, they may have considerableneeds that are not being met. With theexpansion of the European Union andits associated automatic right of entry,

The East of England has been the destination for a significant numberof migrant workers for many years. Traditionally seasonal workerswithin the UK or from Ireland would come during harvest times to helpout on the many agricultural farms in the region.

Introduction

INTRODUCTION


and with the expansion of the SeasonalAgricultural Workers’ Scheme (SAWS)providing temporary work visas at thesource of recruitment for agricultureand food processing, it has beenanticipated that the numbers ofmigrant workers will grow and that theEast of England will be the destinationfor sections of the new workforce, giventhe sectors represented within theregion and its current skills shortages.

The dilemmas and employmentproblems endured by some migrantworkers have received considerablemedia attention. One of the eightobjectives in the East of EnglandRegional Assembly’s (EERA) RegionalSocial Strategy is to develop socialnetworks, community assets andpromote community cohesion, with avision to achieve such social inclusionthroughout the East of England. Thisreport is intended as a contribution tothe development of such a strategicresponse by providing as detailed aspossible an account of migrant workertrends in the East of England; offeringan extensive account of the actualexperiences of migrant workers; andpresenting recommendations for publicpolicy intervention at local, regional,national level and, in some cases,European level.

While this research focuses on the

whole of the East of England region,there are more focussed studies inprogress. One of these has beencommissioned by the KeystoneDevelopment Trust to examine thesituation of Portuguese migrants in the Thetford area in greater detail3.

This research was conducted betweenOctober 2004 and April 2005 on behalfof the East of England DevelopmentAgency (EEDA). It consisted of threedistinct phases. Phase One involvedface-to-face interviews with keyinformants (see appendix A) and areview of the existing literature, toestablish the existing collectiveknowledge on migrant workers in theEast of England. Phase Two involvedthe development of a postal surveydistributed to 1,000 employers in theEast of England, covering the mainsectors known to employ migrantlabour, such as agriculture, foodprocessing and manufacturing,construction, supermarkets, hotels and catering and the health care sector (National Health Service (NHS)and independent Health Care providers)(see appendix B). A separate postalquestionnaire (see appendix C) wassent out to all TUC affiliated tradeunions and to their regional office inthe East of England, where there wasone. This amounted to around 100questionnaires being sent.

3 Schneider, C. and Holman, D. (2005) A Profile in Breckland, Norfolk. Undertaken by Anglia Polytechnic University, commissionedby Keystone Development Trust as part of Breckland New Communities Project and funded by the Home Office, European SocialFund and Breckland Council.

139INTRODUCTION


Mapping of further contact detailsprovided by key informants, employersand trade unions, as well as field visitsto community centres, libraries andother places where migrant workersgather, led to the selection of thesample of migrant workers (seeappendix D) who were interviewed face-to-face, during Phase Three of the research project.

This report commences with apresentation of the rationale behind theresearch and sets out its objectives.

Chapter 2 presents an analysis of theexisting body of literature on migrantworkers in general, and on theirexperiences in the East of England, in particular.

Chapter 3 introduces the researchmethodologies.

Chapter 4 Chapters 4 - 11 present the findings from the two postalsurveys, together with those from theface-to-face migrant worker interviews.Chapter 4 also introduces findings fromthe Employer and Trade Union surveys.

Chapter 5 shows the scale of migrantworking in the region, covering thenumbers and the nationalities of themigrant workforce.

Chapter 6 covers the demographicfeatures, including information on themigrants’ age, gender, skills andcurrent experiences.

Chapter 7 covers migrant workers’motivations, aspirations and ambitions.

Chapter 8 discusses the geography ofemployment, looking at a range ofsectors.

Chapter 9 outlines routes of access toemployment.

Chapter 10 the core employment termsand conditions, including pay andworking hours.

Chapter 11 focuses on issues related to the well being of migrant workers,including accommodation, their accessto services and their familyresponsibilities and relationships.

Chapter 12 collates these researchfindings, returning to the researchobjectives, outlining the conclusionsand recommendations for policy andpractice and setting the agenda forfurther work that should be done in this area.

THE RATIONALE BEHIND THE PROJECT AND ITS OBJECTIVES


The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) was established on 1April 1999 to increase the prosperity of the English regions. EEDA is oneof nine Regional Development Agencies. EEDA's agenda is wide-rangingand challenging, it includes:

• economic development and social and physical regeneration

• business support, investment and competitiveness

• skills development• improving employment opportunities• ensuring sustainable development.

The government-appointed RDA Boardsare business led and the overallpurpose of EEDA is to promote theprosperity and well being of the East of England, focusing on economicdevelopment.

‘East of England 2010 the regionaleconomic strategy’ sets out EEDA’sgoal to ‘make the East of England aworld-class economy; bringing greaterprosperity and opportunity for everyonewho lives, works, invests and doesbusiness here’. In the East of Englandthere has been no clear picture of howmigrant workers can and do assist withthe development of the regional economyand this piece of research aims toprovide a better and more coherentunderstanding of where and howmigrant workers can make a positivecontribution to the regional economy.

The East of England has been thedestination for a significant number

of migrant workers for many years.However, the number of migrantworkers has increased substantially in recent years and the problems theyendure have received considerablemedia attention. For example, the roleof gangmasters received increasednational media attention following theMorecambe Bay tragedy whereas localmedia has focused on the role ofgangmasters in King’s Lynn andPeterborough.

Within the East of England theagricultural and food processing sectorhas traditionally recruited largenumbers of seasonal migrant workers,originally from within the UK andrecently from other Europeancountries. European Unionenlargement has significantly increasedthe potential legal migrant workforceavailable to the region and increasinglyEastern European skilled workers arecoming to the region and workingwithin sectors such as constructionthat are facing severe recruitmentdifficulties. This predicted continuedincrease will impact upon not only locallabour markets, but also on a widerange of sectors including health,housing and education.

The rationale behind the projectand its objectives

1

139THE RATIONALE BEHIND THE PROJECT AND ITS OBJECTIVES


The need for this project wasemphasised in the Regional SocialStrategy. The Regional Social Strategylaunched in May 2004 sets out thevision, objectives and means forachieving a fair and inclusive society in the East of England. It identifiesregional priorities, policies and actionsto support local activity and provides aframework for tackling social exclusionin the region. One of the key milestoneswithin the Regional Social Strategy isthe need for a comprehensive survey ofmigrant worker employment in the Eastof England in relation to access towork, low pay and conditions.

Following the adoption of the decisionto commission this innovative researchproject, EEDA formally invitedorganisations to tender for the researchwork. The Working Lives ResearchInstitute was delighted when it waschosen to undertake the researchprogramme. A timetable was drawn upfor completion of the research. Thiswas tightly drawn to reflect theimportance that EEDA attached tomoving forward as quickly as possibletowards the development of policyobjectives on migrant workers. Theresearch was starting out with littleprior information on migrant workers inthe region, as Judith Barker, Head ofEnvironment and CommunityDevelopment at EEDA, noted:

“For years there has been no clearpicture of the skills and the number ofmigrant workers in the East ofEngland. We intend this study todiscover how these workers can anddo assist with the development of theregional economy. The research willlead to a better and more coherentunderstanding of where and howmigrant workers can make a positivecontribution to the local economy.”

Just as the research was getting underway a national newspaper carried anarticle on migrant workers in theregion. Based on information fromthose who had registered since 1 May2005, it stated that 15,145 migrantworkers from the ‘former Iron Curtain’countries were registered in EastAnglia4. Of these, 55.7 per cent werefrom Poland, 16.7 per cent fromLithuania and the remainder fromSlovakia, Latvia, Czech Republic,Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia. Mostmigrant registered workers wereemployed in factory work and otherlabouring jobs such packing, cleaning,farm labour, warehouse work, buildingsites, catering, hospitality and carejobs. In it journalist Nigel Morrissuggested that overall migrant labourboosted the British economy by £120m5.

4 IPPR (2004)5 Morris, N ‘Migrant workers boost economy by £120m’ The Independent, 11. November 2004, p.15.

THE RATIONALE BEHIND THE PROJECT AND ITS OBJECTIVES


As the literature review presented inChapter 2 indicates, there are majorgaps in knowledge related to migrantworkers in Britain, including thoserelating to the size of the migrantworkforce, its demographiccharacteristics, its experiences ofworking in the UK and the conditions of work. This project sought to obtainsuch information, as it related to newmigrant workers located in the East of England, covering the counties ofCambridgeshire, Bedfordshire,Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk andNorfolk.

The research was aimed at addressingthe following four objectives:

1 What is the scale of migrant working in the East of England?

• numbers • nationalities

2 What are the demographic characteristics of migrant workers?

• their age and gender• their skills, abilities and ambitions• how do these relate to their current

employment experiences?

3 What is the geography of migrant worker employment in the East of England?

• sectors of employment • routes to access employment • employment conditions • how do employers view the

contribution of migrant workers?

4 What are the issues related to the well-being of migrant workers?

• family related issues • financial issues • accommodation • access to vital services • relationships within the wider

community.

Chapter 2 introduces the existingliterature on migrant working in the UKand particularly the East of England.

139LITERATURE REVIEW


The review draws most of its sourcesfrom academic studies, governmentand statutory bodies such as:

• the Home Office and the Government Office of the East of England (GO-East)

• the Commission of the European Communities

• the Trades’ Union Congress reports• reports of the Citizens Advice

Bureau (CAB)• the UK Parliament and its Select

Committees• the Office of National Statistics • internet websites and media reports.

The review also presents an account ofthree migrant communities in the Eastof England - the Portuguese, Chineseand Ukrainian communities,documenting some of the issuesconcerning their employment.

The literature review highlights the gapsin knowledge about the exact numbersof migrant workers, the routes by whichthey access employment and themanner in which they are treated byagents, gangmasters and employers.

2.1 Migrant worker definitions

There is no single accepted definition of a migrant worker. The InternationalPassenger Survey (IPS), on which muchof the data collected on migration isbased, defines a migrant worker as ‘aperson who has resided abroad for ayear or more and who states on arrivalthe intention to stay in the UK for ayear or more.’6 However, the problemwith this definition is that it fails tocapture the complexity of experiencesof migrant workers in the UK labourmarket. It excludes seasonal workerswho genuinely will not stay for a year or more. It also excludes those who onarrival do not intend to stay for a yearor more but who then overstay. Butmost obviously it excludes those whoenter with false documents or whoavoid border controls.

For the purpose of this research theagreed definition we have used is thatthe term ‘migrant worker’ relates tothose ‘who have come to the UK withinthe last five years specifically to find ortake up work, whether intending toremain permanently or temporarily andwhether documented or undocumented’.

The literature review sets the scene in which the field research wasconducted, it also informs on definitions, current statistics, reports onthe labour market and on the impact of migrant workers on theeconomy, existing policy debates and legislation aiming to regulate thegrey channels through which migrants are exploited.

Literature review2

6 Robinson, V (2002) ‘Migrant Workers in the UK’ Labour Market Trends, September 2002

LITERATURE REVIEW


This is similar to the definition of amigrant worker employed by Bell andJarman in their 2004 study7 where theydefine the term as: ‘an individual whoarrives in a host country within the lastfive years, either with a job to go to orintending to find a job’.

By defining migrant workers in this way the research has been able to gobeyond the groups identified throughthe IPS or Work Permits statistics, to document a more comprehensivepicture of the role and position ofmigrant workers in the regionaleconomy of the East of England.

Migrant workers thus can include thefollowing categories:

• nationals of the European Economic Area (EEA) who have a right to travel, live and work in the UK

• nationals of all other countries who require a work permit, which is obtained by an employer who cannot find a suitable national to fill a post

• nationals of Switzerland and British Overseas Territories and people employed in a limited number of activities, who require clearance to enter the UK but do not require a work permit

• Commonwealth Working Holiday makers: individuals between the ages of 17-30 who can work in the UK for up to 2 years.

This review does not use the term‘illegal migrant’ when referring to thosewithout permission to work and insteaduses the term ‘undocumented’ oroccasionally ‘unauthorised’ worker. This encapsulates both those who have entered the UK lawfully, but are working without permission, forexample because they have overstayedor because their permission to work isconstrained in some way and they areworking outside these permittedconstraints, by working more hours aweek than permitted or by working in ajob different to that for which they hadpermission to work. It also includesthose who have entered the UK withoutany permission to work and individualswho have entered the country illegally.This category of undocumentedworkers may also include individualswho enter the UK with the intention towork, even though their visa status didnot give them permission to do so.There is anecdotal evidence that someoverseas students enter the UK under a student visa with the pretext offollowing a course of education but whonever attend such classes. If their mainintention is to work and they work morethan 20 hours a week they would fallwithin the category of undocumentedworkers.

7 Bell and Jarman (2004) p3-4 for guide on categorising migrant workers.



2.2 Asylum seekers and refugees

This review focuses on migrant workersand thus differentiates their positionfrom that of refugees and asylumseekers who enter the UK other thanfor work reasons. Nevertheless it issometimes difficult to separate the twoissues, particularly since much of theliterature confuses the two states andoften refers to one as if it were the other.

Over recent years the number of asylumrelated grants of settlement has beengoing down. The Control of ImmigrationStatistics for 2003 show a 30 per centdecrease compared to the previousyear.8 In 2003 the Home Office received46,130 asylum appeals, 11 per centfewer than in 2002 and one in five (20 per cent) appeals were granted,compared with 22 per cent in 2002.9

On the 22nd of February 2005 the BBCNews reported the following update onthe UK’s asylum figures10: Some 34,000people sought asylum in the UK in 2004compared with 49,000 in 2003. Thefigure represents a 60 per cent fall inasylum applications since a high of84,130 cases in 2002 - a record 7,000arrivals a month. Figures for the fourthquarter of 2004 show that the numberof applicants, excluding dependants,fell by 2 per cent in the three months toDecember.

Separate figures from the UN's refugeeagency are expected to show this is inline with continued falls in asylumarrivals across Europe. Ministers insisthowever that the scale of the drop overthe past two years is a result of efforts toclamp down on unfounded applicationsand improve border security.

In 2004, the top five nationalitiesseeking asylum were Iranian, Somali,Chinese, Zimbabweans and Iraqipeople. Of the cases considered duringthe fourth quarter of 2004, some 4 percent were given refugee status and afurther 12 per cent were allowed alesser form of protection in the UK11.

Although between 86 per cent and 87per cent (depending on the quarter) ofall cases were initially rejected in 2004,separate figures show about a fifth arewon on appeal, rising to higher numbersamong some nationalities. Almost 12,430failed asylum applicants were removedduring 2004, 4 per cent fewer than in 2003.

The Home Office says some of this fallis due to Eastern European nationsjoining the European Union last May,meaning their people could legally seekwork in the UK. Separate Home Officefigures show that 130,000 EU citizensfrom Eastern Europe have registered towork in the UK, with four out of 10 ofthese thought to have been here already.

8 Dudley (2004) ‘Control of Immigration Statistics, UK 2003’ Home Office Statistical Bulletin, August 20049 Dudley (2004) p210 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4285431.stm11 www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/asylum404.pdf

LITERATURE REVIEW


The position of asylum seekers is thatthey do not have the right to undertakepaid work until their status as arefugee has been confirmed or untilthey are given permission to workthrough leave to remain onhumanitarian or other grounds.However, because the procedures arevery slow it is likely that some will be inwork without documents, and thus beworking in a situation that is notdissimilar to that of undocumentedmigrant workers.

An Audit Commission report12 hasanalysed the cumulative barriers toemployment faced by asylum seekersand refugees. They include languagebarriers, legal status, administrativeand bureaucratic regulations, problemswith re-accreditation of previousqualifications, lack of UK workreferences in their work experience andracial discrimination.

Moreover, by definition many asylumseekers may not hold documentation oftheir previous qualifications and workexperience and it may be extremelydifficult to verify past employment. Thisdilemma leaves asylum seekers andrefugees in a vulnerable position whenit comes to establishing a career inBritain and many end up working in lowskilled, low paid jobs, not dissimilarfrom the position occupied by migrantworkers.

2.3 Statistics on the population of migrant workers

According to the 2001 Census the totalpopulation of the East of England was5.46m of which 377,975 (7 per cent)were born outside the UK, including122,337 born within the then 15 EUStates. The Census also shows that 4.9per cent of the population is of minorityethnic origin, but does not distinguishbetween UK residents and migrantworkers. Therefore existing publisheddata only gives a general idea of thepopulation of foreign-born residentsdeduced from their ethnicities. Nodistinction is made between British andnon-British citizens and there is noinformation on how many of the non-British citizens are in employment.

2.3.1 Migrant workers in the UK

In International Migration to the UK: A report to the UK SOPEMICorrespondent to the OECD 200313 Saltbrings together data based on theInternational Passenger Survey (IPS),work permit applications and asylumsettlement grants, as well as reportsfrom the Labour Force Survey onoccupations and industries employingmigrant workers. According to Salt, theUK had, in the period 1992-2001,experienced a net migration gain of875,000 people. Although, in 2002 theoverall net gain had declined,

12 Audit Commission (2000) p7613 Salt, J (2003) International Migration to the UK: A report to the UK SOPEMI Correspondent to the OECD 2003, London: MRU



nevertheless the emerging picture from recent years is one of risingoverall net gains, with net losses ofBritish nationals and net gains offoreign nationals.

The number of people grantedsettlement in the UK (excluding EEAnationals) rose by 9 per cent in 2002and increased again in 2003.14 In thesame year there were 29,600employment-related grants ofsettlement, 50 per cent more than in2002.15 Employment-related grantsincluded employment with a workpermit after four years in the UK,permit free employment for businessand other persons of independentmeans and Commonwealth citizenswith a UK-born grandparent, theirspouses and dependants.16

Latest Home Office figures show thatjust under 91,000 nationals from eightof the EU accession states registeredfor work between May and September2004 - with up to 45 per cent alreadyhere before 1 May - alleviatingrecruitment difficulties in sectors suchas hospitality and agriculture andlegalising those who had previously notbeen paying taxes. This amounts to 0.3per cent of the UK workforce17.

Accession nationals represent aroundone in 300 workers in the UK yetbetween May and September alonehave contributed approximately £120 million to UK GDP and paidapproximately £20 million in tax andnational insurance18.

It is even more difficult to estimate thefiscal contribution of migrant workersto the East of England economy. A newstudy by the Institute for Public PolicyResearch (ippr)19 found that in terms of UK tax revenue, the foreign bornpopulation has a relatively highercontribution rate compared to thoseborn in the UK. Looking over a five yearperiod, the researchers also found thatdespite there being more migrants nowthan five years ago, they continue to paya greater share of income tax than theirpopulation share. The ippr estimatesthat each migrant worker contributes£7,203 in revenue. Using the ipprestimates, and based on our lowerestimate of new migrants in the East of England (50,000), revenue gainscould be somewhere in the order of£360m a year. Of course, these gainsneed to be set against costs but herethe ippr study also shows that migrantsconsume less in terms of public servicesthan those who were born in the UK.

14 Dudley (2004) p115 ibid p.116 Salt (2003) p2217 Home Office (2004) New figures show Accession workers working for the UK, 10 November 2004,

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/news/press_releases/new_figures_show_accession.textonly.html18 Home Office (2004) New figures show Accession workers working for the UK, 10 November 2004,

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/news/press_releases/new_figures_show_accession.textonly.html19 Sriskandaraja, D. Cooley, L. Reed, H. (2005) Paying their way – the fiscal contribution of immigrants in the UK, IPPR, London

LITERATURE REVIEW


2.3.2 Projections and actual figures of European migrants to the UK

The Institute for Public Policy Researchexplored the impact of EU enlargementand its effect on labour migration to theUK in a 2004 report.20 The reportaddresses questions on EU migrantrights, their effect on labour migrationto the UK, how long migrants are likelyto stay and the skills they are likely tohave. It also contains a projection ofmigrants to the UK from 2004 throughto 2030.

It concludes by stating that only arelatively small proportion of EUmigrants will actually migrate to theUK and even fewer will do sopermanently. It also suggests that, asand if conditions improve in their homecountries, fewer will migrate and morewill return home. It concurs thatenlargement is likely to result insubstantial economic gains for the UK.

In February 2005 the Home Officereported that applications have fallensince their peak between May and July2004, with figures for December 2004 ataround 8,000. Up to around 40 per centof applicants are thought to have beenin the UK before 1 May 2004 and tohave legitimised their status21.

According to the Home Office workersfrom the eight accession states havecontributed approximately £240 millionto the UK economy between May andDecember 2004. Accession stateworkers make up just under 0.4 percent of those in employment in the UK,and UK unemployment remains low at4.7 per cent22.

2.3.3 Status and work permits

The different immigration policies onmigrants, based on their differentnationalities and status, has somebearing on their experiences asmigrant workers, for instance themanner in which they enter the UK,their employment status, their relativevulnerabilities and their likelihood ofbeing exploited and victimised by somegangmasters and employers. The moreinsecure a worker’s employment statusis, the greater the risk of exploitation.

Work permits issued for the UK

The Work Permits system is the mainmechanism for managing labourmigration into the UK. In recent years ithas expanded considerably, withseveral new schemes introduced. Thefollowing comprise the main elementsin the Work Permits system:

20 Institute for Public Policy Research (2004) EU Enlargement and Labour Migration: an IPPR Factfile 21 http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/news/press_releases/worker_registration.textonly.html22 ibid



• The Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Scheme (SAWS)

• The Sectors Based Scheme (SBS)• The Highly Skilled Migrant

Programme (HSMP)

For a review of work permit statistics,Work Permits and Foreign Labour inthe UK: a Statistical Review, (Clarkeand Salt, 2003) gives a good account ofdifferent categories of work permitsincluding the HSMP, the SAWS and theSBS.23 It also gives an analysis of thenumbers of work permits issued andcharacteristics of workers, includingoccupations and countries of origin. Itreports that over the period 1995 to2002, total applications in the mainwork permit scheme rose steadily year-on-year, from 38,617 to 155,216, anincrease of over 300 per cent. Dudley’sControl of Immigration Statistics, UK200324 updates these statistics. Dudleynotes that the number of worker permitholders and dependants admitted tothe UK in 2003 was 119,180, a slightdecrease of 1 per cent (or 935) from2002. These include 17,785 fromEurope, 25,580 from the Indian sub-continent, 24,935 from the Rest of Asia,14,400 from Africa and 7,070 fromOceania. The number coming for lessthan 12 months rose by 2,775 to 36,870

while those coming for 12 months ormore fell by 7,045 to 44,480 in 200325.

Other figures published by the HomeOffice on the 22nd of February 2005show how many work permits wereissued in 2003 and 2004, includingfigures for the sector based scheme:7,809 permits were issued under thesector based scheme in 2003, rising to16,858 in 2004 (the figures for 2003 donot cover an entire 12 month period asthe scheme started in May 2003, whilethe figures for 2004 straddle both thenew and old quotas for the scheme of20,000 and 15,000). 181,432 other workpermits were issued in 2004, a rise of14,464, from the 2003 total of 166,968,reflecting the strength of the UK'seconomy26.

The top five industries granted workpermits (HSMP) were for health andmedical services (24 per cent),computer services (17 per cent),administrative, business andmanagerial services (13 per cent),educational and cultural activities (8 per cent) and financial services (8 per cent)27. Professional andmanagerial workers accounted for themajority of the gainfully employedunder the work permits scheme.

23 Clarke, Salt (2003) ‘Work Permits and Foreign Labour in the UK: a statistical review’ Labour Market Trends, Nov 2003 vol 111, no 11, pp 12,. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?id=607

23 Dudley (2004) ‘Control of Immigration Statistics, United Kingdom, 2003’. Home Office Statistical Bulletin, 24 August 2004 25 Dudley (2004) p1 26 http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/news/press_releases/worker_registration.textonly.html27 ibid. p57-59

LITERATURE REVIEW


Associated professionals and technicaloccupations account for at least half of the number of permits issued eachyear. In 2002, there were 103,000 non-British holding professional andmanagerial positions, while 57,000 non-British people were in manual and clerical occupations28.

The sector-based scheme (SBS) wasintroduced in May 2003. The quota forthe scheme was cut last year to reflectthe fact that many of those coming to the UK under the scheme prior to 1 May 2004 were from accessioncountries. The quota was cut by 25 percent from 1 June 2004 to 31 May 2005from 20,000 (10,000 for the hospitalitysector and 10,000 for food processing)to 15,000 (9,000 for the hospitalitysector and 6,000 for food processing)29.

The seasonal agricultural workersscheme (SAWS) had its quota reducedby 35 per cent from January 2005 from25,000 to 16,250, also reflecting the factthat many of those coming to the UKunder the scheme prior to 1 May 2004were from accession countries. SeeHome Office press notice 191/2004. Thenumber coming into the scheme in

2003 was 22,288. Figures are not yetavailable for 200430.

2.3.4 Securing employment

Haque31 demonstrates that migrantsgenerally fare worse than the UK-bornin terms of participating in the labourforce and in finding work. Theemployment rate of migrant workers isaround 64 per cent, compared to 75 percent for the UK-born. However, herecognises that there are substantialvariations in labour market experience,with those from industrialised countriesperforming far better than those fromdeveloping countries. According toHaque, education and English languagefluency were the key determinants ofemployment success32. The report alsofinds that migrant workers from whiteethnic backgrounds tend to perform aswell as or better than the existingpopulation, in terms of theiremployment and participation rates andwage levels33 whereas migrants from anon-white ethnic minority backgrounddo worse than the UK-born. In additionthey are less likely to be employed incomparison to people of a similarethnic group who were born in the UK34.

28 ibid29 http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/news/press_releases/worker_registration.textonly.html30 ibid 31 Haque, R (2002) Migrants in the UK: a descriptive analysis of their characteristics and labour market performance, Department

for Work and Pensions, London 32 Haque (2002) p13; Glover (2001) p31 33 ibid p5 34 ibid p5



The report also summarises threeother reports dealing with migrants andwork. They can be accessed from theHome Office online publications:http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/onlinepubs1.html Dustman, C et al (2002) The Labour Market Performance ofImmigrants in the UKShields M, S Wheatley Price (2003) The Labour Market Outcomes andPsychological Well-Being of EthnicMinority Migrants in BritainDustman, C et al (2003) The Local Labour Market Effects ofImmigration in the UK.

2.3.5 Migrant workers and their labour market experience

Migrants are a heterogeneous group.Migrant worker profiles are morepolarised than those of the populationas a whole.35 Many migrants are ofworking age and they are particularlyconcentrated in the 25-49 age group.They are more likely to be highlyqualified, with 19 per cent holdingdegrees, compared to 15 per cent of theUK born working age population.However, a greater proportion of themigrant group will also have noqualifications (19 per cent compared to16 per cent of the UK bornpopulation).36

Therefore there is sometimes a need to distinguish between high and lowskilled migrant workers and eachcategory has its distinct patterns ofmigration.

Haque37 analyses how migrantsperform in the labour marketcompared to UK nationals anddiscusses the motivations that drivethis performance. He also analyses the impact of migrants on prospects for the UK-born population. Theeconomic profile of migrants,measured by their qualification levelsand their labour market performance,was compared with that of those bornin the UK, in terms of employmentrates, earnings and educationalqualifications and self-employment.

2.3.6 Discrimination and disadvantage

A 2003 study commissioned by theEuropean Monitoring Centre on Racismand Xenophobia (EUMC) reported thatthere are ‘large and persistentdisadvantages’ faced by migrants andminorities within the labour markets ofthe 15 EU member countries, includingthe UK.38 It also reports that foreignemployees often work in worse workingconditions than their nationalcounterparts, especially those who lacklegal status.

35 Glover, S (2001) Migration: an economic and social analysis, RDS occasional Paper No 67, London p2936 Haque (2002) p31 37 ibid p31 38 Jandl, M (2003) Migrants, Minorities and Employment : exclusion, discrimination and anti-discrimination in the 15 member

States of the EU, International Centre for Migration Policy Development, Luxembourg

LITERATURE REVIEW


Economic indicators, complaints ofdiscrimination such as those handledby the CABs and court cases, provideevidence of discrimination. Casestudies by the CABs, trade unions andmedia reports show that many migrantworkers are exposed to several levels ofdiscrimination and exploitation,including access to housing, healthservices and working conditions.

A CAB report39 suggests that migrantworkers are most vulnerable inagriculture, hospitality, food processing,cleaning, care homes and constructionservices. It also reports that in theagricultural and food-processingsectors in East Anglia employmentissues such as pay and terms andconditions are strongly connected withhousing issues, as in most casesaccommodation is provided by theemployment agency. Although theaccommodation is often over-crowdedand living conditions severely wanting,substantial deductions are made fromthe already low wages to cover rent andtransportation costs. The CAB alsofound that agencies often makeattractive but misleading promises torecruit workers from their homecountries and had failed to provide acontract of employment and proper payslips.

2.3.7 Socio-economic impact of migration

There is general agreement thatmigrant workers benefit the hostcountry, filling the skills gap andworking in jobs that are shunned byindigenous workers. In February 2004,then Home secretary David Blunkettnoted that the UK needed “migrantworkers to fill skill gaps and the550,000 vacancies in our labour market,especially in the hospitality, cleaning,agriculture, food processing, care homeand construction services where thereare severe shortages.”40 He added thatit was the government’s contention that“effectively managed legal migration isvital to Britain’s economic and socialinterest.”41

Economic migration has beenconceptualised as a voluntary markettransaction between a willing buyer(whoever is willing to employ themigrant) and a willing seller or worker(the migrant) and is likely to be botheconomically efficient and beneficial toboth parties. Unlike goods and capital,migrants are economic and socialagents themselves; hence, ‘migration ismost likely to occur precisely when it ismost likely to be welfare enhancing’(Glover 2001).42

39 CAB (2003), Nowhere to Turn: CAB evidence on the exploitation of migrant workers, London40 Home Office News Release 069/2004, 23 Feb 2004 41 Home Office News Release 309/2003 42 Glover (2001) p4



Glover’s study, commissioned by theHome Office, was the first attemptwithin the UK to undertake asystematic analysis of the impact ofmigration and to “better understand theextent to which the Home Office isachieving its aims to develop amigration policy in the interests of‘sustainable growth and socialinclusion.”43 The findings formed thebasis for a new approach to migrationpolicy across government, reflectedmost in the White Paper, SecureBorders, Safe Haven (published Feb2002)44. It recognises the role migrantsplay in enhancing economic growth andin helping to create jobs for the existingpopulation.

The report looks at migration beginningwith the theory and background oftrends, discusses current governmentpolicy frameworks, in the context of itshigh level objectives, and examines theeconomic and social implications whichcurrent policy delivers and theircontributions to those objectives45.

It points out that the increasing trend ofmigration into the UK appears to belargely driven by economic forces46.

The Glover study also analyses theimpact of migration on the migrantsthemselves as well as for the UK as awhole.47 It states that there is littleevidence that UK workers are harmedby migrants but concurs that theconcentration of migrants in particularareas may bring with it a number ofpositive and negative externalities. Forinstance, while migrants bring diverseskills, experience and know-how to theUK and help to regenerate run-downareas, they may also increase pressureon housing markets, transport andother infrastructure.48 Thus a lack ofresources in an area can contribute tohostility and resentment from the hostcommunity.

It suggests that continued skillshortages in certain sectors may pointto legal migration being at presentinsufficient to meet demand across arange of skill levels. Conversely, risingundocumented migration reflects anumber of factors, including unmetdemand in the labour market and otherfactors such as economic, social andpolitical instability in the country oforigin.49

43 Haque (2002) Introduction 44 Home Office (2002) White Paper, Secure Borders Safe Haven (CM5387 February 2002)45 ibid Chapter 2 46 ibid, Chapter 3 47 Glover (2001) Chapter 6 48 ibid, Chapter 649 ibid, Chapter 7

LITERATURE REVIEW


Finally, the report recommends thatmigration policy should be seen as acontinuum, from entry of the migrant tosettlement to social and economicintegration.50 It argues there is no realcoordination between current entrymigration policy, post-entry policiesand the social and economic objectivesof the government. There are areas inwhich policy could enhance migrants’economic and social contribution in linewith the government’s overallobjectives.

2.4 Migrant workers in the East of England

Historically the majority of internationalmigrants have arrived to work initiallyin London or the South East51, makingthe employment of foreign-bornmigrant workers in the East of Englanda relatively new phenomenon.

There are no reliable estimates of thenumbers of migrant workers in theEast of England. Statistics by differentagencies capture a part of the picturebut each contains relative weaknesses.The statistic often quoted withreservations is 20,000 workers, mostlyemployed in the agricultural sector andfood processing industries with a

concentration in East Anglia. Thisnumber is derived from the NationalInsurance Number (NINo) allocated tooverseas nationals entering the UK forwork52. The number however, does notinclude undocumented workers, forwhich there is little reliable data (seesection 2.5.2 for more figures on lowskilled migrants).

There is some evidence of a seasonalswell of migrant workers to the regionduring the summer months duringperiods of relatively high agriculturaloutput. This suggests a large degree ofmobility within the migrant workerpopulation of the region, contributing tothe difficulty in estimating its size (seesection 2.4.1 on the Economy of theEast of England).

Information on migrant workers in theregion can be derived from theUniversity of East Anglia’s study byTaylor and Rogaly, Migrant Working inWest Norfolk53, Pemberton’s BeyondNumbers: the Chinese migrant workercommunity in West Norfolk54 and theworking papers from a conference onmigrant workers in Norfolk organisedby the Norfolk Constabulary55.

50 ibid, Chapter 7 51 Department of Works and Pensions (2002) Migrant Workers in the UK, National Statistics feature 52 Department for Work and Pensions (2004) ‘National Insurance Number Allocations to Overseas Nationals Entering the UK

2002/03’ (Previously Migrant Worker Statistics) Table 4, p18 53 Taylor and Rogaly (2003) Migrant Working in West Norfolk, Norfolk County Council: Norwich p1-2;

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/migration/research/NorfolkReport.pdf54 Pemberton, C and Ling, B. (2004) Beyond Numbers: The Chinese migrant worker community in West Norfolk, Ibix Insight 55 Norfolk Constabulary (2004)



These demonstrate that the migrantworkforce in the East of England isethnically diverse. It includesPortuguese, Chinese, South Asians,Albanians, Kosovans, Americans (Northand South) as well as migrants fromthe Eastern European communities (theUkraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus,Latvia and Russia) and theCommonwealth countries (India).

According to Taylor and Rogaly, basedon data from the South Norfolk PrimaryCare Trust, at the time of writing therewas a population of around 6,000Portuguese workers in Thetford andSwaffham and about 1,000 to 1,500Chinese workers in the King’s Lynn andsurrounding areas.56 Within the King’sLynn area the largest group identifiedwas Portuguese people working infactories. The second largest was fromthe Philippines or from South Asiaworking for the NHS or in care work.Workers from the former Eastern Blockand the USSR commonly would comefor working holidays or work under oneof the sector schemes (see Workpermits above) and formed a largeproportion of the workforce of the localpack houses and land labour.57 TheDepartment for Work and Pensionsprovides a figure for the number ofNINo applied for by non-Britishworkers for the East of England astotalling 9,300.58 The region has the

third highest number of allocated NINosafter London and the South East59.

2.4.1 The East of England economy

The East of England has an £81 billioneconomy based on 390,000 businessesand a workforce of 2.7 million.Geography plays a key role in explainingeconomic structure and performance atthe regional and sub-regional scale:

• the proximity of London is a key driver for growth - it is an important market for many businesses and provides (high skilled) job opportunities for East of England residents, particularly in the southern half of the region

• it also supports the growth of the region’s major airports, which together with its seaports, have helped the East of England to become one of the most successful exporting regions in the UK

• the high quality of agricultural land across much of East Anglia has given the agricultural sector a competitive advantage. The knock-on effects of this sector extend into food production and high quality research & development institutions

• the region, in fact, has world class R&D facilities across a range of sectors including biotechnology, automotive (including motor sport) and telecommunications.56 Taylor and Rogaly (2003) p1-2

57 ibid p3 58 ibid p2 59 Department for Work and Pensions (2004)

LITERATURE REVIEW


The East of England has historically out-performed the UK economy in terms ofoutput growth. This trend is set tocontinue and will be supported [by thegovernment’s sustainable communitiesplan which commits to major growthareas in the Thames Gateway, MiltonKeynes/ South Midlands area andLondon - Stansted - Cambridge -Peterborough corridor. All of these areat least part located within the region.

However, weaker local economiesremain. The problems of many of theregion’s coastal, rural and structurallychallenged urban economies have been

recognized through EU Objective 2 status.

Overall, “The East of England can bestbe described as a strong economysupported by a weak skills base. Theregion displays characteristics of a lowskills equilibrium labour market, wherean economy becomes trapped in aspiral of low value added, low skills andlow wages.”60

Sectors such as agriculture and retailhave a particularly low skills profilewith a third or more of their workforcebeing classified as low skilled(equivalent to Level 1 or below).

60 DTI (November 2003), Tackling the low skills equilibrium

Source: ONS LFS, Spring 2003. Base: Workforce in Work.

Low

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0%

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Other

Health & social work

Education

Public admin & defence

Business activities

Financial intermediation

Transport, storage & communications

Hotels, restaurants & catering

Wholesale & retail trade

Construction

Manufacture/utilities

Agriculture, hunting, forestry

20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Chart 2.1 Skills profile of sectors in the East of England



2.4.2 Labour market and skills’ gap

The consequence of this scenario ispersistent recruitment difficulties for employers. Skills shortages andother recruitment difficulties permeate most sectors of the economy. Skillsshortages occur across sectors such as construction, health and businessservices. Other recruitment difficulties- caused by non-skill factors such as

poor terms and conditions or unsocialhours - are more relevant to hotels &catering, transport & communicationsand retail.

These sectors map closely to thedistribution of migrant workers acrossthe region demonstrating that employersare using these workers as an economicresponse to market failure.

Source: LSC National Employers Skills Survey 2003. Note figures do not include self-employed people or businesses with only 1 employee.

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Chart 2.2 Vacancies, hard to fill vacancies and skills shortage vacancies in the East of England

LITERATURE REVIEW


Many hard to fill vacancies areunattractive to the resident populationdue to the combination of low wagesand high cost of living that exist side by side in the region. Interestingly,recruitment difficulties are notnecessarily most acute in the tightestlabour markets. They are often morestrongly correlated to the prevalence oflow skilled employment opportunities.

The labour market is expected toremain tight for the foreseeable future.Unemployment stood at 3.9 per cent inthe period January - March 2005, oneof the lowest rates in the UK.61 Theclaimant count is even lower - 59,000claimants (2.5 per cent) contrasting withan estimate of over 75,000 vacancies inthe labour market at any time.

2.5 Profile of migrants by level of skills

The following section provides asummary of the available informationon migrant workers’ skills. The sectioncovers three categories: the highlyskilled, the low skilled, particularlyfocusing on seasonal and casualworkers employed in the agriculturalsector of the East of England, andundocumented migrant workers.

2.5.1 Highly skilled migrant workers

Migration Policies towards Highly

Skilled Foreign Workers (McLaughlanand Salt) looks at the recruitment andentry processes of skilled migrantworkers into ten industrialisedcountries, including the UK, USA,Netherlands, Germany, Australia,Canada and France. It investigates thepolicies recently developed toencourage the entry of skilled foreignworkers, on both a temporary and long-term basis, as well as the processenabling students to switch into skilledemployment schemes. MigrationPolicies and Trends: InternationalComparisons (Clarke, Hogarth andSalt) published in 2004, comparesmigration policies in nine countries(Australia, Austria, Canada, France,Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norwayand the USA), excluding the UK.

In the UK, the highly skilled migrantprogramme (HSMP) was launched,initially as a pilot, in January 2002. Itallows foreign workers outside the EEAto enter the UK in order to seek work,without already having a job with a UKemployer. It is one of the ways the UKgovernment has identified as a meansof addressing the skills gap. Judgingfrom the small number of acceptances(6,500) compared to the continuingconcern over the lack of skilledworkers, the HSMP has not to dateplayed a major role in addressing theproblem.

61 ONS (May 2005), Labour market statistics May 2005: East



Acceptance into the HSMP is based onthe following criteria:

• educational qualifications • work experience • past earnings • achievement in the worker’s

chosen field • the husband's, wife's or unmarried

partner's achievements.

According to the Home OfficeDepartmental Report 2003/04, 6,500applications had been successful in thefirst 18 months of the scheme’soperation. Up to 30 August 2003 thenumber of applications received for thetop five nationalities were: India: 832,United States of America: 751, Nigeria:454, Pakistan: 381, South Africa: 31962.

Knowledge Migrants63 assessed theinfluence of factors that affect a skilledindividual’s decision to migrate to workin the UK. It focused on fourprofessional groups: informationtechnology and communications,financial services, hospital consultantsand biotechnologists. It found thatmany skilled migrants in the UK arefrom developed countries and the keymotivations to migrate were for careeradvancement and personaldevelopment (including experience of adifferent culture). While prospects for

economic improvements were asignificant factor for those fromdeveloping countries, it was not anoverall dominant factor. As such thesemigrants are considered ‘knowledgemigrants’ rather then economicmigrants. A relatively high proportionintended to extend their stay, with 30per cent saying they would apply for anextension and 14 per cent saying theywould apply for settlement. Those withthe strongest intention to stay were inthe Health Sector, with South Africansbeing the most likely to considerapplying for settlement and Britishcitizenship64.

2.5.2 Low skilled migrant workers: seasonal and casual labour in the agricultural sector

The June 2002 Census of agricultureand horticulture in the United Kingdomshows that some 64,000 seasonal andcasual workers were employed in thissector. This is generally believed to bean underestimate of the total numberof seasonal and casual workersinvolved in this category of work, as thenumbers swell in the harvest months oflate summer65. To remain competitive inthe world market, and to respond to therequirements of the majorsupermarkets on the procurement ofagricultural produce, farmers have had

62 The UK Parliament. Written answers to questions, 5 Jan 204. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo040105/text/40105w03.htm

63 NOP Business, IES (2002) p1264 ibid, p6265 Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Fourteenth Report, Sept 10, 2003

LITERATURE REVIEW


to move to the employment of a moreflexible workforce, leading to a declinein permanent full-time workers, and anincrease in the utilisation of casual andseasonal labourers.66 Thus, seasonalchanges together with the impact of‘just in time’ production directly affectthe employment of migrant workers inagriculture and horticulture in theregion.

Seasonal employment is highest inrural areas that have a high demand forworkers at peak times of the year, suchas during the agricultural harvest. Thisis the case in areas of intensivehorticulture and vegetable production,such as in the Cambridgeshire Fens.Across the agricultural sector in theregion just over 17 per cent of thelabour force is seasonally employed.However, at the same time this figurerepresents less than 20 per cent of the Cambridgeshire labour force andindeed there is some evidence of adownward trend for seasonalemployment. Cambridgeshire saw a 41per cent fall in the number of seasonalworkers between 1987 and 199767.

Such seasonal and casual workers fallinto several categories and are eitherrecruited directly by the farmer orsupplied by an agency or gangmaster(see section 2.7 for definition)68.

The workforce is largely made up of:

• UK and EU students• students from outside the EU

studying in the UK and with permission to take part-time or vacation work

• non-EU nationals legally employed through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) or working holidaymaker arrangements.

In addition undocumented workersmake up a significant component of thecasual/seasonal workforce. However,recent requirements, imposed by themajor supermarkets, on employers ofmigrant labour, are likely to deter themfrom employing undocumentedworkers, as they must now guaranteeto the major supermarkets that allthose they employ have legalpermission to work.

The Seasonal Agricultural Workers’Scheme (SAWS) allows workers fromoutside the European Economic Area(EEA) to enter the United Kingdom todo seasonal agricultural work forfarmers and growers69. To qualify, theymust live outside the EuropeanEconomic Area and be a student in full-time education. In 2003, the largestnumber of successful SAWS applicants were from Poland (30 per cent),

66 ibid67 ibid68 The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Evidence, House of Commons, 4 June 200369 69 Home Office: Information on the SAWS

http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/working_in_the_uk/en/homepage/work_permits/saws.html



followed by Ukraine (15 per cent),Lithuania (12.5 per cent) and Bulgaria(10 per cent).70 Since Poland andLithuania were included in the recentEU enlargement, it was predicted thatthe number of applicants from theUkraine would form the largest pool ofSAWS workers in 2004.

Although there is no data on thenumber of migrant workers employedunder this scheme in the East ofEngland, CAB and TUC reports ofcomplaints show that a sizableproportion of SAWS workers haveended up in the region’s largeagricultural sector. Most of the workunder SAWS is low skilled and includes:

• planting and gathering crops• on-farm processing and packing of

crops (for example, salad, vegetables, soft fruit, and flowers)

• handling livestock (for example, lambing and on-farm poultry processing).

The 2004 quota for SAWS was 25,000but from January 2005 it was reducedby 35 per cent to 16,250. The currentquota for the Sectors’ Based Scheme is20,000 (10,000 for the hospitality sectorand 10,000 for food processing).However, over the period 1 June 2004to 31 May 2005 the quota was reduced

by 25 per cent to 15,000 (9,000 for thehospitality sector and 6,000 for foodprocessing71.

The reduction in the quotas for both theschemes was due to EU enlargementfollowed by the establishment of theAccession State Worker RegistrationScheme on May 1, 2004. The schemerequires that workers from eightCentral and Eastern Europeancountries (Czech Republic; Estonia;Hungary; Latvia; Lithuania; Poland;Slovakia and Slovenia) register with theHome Office as a way of monitoring theimpact of EU enlargement on the UK.

A Home Office (June 2004) reportshows that of those who had registeredthe majority (14,000) were already inthe country, whether with or withoutdocuments, before EU enlargement.The predicted increase of EU AccessionState migrants does not appear to havematerialised.72 Reports from embassiesin the UK and abroad show job seekersfrom the Accession States returninghome after brief periods of work orunsuccessful attempts to find work. Itmay indeed be that the legal entitlementto return to the UK has encouragedmigrant workers to take the opportunityto return to their country of origin, inthe knowledge that they will not bebarred from re-entry to UK.

70 Members in the Commons Hansard Written Answers text for Monday 14 June 2004:Column 765W on Seasonal Agriculture Workers http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/cm040614/text/40614w37.htm

71 71 Home Office press notice 191/2004, New Restrictions on Low Skill Migrant Workers, 19 May 2004. 72 Home Office, press release 224/2004, 7 July, 2004 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk

LITERATURE REVIEW


A Home Office, DWP, HM Revenue &Customs and Office of the DeputyPrime Minister, Accession MonitoringReport73 published in May 2005 showsthat:

• there were 176,000 applications to register between 1 May 2004 and 31 March 2005, of whom up to a third may already have been in the UK prior to May 2004. Applications peaked in June and July, levelling out to between 13,000 and 14,000 applications a month since then. 27,720 registrations were in the Anglia region, the highest after London

• Accession nationals are supporting public services in communities working as bus, lorry and coach drivers, teachers, care workers, researchers, classroom assistants, dental practitioners, doctors, nurses and specialists

• one quarter of registered Accession State workers in the East of England are working in agriculture

• there was no evidence that Accession State workers were exploiting the benefits system or are a drain on social housing. In the East of England, between May 2004 and March 2005 there were just 82 applications for tax-funded income related benefits.

2.6 Undocumented or unauthorised migrants

Undocumented or unauthorisedmigration falls into a variety ofcategories, but the two main ones are:

• those who come by land, sea or air using false documents and utilising organised criminal networks

• those who enter with a valid visa or under a visa-free regime but either overstay or alter the reasons for their stay, without Home Office approval. This can include failed asylum seekers who have not left the country following rejection of their applications.

The line between lawful andundocumented or unauthorisedmigrant status is in many cases a fineone. For example, an individual on astudent visa, who works more than theallowed 20 hours a week ‘falls’ intoundocumented status, as easily as amigrant worker whose legal statusbecomes undocumented once she/heoverstays. The status of the migrantworker can also change suddenlydepending on the law and governmentpolicy on migration and employment.For example, the expansion of the EU toinclude 10 new countries, and theintroduction of new Sector BasedSchemes in the hotel, catering and food

73 Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions; HM Revenue & Customs and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2005) Accession Monitoring Report, May 2004 to March 2005



manufacturing sectors, have createdthe conditions for the regularisation ofa group of workers, quite literallyovernight74.

As by definition, since undocumentedor unauthorised migrant workers donot identify themselves to theauthorities, there is scarce informationon the scale of undocumented orunauthorised migrants. Vagueestimates of their numbers can only bederived from existing indicators, suchas the numbers of refused entries,removals of asylum applicants,apprehensions of undocumentedmigrants at the border or in thecountry, or numbers of arrests duringregularisation exercises75.

Vasta’s (2004) paper on informalemployment76 explores the followingquestions: What are the changes inindustrial structures that may have ledto an increase in the informaleconomy? What are the ‘push’ factors?Whether certain groups are pushed intoinformal or undocumented employmentdue to gender or racial discrimination?And whether such employment isalways low-paid and exploitative?

The Commission to the EuropeanCommunities (CEC) 2004 report on

‘Links between legal and illegalmigration’ contains the following briefanalysis of the profile of undocumentedmigrant workers. It suggests that thehighest percentage of residents in theUK without permission to work aremales between the ages of 20 and 30,they are young, mobile, willing to takerisks and are generally low skilled. Thereport also acknowledges that anincreasing number of undocumentedmigrants is educated, and chooses tomigrate in search of a better life. Evenso there is a tendency for these skilledand professional migrants to beemployed in the low-skilled shadoweconomy, due to the fact that they donot have proper documentation, lackthe right qualifications or the requiredlanguage skills. Yet often their salary ismuch higher than that for their skilledjob in the country of origin, indicatingthat migration for them is economicallymotivated77.

Often undocumented or unauthorisedmigrant labour is hired for the so-called ‘3D-jobs’ (dirty, dangerous anddemanding work) shunned by thedomestic labour force. A high profileexample was the deaths of the cocklepickers in Morecambe Bay in February2004 and the Dover 58 in June 2000.

74 Home Office, press release 224/2004, 7 July, 2004 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk75 CEC (2004) p10-1176 Vasta, E (2004) ‘Informal Employment and Immigrant Networks: a review paper’ Centre on Migration, Policy and Society Working

Paper No.2, University of Oxford 77 CEC (2004) p11

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Undocumented or unauthorisedworkers are at risk of being victims oforganised criminal networks andgangmasters who bring workers to theUK by illegal means, subject them toexploitative work conditions andaccommodate them in harrowing livingconditions. News reports havehighlighted the murky world ofgangmasters and the exploitation ofmigrant workers around the country78.

The CEC report recommends steppingup bilateral cooperation with countriesof origin or transit as an effectivemeans to reduce illegal migrationflows. It also underlined the need forpolicy aiming at ‘transformingundeclared work into regularemployment.79’

There is evidence of a sizablepopulation of undocumented orunauthorised migrant workers in theEast of England, where its agriculturaland food industries depend on seasonalworkers and the use of gangmasters toprocure these workers.

2.7 The role of gangmasters

One of the ways in which particularly

the agricultural and food processingsectors obtain seasonal and casualworkers is through labour supplierscommonly known as ‘gangmasters’. Agangmaster is an individual whosupplies casual labour.80 To do so thegangmaster may rely on personalconnections and word of mouth.81

Gangmasters play an essential role infacilitating the supply of freshagricultural produce to the market, byvirtue of their flexibility in respondingquickly to the demands for labour.

A memorandum submitted by JenniferFrances to the Environment, Food andRural Affairs Select Committee, Houseof Commons, 4 June 200382 contains ahistorical account of gangmasters andtheir role in the UK food chain.

A review of gangmasters can beobtained from the Environment, Foodand Rural Affairs Select Committee14th Report to the House of Commons,September 10, 2003. It contains thedefinition of a gangmaster, their role insupplying seasonal labour, evidence ofoffences and of the exploitation ofmigrant workers, as noted by thepolice, Citizens Advice Bureaux andtrade unions.

78 Eastern Daily Press, People Smugglers Get Five Years, 14 October, 2004; The Guardian, Inside the grim world of gangmasters, 27 March 2004.

79 ibid, p1880 Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, House of Commons, Fourteenth Report, Sept 10, 2003;

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmenvfru/691/69102.htm#evidence81 ibid82 Frances, J (2003) Senior Research Associate, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmenvfru/691/3060402.htm



It also presents the point of view ofprocurers and employers, such as themajor supermarkets83.

There are about 3,000 knowngangmasters operating in theagricultural sector in the country, witha large concentration in the East ofEngland. Between 60,000 to 100,000workers throughout the UK are said tobe recruited through gangmasters, ofwhich around 30 per cent are migrantworkers.84 However, according to the2001 Census data on agriculture andhorticulture85 there could be an equalnumber of unknown or undocumentedgangmasters.

As indicated, in the House of CommonsEnvironment, Food and Rural AffairsSelect Committee Gangmasters’ report,the full scale of the operation of legaland illegal gangmasters is stillunknown86. Exactly how manygangmasters there are, the scale oftheir operations and the sectors theyoperate in are all questions that stillneed to be answered.

However, contrary to the negative presscoverage, most gangmasters arerecognised to be running reputablebusinesses and supplying workers formuch needed demands. The activities

of some gangmasters identified withthe exploitation of workers, breaches of employment and immigration laws,trafficking undocumented migrantworkers and avoiding taxes, hasbrought greater scrutiny to theactivities of gangmasters.

MP Jim Sheridan, who first introducedthe Gangmasters Licensing Act as aPrivate Members’ Bill, quoted from a1997 Interdepartmental Working Partythat 20 per cent of known gangmastershave committed a wide range ofoffences87. Support for the legislationgrew as a result of the Morecambe Baytragedy in February 2004, with thedeath by drowning of 23 Chinesemigrant workers, who had been paid11p an hour by gangmasters to pickcockles in conditions which proved tobe hazardous88.

The Act came into force on July 8, 2004as the Gangmaster Licensing Act 2004.The Act applies to:

• agricultural work• gathering shellfish• processing and packaging any

produce derived from agricultural labour or work derived from fish or shellfish.

83 ibid84 Ibid, quoting from 2001 Census of agriculture and horticulture 85 Regulatory Impact Assessment of Gangmasters Licensing Bill. http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/ria/2004/gangmaster.pdf86 8th report of session 2003-04, Recommendations 1-3 87 MP Jim Sheridan, House of Commons Debates, Feb 27, 200488 Ibid

LITERATURE REVIEW


The broad objectives of the Act are:

• to curb exploitation by gangmasters• to ensure transparency in the labour

provision sector• to facilitate the distinction between

legal and illegal operators.

The Act creates four criminal offences:

• operating as a gangmaster without a license

• using an unlicensed gangmaster (for which there is a due diligence defence)

• presenting false documents (in orderto appear to be a licensed operator)

• obstructing an officer in the course of enforcing the legal provisions in the Act.

The maximum penalty is ten years’imprisonment and a Gangmasters’Licensing Authority was established on1 April 2005 to operate a licensingscheme, set licensing conditions and tomaintain a register of licensedgangmasters.

The implications of the legislation,whether it will help prevent abuse andexploitation or whether, without aconcerted effort to address the sourceof undocumented migration, it will onlydrive undocumented migrant workersfurther towards criminal gangmastersand human traffickers, remains to beseen.

Although there has yet to be acomprehensive study on the activities of gangmasters, there is a host ofanecdotal evidence supplied by theCitizens Advice Bureaux (CABs), theDepartment of Environment, Food andRural Affairs (DEFRA), the police andmedia, on the abuse and exploitation of workers recruited by gangmasters.

The following section presents the role played by gangmasters in theagricultural and horticultural sectorswith reference to the East of England. It highlights existing evidence ofexploitative practices with implicationsof the new Gangmasters Licensing Act2004.

2.7.1 Pressures on the food chain

The gangmaster’s role in supplyinglabour is essential to the food industry.Changes in the demand for casuallabour can be attributed to:

• changing consumer tastes in terms of the demand for ready-packed produce

• more sophisticated farming methods• the ability of supermarkets to

monitor the demand for produce in a more responsive way.

However, the risks associated withchanging demand are being transferreddown the food chain, with the costs of



labour and the risks associated with it being met by those at the bottom ofthat chain89.

According to Frances, gangmasters andthe use of sub-contract labour continueto help growers manage uncertainty, asnoted by the following grower:

‘It's adaptable; we can turn it off veryquickly. Obviously, when we have agreat influx of work then we are ableto get hold of labour very quickly. Wecan turn them on and off on days whenwork is not available. So, when there isa day when no work is available forthem we can turn them off, at no costto ourselves90’.

She added that ‘uncertainty for growershas in part been intensified by thesupermarkets’ business models, theimpact of new ICTs in the food chainnetwork and the change in thepurchasing and consumption practicesof consumers. This means that whenthe choice is made between thepurchase of one bunch of spring onionsor two, so sensitive is the stockreplenishment information system thata job in the spring onion field may be atstake. Costly buffer stocks are not heldat the back of the store, but are borne bythe gangmaster and the gang labour.91’

The following quote is from the SelectCommittee on Environment, Food andRural Affairs, House of Commons,Fourteenth Report, September 10,2003, on the role of the gangmasters:

“Gangmasters play an essential role inthe supply of fresh produce. In a typicalscenario a supermarket ordering systemwill identify an increase in demand fora particular product. For example, thedemand for salad items increasesduring spells of hot weather and thesupermarket may be running low on itssupply of prepared and packed lettuce.The supermarket then places an orderwith one of its suppliers, to provide therequired number of bags of lettuce.

In this scenario, the packhouse thathas to fulfill the order identifies that itneeds 30 staff for one day's work topack the number of bags requested bythe supermarket. The packhouse ownerwill contact a local gangmaster andnegotiate a fixed fee to provide thenecessary labour. The gangmaster willcontact potential workers from a poolof contacts. These people will bedirectly employed by the gangmaster,who is responsible for operating a PAYEsystem and ensuring that the terms andconditions that he provides comply withthe relevant employment legislation.

89 Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, House of Commons, Fourteenth Report, Sept 10, 2003: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmenvfru/691/69102.htm

90 90 Franc J (2003) Senior Research Associate, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmenvfru/691/3060402.htm

91 ibid

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It is not uncommon for the provision of labour to be sub-contracted further.For example, if the gangmaster in thisscenario only has 18 people available to work at short notice, he may sub-contract with another gangmaster organgmasters to provide the other 12workers required. The responsibility forthe terms and conditions of the extraworkers falls to the secondgangmaster.

In some cases such a scenario willinvolve a number of sub-contractingexercises. Thus the link between theproduct supplier and the labouremployed may be three or fourcontractual relationships removed.”

In such a scenario the worker willeventually only get a small fraction ofthe price paid by the product supplierfor his or her labour. Due to the distantrelationships between product suppliersand workers, the former usually doesnot know about the workers’ employmentterms and conditions and whether thenational minimum wage is being paid.This was confirmed by evidence givento the House of Commons SelectCommittee by supermarkets ASDA andTesco, showing little knowledge of therecruitment and employment of workersthrough gangmasters and whether this

was done according to a minimumstandard of employment laws92.

The Select Committee questioned thesupermarket ASDA regarding checks ithad carried out to ensure thattemporary labour used by its supplierswas provided by those operating withinthe law. ASDA gave the followingresponse, confirming its ignorance ofgangmaster activities: “ASDA does notitself conduct physical checks of theagencies (gangmasters) retained by oursuppliers. Our expectation is thatsuppliers use reputable agencies.93”

2.7.2 Evidence of abuse and exploitation

As there is no comprehensive study onthe scale of gangmaster operations, letalone on the abuses and illegalpractices of gang working, any evidenceof exploitation and unlawful practicespresented below is in the form ofanecdotal evidence.

Most of the CAB evidence on problemsexperienced by people working forgangmasters is based on informationabout Suffolk and Norfolk where localeconomies largely rely on agricultureand horticulture94.

92 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee- Written Evidence http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmenvfru/691/691we01.htm

93 Memorandum submitted by Asda Stores Ltd (V15) to the Select Committee http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmenvfru/691/691we13.htm

94 CAB evidence Gangmasters submitted to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee sub-committee enquiry, April 23, 2003.



According to the CAB report, No Whereto Turn, which formed the basis of the CAB evidence to the House ofCommons Environment, Food andRural Affairs Select Committee (April23, 2003) and was included in theEnvironment, Food and Rural AffairsCommittee 14th Report (September 10,2003), several types of malpracticeoccurs:

• failure to supply workers with written statements of employment

• denial of notice rights and of rights to pay statements

• lack of protection from illegal deductions from wages, including excessive deductions for accommodation, transport between accommodation and work places and other costs such as the cost of travel to UK and the added costs of processing documents

• failure to abide by termination of employment obligations, especially as a punishment to workers who complain or seek to assert their legal rights

• breaches of working time regulations - subjecting workers to long working hours

• denial of paid holidays and statutory sick pay

• usage of under-aged workers• infringements of Agricultural Wages

Board agreements and the National Minimum Wage

• failure to ensure that the worker

has a National Insurance number, and the apparent non-payment of tax and National Insurance contributions

• poor quality housing and accommodation, often in houses in multiple occupation, portakabins or caravans, including overcharging for housing and accommodation and failure to provide tenancy agreements or rent books

• abuse of tenancy rights, with immediate eviction of workers on termination of their employment

• withholding workers' personal documents

• misinforming legal migrant workers by suggesting that they are really working unlawfully, to deter them from complaining or seeking advice.

Anecdotal evidence and the stories toldby migrant workers in this researchconfirm these activities and highlightthe vulnerability of migrant workers.

2.7.3 Deliberate misinformation

Many migrant workers entering the UKfor low-skilled, low-income work aremisinformed even before theyembarked on their journey. Laboursuppliers overstate the wealth theycould make in UK, by making promisesof good pay and good housing, whilecharging exorbitant fees for theirservices.

LITERATURE REVIEW


Some gangmasters have been known todeliberately misinform migrant workersfrom EU countries of their rights of freemovement throughout the EU and theirrights to the National Minimum Wage.These workers then live under theassumption that they are illegallyresiding in the UK and thus are willingto put up with appalling conditions,both at work and also with respect totheir accommodation95.

For example, Portuguese migrantworkers in Suffolk and Norfolk, withtheir lack of proficiency in English,became easy targets believing theywere illegally working in the UK, theywere reluctant to seek advice, help orredress from statutory agencies, suchas the police and the EmploymentTribunals System96.

Chinese migrant workers from Fujianprovince have been reported to havepaid gangmasters amounts rangingbetween £13,000 to £22,000 (in an areaof China where the average monthlysalary is £13), on the promise that highpaying jobs awaited them in Britain,only to find that they were put to workin slave-like working conditions, underthe control of gangmasters, or literallydumped in the UK to fend forthemselves, possessing fake passportsand documents.97

With depleted life-savings, they puttheir families in life-long debt and werethus impelled to put up with appallingwork conditions and working longhours in order to send money homeand pay off these debts. Theirundocumented work status and theirdebt-ridden conditions make Chineseworkers particularly vulnerable toexploitation by gangmasters, employersand loan-sharks from whom theyborrowed money.

It remains unclear how common suchunlawful practices are, however, that theytake place at all seems appalling enough.

2.7.4 Instilling a culture of fear

Migrant workers who do not haveproper documents fear retribution from gangmasters as well as from theimmigration authorities, the police andany government agency, leaving themvulnerable, exposed, and feelinginsecure and isolated. They are excludedfrom regulated paid employment andare left at the mercy of traffickers andgangmasters involved in bringing themto the UK. As a result migrants mayeven be reluctant to get medical help,as doctors’ surgeries will only registerforeign migrants if they have proof oflegal status, either as registered workers,asylum seekers or as EU citizens98.

95 CAB evidence to the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmenvfru/691/691we05.htm

96 96 ibid97 Press reports: BBC Inside Out, “A New Life.” Oct 11, 2004, The Independent, “On the trail of the Chinese snakeheads”, 10 May 2004,

BBC News, “The Deadly Journey”, April 5, 2001. 98 Taylor, Rogaly (2003) p12



But even where there are no problemsof legal status, migrants may still beworking in conditions of fear. Forexample, there are cases of Portuguesemigrants living in fear of retributionfrom gangmasters, if they try to flee orseek help. A key informant reportedthat a Portuguese worker in Norfolkhad described the labour supplier asthe ‘King’s Lynn Mafia’. Another casesaw gangmasters bringing along theirown ‘security people’, in a conflict onemployment issues with a group ofPortuguese workers.

There are also media reports providingevidence of gangmasters using violenceand force to instil fear in migrant workers.The Eastern Daily Press reported thatin Thetford, a man’s thigh was impaledto a seat with a long knife for failing tomake payments to the gangmastertraffickers who brought him here fromChina. The brutal punishment wasmeted out in front of fellow workers, tosend a message to those who failed topay their debts in time99.

Fears among migrants are notunfounded, as immigration raids haveforced hundreds of undocumentedChinese migrants out of their jobs.100

Dismissed without notice they have beenleft with no means to support their familiesand may have been driven to take up

dangerous jobs such as cockling.

A study, commissioned by theDepartment of Environment, Food andRural Affairs, is examining the use ofseasonal and casual labourers inagricultural and related food possessingand packaging sectors and will bepublished in 2005101. The Home Officehas also been developing plans toexplore the use of migrant labour byemployers and this study is due forcompletion in 2005/06102.

2.8 Profile of three migrant communities in the East of England

Below are the profiles of three groupsof migrant workers in the East ofEngland. The reason for the focus onthese three communities is becausetwo of the three have received muchmedia attention and have surfaced instudies on migrant workers in theregion, for instance the University ofEast Anglia study by Taylor and Rogalyand the GO-East sponsored study onthe Chinese migrant community byPemberton and Ling.

The third group is the Ukrainians, thelargest group of Eastern Europeansoutside of the EU working through theSeasonal Agricultural Workers’ andSector Based Scheme programmes103.

99 Eastern Daily Press, Fields of Dreams, August 23, 2003100 The Guardian, Fear Drives Chinese into cockle beds, May 3, 2004 101 Ibid 102 House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. Gangmasters (Follow-up):

Government reply to the Committee’s 8th Report. 103 TUC (2004), Gone West, London

LITERATURE REVIEW


While the Portuguese, as EU memberssince 1986 can legally work in the UK,many low-skilled Chinese migrantsresort to illegal routes to enter thecountry. They make up a pool ofundocumented migrants who are beingused by organised criminal networks,namely the network of smugglers in theform of human trafficking.

Many Ukrainians are working lawfullythrough the recognised sectorschemes, but because of competition towork through the schemes many endup paying far more than the legally setfees to access this opportunity. Someenter the country as students ortourists and take up paid work, whilesome overstay their visas. Theirdesperation to earn money and theiroften uncertain employment statusmakes them easy targets forunscrupulous employers.

2.8.1 Portuguese migrant workers

Migrants from Portugal are drawn towork in the UK due to a combination ofpull/push factors. In Portugal, theunemployment rate is 11 per cent,compared with East Anglia's 2-3 percent unemployment rate.104 Economicgrowth in Portugal had been above theEU average for much of the lastdecade, but fell back in 2001-03.105 This

coincided with the appearance of asizable community of Portugueseworkers in the East of England. GDPper capita in Portugal stands at 70 percent of that of the leading EUeconomies and as a consequencelower-cost producers in Central Europeand Asia have increasinglyovershadowed Portugal, as a target forforeign direct investment106.

Low wages and high unemploymentconstitute the ‘push’ factors that drovemany Portuguese to work in the UK.The UK’s stable economy represents a‘pull’ factor in attracting seasonalmigrant workers. From about 2001, asignificant wave of Portuguesemigration to the area began,concentrating in areas such as King’sLynn, Swaffham and Thetford107.

There are several studies on migrantworker communities that include thePortuguese migrant community in theEast of England. Taylor and Rogalyreport that within the King’s Lynn area,the largest national group applying forNINo is made up of Portuguese people,who are involved in factory work108.

According to the Norfolk Constabulary’sDiversity Unit, the original source of which was calculated from the South

104 The Guardian, 18 November, 2003 105 LIVES: information on Economy, Population, Government and Military http://worldinfo.amillionlives.com/Description-Portugal-3.html106 ibid107 Taylor, Rogaly (2003) Report on Migrant Working in West Norfolk p2; http://www.sussex.ac.uk/migration/research/NorfolkReport.pdf108 ibid



Norfolk Primary Care Trust, there is apopulation of about 6,000 Portugueseworkers in the Thetford area, withabout 3,000 working mainly in foodprocessing109.

Taylor and Rogaly’s report includesinterviews with the police, healthservice providers, and migrant workers,as well as citing reports from regionalCABs and the TUC paper Overworked,Underpaid and Over Here. It also brieflyanalyses the effect of immigrationpolicies on the migrant workersthemselves - concluding that theincreasingly complex policies and rulescreate a hierarchy of citizenship, with‘undocumented workers’ at the bottom.

According to the report, it is commonfor the employment agencies organgmasters to keep as much as 60per cent of the hourly rate that thefactories pay for the worker’s labour. Inone instance, a gangmaster chargedfactories £7 an hour, but paid theworker only £4.20. Many workers stayin the region for only three or fourmonths, are not given NI numbers andare charged emergency tax. Someagencies have been known to claimback the tax and keep it rather thanpassing it on to the worker110.

The TUC report, Overworked,Underpaid and Over Here, documentsthat migrant workers, including

Portuguese workers, were made towork long hours, often for very littlepay, and housed in crowded andappalling conditions. The TUCPortuguese Workers’ Project foundagencies or gangmasters who recruitedworkers in Portugal, flew them to UKand put them up in their own rentedaccommodation which the workerswould be forced to leave if the wantedto change jobs or were dismissed. Theyhad to sign away any tax rebates andpay exorbitant rates for return flights.Some employers had the practice ofsending any worker who fell sick backto Portugal, particularly if their illnessor injury might be associated with theirwork. These practices compounded thevulnerability of migrant workers whohad to endure exploitative workingconditions to avoid being repatriated orleft homeless.

Portuguese migrant workers weresubjected to such exploitative practices,in part due to their poor command ofEnglish and their weak bargainingpower. To enter the UK, they had toaccept the ‘sponsorship’ by laboursuppliers or gangmasters to organisetransportation and employment in theUK, resulting in a situation not unlikedebt bondage. The unequal economiccapacity of Portugal, compared to theUK, demonstrates that equality beforethe law does not necessarily translateinto equality of outcome.

109 The Guardian, Foreign workers in field and fen, 24 July, 2003110 Taylor, Rogaly (2003) p21

LITERATURE REVIEW


The vulnerability of the Portuguesecommunity has received mediaattention, in particular a raciallymotivated attack, when white Britishfootball fans stormed a pub managedby a Portuguese family, after Portugalbeat Britain in a football match duringthe Euro 2004 Championships111.

Not only have they been victims of racecrimes, the Eastern Daily Press hasreported that many of Norfolk’sPortuguese are living in sheds, barnsand greenhouses because of a lack ofhousing.112 It quoted Breckland Councilleader Cliff Jordan saying that hisauthority's area was the ‘fastestgrowing in the county and was alreadystruggling with the demand forhousing with the influx of migrantworkers.’

One agency working to assist thePortuguese community has beenKeystone Development Trust. InSeptember 2004, it published 7,000copies of a public service guide inEnglish and Portuguese, with the aimof helping new arrivals and long-termresidents to understand how they canaccess the services to which they areentitled.113 The 46-page bookletincludes advice on how to accessmedical services and what rights

Portuguese workers have in thiscountry. The Trust, manages theBreckland New Communities Project,funded by the Home Office, Europeansocial Fund and Breckland Council. Theproject works in partnership withBreckland Council and Adult Educationto assist all ethnic minoritycommunities, particularly migrantworkers, to access jobs and publicservices. Key obstacles to accessingwork are believed to be the lack ofEnglish language skills, hence thepartnership with adult education, and alack of information in the appropriatelanguage.

According to Taylor and Rogaly, one ofthe largest employers of Portugueseworkers operating under a code of goodpractice is Bernard Matthews. Thecompany recruits workers directly fromPortugal, eliminating middle-personsand gangmasters. It offers workers afull work package in their UK factory,assisting with travel arrangements andaccommodation and providing themwith permanent translators andPortuguese practical guides. Through alocal employment office in Portugal ithas recruited around 30 per cent of itscurrent staff, solving a key staffingissue114.

111 BBC online, Arrests made after England exit. 25 June, 2004 112 Eastern Daily Press, Portuguese homeless living in barns. 4 October 2004113 Eastern Daily Press, Welcome Newcomer, what you should know. 23 Sept 2004114 Taylor, Rogaly (2003) p7; Power Point presentation by Bernard Matthews during the conference on Improving Social Cohesion

and Service Delivery Across Norfolk; see http://www.bitc.org.uk/directory/members/bernard_matthews.html



2.8.2 Chinese migrant workers

Undocumented Chinese migrantworkers, who entered the countrywithout documents, have no legalstatus and cannot access healthservices or obtain support from moststatutory authorities. The CitizensAdvice Bureau, which holds evidence ofcomplaints from Portuguese and otherEU nationals, has little evidence fromthe Chinese migrant community.115

According to the 2001 Census there are 20,835 people of Chinese origin in the East of England (0.4 per cent ofthe population). This compares with220,681 in England (also 0.4 per cent ofthe total population).

The 2001 report of the EuropeanMonitoring Centre on Racism andXenophobia highlights Chinesemigrants as an example of foreignworkers who are often unlawfullyemployed in sectors that are unpopularamong nationals and who have beenreported to ‘work in slave-likeconditions with exceedingly longworking hours and very badaccommodation.’116 This could beexplained by the fact that the quota forlegal routes, in the form of workpermits is so small for China, leaving

little alternative but to come throughillegal routes117.

According to Huang (2001), “illegalChinese migrants” were mainly fromFujian, Guangdong, and Zhejiangprovinces in the south of China. Theywere in the 18 to 40 age group andwomen made up 30 per cent of thetotal. They were usually peasants,jobless or engaged in low-income jobs.People in Fujian areas have had atradition of migration and many havefamilial or clan relationships overseas,making it a global, though unstructuredenterprise of migration.118 They may beprepared to take huge risks inmigrating to developed countries insearch of wealth and have oftenborrowed heavily, putting their familiesinto huge debts to finance theirperilous journeys.

Media reports in the UK on Chinesemigrants invariably focus on theharrowing experiences of “illegalimmigrants” being smuggled bySnakeheads (traffickers) through entrypoints. These reports often portray thecriminal elements, such as Triads,illegal gangmasters, human traffickersand Snakehead gangs119.

115 Interview Susanna Yau, October 25, 2004 116 Jandl (2003) p 117 Huang, R, (2001) Illegal Migrants from China, p9 118 ibid 119 BBC Inside Out, A New Life. Oct 11, 2004; The Independent, On the trail of the Chinese snakeheads, 10 May 2004, BBC News,

The Deadly Journey, April 5, 2001; BBC News, Chinatown shootout link to Norfolk, June 6, 2003

LITERATURE REVIEW


Two incidents stand out - theMorecambe Bay tragedy and the Dover58. A BBC News investigative reporttraced the life of Lin Shui, one of the 58Chinese who suffocated in the back of atruck in Dover port, after survivingmonths of harrowing air, land and seajourneys from Fujian120. He had paid£17,000 to the ‘Snakeheads’ whooperated a criminal network, linkingFujian to the UK via Moscow andBelgrade, and was given fakedocuments including a Korean passportto enter the UK. Another report foundone migrant worker who had paid£22,000 to come to Europe. For this hewas given a Chinese and a fakeMalaysian passport, an airline ticket toBelgrade and had the rest of thejourney to the UK by land.121 Where hecame from, people earned £13 a monthleaving them struggling to pay off hugedebts122.

From the port of entry of Dover,migrant workers may end up anywherein the UK. They may be recruited bygangmasters to pick strawberries orwork in packhouses in East Anglia inthe summer months before beingmoved to other jobs, like cockling in

winter, when jobs are scarce in theagricultural sector123.

As a result, the Morecambe Baytragedy may have links to Snakeheadsoperating in Norfolk, as suggested byundercover reporter Hsiao-hung Pai124

and the Norfolk Constabulary.125

Similarly a shooting in Chinatown inLondon has also been linked back toNorfolk126.

There is also evidence that femaleundocumented Chinese migrants arebeing used as sex workers to servicethe male migrant population.127 At leastfour sex workers are known to haveapproached Social Services in 2002 inorder to terminate pregnancies128.

A BBC news report in 2003, believed tobe quoting the police, estimated a bigjump in the numbers of Chinesemigrants in King’s Lynn, from 300 to2,000 as a result of Snakehead gangsbringing in economic migrants.129 TheChinese migrant population in theregion is believed to be made up ofboth documented and undocumentedworkers.

120 BBC News, The Deadly Journey, April 5, 2001121 The Independent,” On the trail of the Chinese snakeheads, 10 May 2004 122 BBC Inside Out, A New Life, Oct 11, 2004 123 Communication with Susanna Yau, Min Quan, Monitoring Group, 20 Oct 2004. 124 The Guardian, Inside the Grim World of the Gangmasters March 27, 2004. 125 Communication with Claire Bailey, Diversity Officer. 126 BBC News: http://bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr//1/hi/england/norfolk/2967848.stm127 Taylor, Rogaly (2003) p21 128 ibid. Interview with YMCA asylum seeker outreach worker Daisy Line 129 BBC News, Chinatown shooting link to Norfolk, June 6, 2003.



According to a University of East Angliastudy on Migrant Working in WestNorfolk, the first Chinese arrivals to thearea occurred in the 1970s, with manyopening restaurant businesses. Morerecent data from the South NorfolkPrimary Care Trust show thatapproximately 1,000 to 1,500 Chinesemigrants have taken up residence inKing’s Lynn and the surrounding areassince January 2003130.

Taylor and Rogaly report that the King’sLynn and West Norfolk ChineseAssociation had recently put in a bid fora Chinese project worker. The aim ofthis post was to develop languagesupport services, increasing access tothe health service and overcomingcultural barriers to involvement andparticipation in the community131.

Racial attacks

A 2000 study by campaigningorganisation Min Quan, conductedamongst Chinese cateringestablishments, found that 31 per centhad experienced physical attacks, 56per cent racial abuse, and 58 per centhad problems over employers refusingto pay them what they were owed132.

The survey also found that reports tothe police of racial harassment and

attacks had been met with attitudes ofindifference, and often victims' concernswere trivialised. In some instancesChinese victims were arrested insteadof the perpetrators, leading to asecondary form of victimisation. MinQuan casework found that such attackshappened on the streets or in theirhomes as well. Yet the response of thepolice tended to reflect the sameindifference. Over time, this hadresulted in a loss of faith in the policeand the criminal justice system andthereby an under-reporting of racecrimes by the Chinese community.

Chinese migrant workers in the regionhave also experienced racial attacks.Taylor and Rogaly document the racialtensions in King’s Lynn, through anincrease in racial abuse and attacks onthe settled population of Chineseorigin, both in the street and in theschools. Pemberton who has alsocarried out a study of Chinese migrantsin Norfolk, says, ‘These Chinesemigrants are vulnerable to both theactivity of their 'Snakeheads', thepeople they owe money to, their owncommunity, and to racist attacks herein the UK.133”

At the same time, the Commission forRacial Equality estimates that only 5per cent of attacks are being reported.

130 Taylor, Rogaly (2003) p2 131 Taylor, Rogaly (2003) p26132 Min Quan: http://www.monitoring-group.co.uk/TMG%20services/minquan/min_quan_history.html133 BBC Inside Out, 11 Oct, 2004: http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/east/series6/wk6/chinese_immigrants.shtml

LITERATURE REVIEW


There is evidence that when people ofChinese origin did muster the courageto seek help from the police, they wereignored or even arrested.134 Theirproblems were confounded by the factthat they spoke very little English, andcarry the assumption that they will bedeported if they meet anyone from theauthorities.

2.8.3 Ukrainian migrant workers

There is no literature specifically on theUkrainian migrant workforce in theEast of England. The Trade UnionCongress report (2004) on Ukrainianmigrant workers, Gone West analysesthe legal and illegal routes in whichUkrainian migrant workers enter theUK and the problems they faced incoming to and working in the UK. Itincludes the experiences ofdocumented and undocumentedmigrants, through interviews withUkrainian migrant workers. It arguesthat if the visa regime between the EUand the Ukraine were lifted, therewould be less undocumented migrationand criminal organisations makingenormous fortunes on trafficking andsmuggling would be put out ofbusiness.

Many Ukrainians have been driven tomigrant work in the UK due toeconomic necessity. An InternationalLabour Organization report shows that

most of the Ukrainian population has amonthly income of less then 300hyrvinias (£40) a month. This is lessthen the minimum threshold (510hyrvinias) needed each month by anindividual to survive. According to theUkrainian government about 70 percent live in poverty135.

As nationals of a non-EU State that isalso not a member of theCommonwealth, legal entry routes intoBritain for lower-skilled Ukrainianworkers are few. They can enter thecountry legally under the SeasonalAgricultural Workers’ Scheme (SAWS)and the Sector Based Schemes (SBS),as holidaymakers, as students and astourists.

Home Office statistics show that theUkraine is a major source of workers to the SAWS and SBS that provideworkers to the catering and hospitalityindustry, food processing andmanufacturing industries. In 2002,4,003 Ukrainians were employed in theUK via the SAWS, in number onlysecond to Poland. It was predicted thatthese numbers would rise after thecountries’ accession into EU in May2004136.

According to the TUC report, Ukrainianworkers may be used to replaceworkers who have gained the right towork after EU enlargement,

134 Taylor, Rogaly (2003) p24135 TUC (2004) p11 136 TUC (2004) p5



as their less than certain employmentstatus and their desperation to paydebts or support relatives at homemake them more exploitable.

The report also reveals that they wereoften paid less than half of what Britishworkers were paid for the same jobs.Piece rates could be quickly adjusteddownwards if employers thought thework was being done too quickly. Theyalso suffered frequent industrialinjuries and lived in overcrowdedconditions. A media report on aUkrainian, who died in the basement ofa hotel at Christmas, testifies to thehard lives of this group of migrantworkers137.

To weed out corruption, the TUC reportproposed that applicants apply directlyto the Home Office instead of throughintermediaries (e.g., their universities)for participation in SAWS. It also callsfor the unionisation of migrant workersas a way to stop abuse and exploitation,and giving workers the right to changeemployers without the loss of workpermit.

2.9 Conclusion

The above review of the existingliterature, while highlighting some ofthe main issues concerning theconditions of migrant labour in the Eastof England, reveals major knowledgegaps about the lives of migrant workersin the region, the types of work thatthey do, their employment status andtheir conditions of work. The researchthat the Working Lives ResearchInstitute conducted for EEDA aimed tofill these identified knowledge gaps andassist towards the development of anappropriate policy response to the twinchallenges of skills and labourshortages and the employment needsof a new but growing workforce.

Chapter 3 introduces the researchmethodologies.

137 The Guardian, Café cleaner died in basement. 28 April 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3668077.stm

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY


This chapter introduces the combination of complementary researchmethodologies applied during the fieldwork phase of the project,namely key informant interviews (see section 3.1), the self-administeredsurveys among employers and trade unions (see sections 3.2 and 3.3)and semi-structured migrant worker interviews (see section 3.4). Therationale for their use was to ensure that a wide range of opinion wascanvassed and that the research was not grounded solely in desk-basedwork, but in direct contact with the employers and migrant workersthemselves.

The research methodologies bringtogether existing material concerningmigrant workers, labour marketpresence and their potential bymapping their education and existingskill levels. Furthermore, migrantworkers’ welfare issues provide anindication of their economic and socialintegration and success.

Within the geographical region of theEast of England the combination ofdifferent methods allowed us to collectas reliable data as possible within theshort timeframe of the project on thefollowing issues:

• recent trends in migration into the region

• the number of migrant workers in the region

• where they are located within the region

• their migration and working patterns• the characteristics and demography

of the migrant population in the region:

• their gender, ethnicity and nationality

• their first language• their knowledge of English• the sectors in which they work• the nature of their employment

relationship (employed, agency, 'gangmaster')

• their pay and conditions of work • the extent to which they take up

social security benefits and the nature of the benefits claimed.

Building on existing information andthrough conducting its own interviewswith key respondents and migrantworkers and supported by a survey ofemployers and trade union officers inthe region, the research contributesevidence on the following:

• employers’ attitudes, including skills’ needs and employability needs, as well as their attitudes to existing public policy on the encouragement of migrant labour

Research methodology3

139RESEARCH METHODOLOGY


• recruitment policies and practices in relation to migrant workers

• supply chain pressures from customers

• best practice in employment that can be documented and transferred

• a projection of employment trends for migrant workers

• an account of the employment and welfare problems experienced by migrant workers

• a skills’ audit of migrant workers, linking skills with labour shortages

• a map of the future plans, including career development plans and needs for learning of migrant workers

• the migrant workers’ family and caring responsibilities here and in the country of origin.

Based on this mapping exercise ofmigrant working within the East ofEngland the report includes policyrecommendations (see Chapter 12) onhow to more effectively coordinateresponses to the triple challenges ofintegration, inclusion and integritypresented by the evidence (seeChapters 6-11). The next sectionsintroduce the research methods insome detail.

3.1 Key informant interviews

Interviews with key informantscommenced in November 2004 (seeappendix A for interview guide) andwere carried out throughout the

project, leading to a total of thirty face-to-face interviews. This sampleincludes representatives from Districtand County Councils, Learning andSkills Councils, GO East, JobCentrePlus, Race and Equality Councils,CABs, local and regional trade unionrepresentatives, community andvoluntary organisations representingparticular nationalities or migrants,refugee and BME populations ingeneral, faith-based organisations,employers of migrant workers andother researchers and academics ineach of the six counties in the East ofEngland (Norfolk, Suffolk,Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire,Hertfordshire and Essex).

Following up of contacts from theseinterviews led to a total database ofover 200 contacts, providing informationon employment practices and migrantworking in the East of England (seeChapter 5) and access to migrantworkers for one-to-one interviews (seesection 3.4).

3.2 The employers’ postal survey

A postal self-completion survey wasconducted among employers in each of the six counties selected from theindustries nominated by the keyrespondents, as making most extensiveuse of migrant workers (see appendix Bfor details of the survey) - such asagriculture and horticulture



(25 employers), food processing andpackaging (75 employers & through amulti agency e-mail list accessed by1000 food producers in the region),hotel and catering (280 employers),health care (90 employers), retailparticularly the larger supermarkets(280 employers), construction (210employers) and a further 40 or so weresent to targeted employers known toemploy migrant workers. 1,000 copiesof the surveys were posted with acovering letter and an SAE in midDecember 2004. In January 2005 allemployers were followed up andreceived a reminder letter (seeappendix E).

Moreover, the survey form was placedon the London Metropolitan, WorkingLives Research website:www.workinglives.org/eastenglandsurvey.html and this was pointed out topotential respondents through flyersdisplayed in public places (see appendixG), such as libraries and cafés, and anexisting e-network of food processingfactories.

The purpose of the survey was not toachieve statistically significant data, butto include a further method, in order togain a picture as detailed as possible ofmigrant working in the East of England.

In response to the survey 83 completed,useable questionnaires were received.This information adds to the interviews

and provides valuable insights into thesectors utilising migrant labour, thenumbers in which migrants areemployed and the issues surroundingtheir working lives in the region fromthe employers’ perspective.

3.3 Trade union survey

A postal self-completion questionnairewas sent to TUC affiliated trade unions,asking them to distribute the surveyamong their representatives in the sixcounties of the East of England. All inall five copies of the trade union surveywere sent out to 105 addresses,including officials who had local andnational responsibilities for the sectorschosen for the employer survey (seeappendix C for details of the survey).The questionnaires were accompaniedby a covering letter from SERTUC andwere posted in mid December 2004. InJanuary 2005 all addresses received areminder letter (see appendix F).

Furthermore leading trade unionofficials were contacted by letter, inperson, on the phone and by e-mail,asking them to encourage their localshop stewards to complete thosesections of the survey that applied totheir activities. This has led to 19responses.

Data from both, the employer and tradeunion surveys was analysed using SPSSand Excel. However, as not all



respondents had completed all thesections of the questionnaire and manyhad added comments to the open-ended questions qualitative analysis ofsome of the data proved more effective.Findings are presented in Chapter 4(see sections 4.1 and 4.2) and inChapter 5.

3.4 Migrant worker interviews

Four temporary field workers, includingone Portuguese speaker and one Chinesespeaker were recruited and 47 one-to-one interviews, based on the interviewguide, with 52 migrant workers wereconducted (see appendix D).

Access to interview individual migrantworkers was facilitated through someof the key informant contacts, such asvoluntary and community organisations,employers and recruitment agencies.Other workers were identified throughthe field workers visiting town centres,libraries, cafés, in urban areas andmigrant workers’ accommodationcentres in rural areas. The sample wasselected with the objective ofpresenting as much diversity aspossible. It therefore illustratesdifferent facets of migrant working inthe East of England, without beingrepresentative of all migrants.

Attempts were made to identify Chinesemigrant workers specifically throughChinese restaurants, the Chinesechurch network in Britain and Chinese

medical practitioners. Communityrepresentatives of other nationalities,such as Polish, Brazilian andPortuguese were identified and theypromoted the research within theirorganisations.

Where information was received,through trade unions or other contacts,that significant numbers of migrantworkers were being employed forexample on particular constructionsites, these were visited and generatedsome informal data. Information fromtrade union officials on employers’ useof migrant workers was followed upand employers were contactedrequesting their support of the projectthrough the provision of access tointerview some of their employees.Even though most Human ResourceManagers responded by supporting theproject some still felt unable to eitheridentify the migrant workers amongtheir workforce or to allow access tointerview these. This often was becausethere was no data that identified theworkforce by whether or not itconsisted of recent migrants.

Where employers had indicated theiremployment of migrant workers in thesurveys, these were followed up with arequest for interviews and thisgenerated a further two interviews.Employers who facilitated interviewswere more likely to be confident thattheir employment practices would



stand up to scrutiny, making it almostinevitable that their practice, on acontinuum from excellent to very poor,was more likely to be at the better end.Of course it does not automaticallyfollow that all those employers who didnot provide access were hiding ‘badpractice’.

The same can be said for recruitmentagencies facilitating interviews. Asrecruitment agencies employingmigrant labour are usually easilyidentifiable in many towns in the East ofEngland (often they are all located inthe same street), a number were visitedduring the field visits and invited toparticipate in the research, bycompleting the survey and/orfacilitating access to speak to theirworkers. However, only one, who hadbeen contacted through a keyinformant, cooperated.

In contrast perhaps because theyviewed the research as complementingto their own work, the community andvoluntary organisations activelyparticipated in the research. Somewere eager to let us speak to migrants,including asylum seekers and refugeeswhom they supported during theirintegration into life in England. Othersshowed eagerness when they were firstapproached, but were then either toobusy to follow this up or reported thatthe number of migrant workers at their

centres had decreased. In addition tothe direct contacts with stakeholders, afew workers responded directly to theflyer displayed in public places such ascafés and libraries (see appendix G)and expressed an interest inparticipating in the project bycontacting the researcher directly.

All workers participating in theinterviews were given a £20 Postal orRetail voucher. However, in order toavoid individuals participating for thewrong reasons and thus ending up witha skewed sample, it was onlymentioned to the key informant whofacilitated interviews or once individualshad expressed an interest in theresearch and needed a small incentiveto make a commitment to give up anhour or more of their time. Thus thevouchers acted mostly as areimbursement for the time spent withthe researcher rather than as anincentive to do so.

Prior to the interview it was explainedthat all information would be treatedwith confidentiality and the identity ofthe individual would be protected. Thiswas particularly important whererespondents resided in Britain withoutvalid immigration papers, had paidgangmasters to come to Britain or wereawaiting the outcome of their asylumclaim. With permission of theinterviewees all the interviews were



tape-recorded, word by wordtranscribed and where necessarytranslated from respondents’ mothertongue into English. All interviewtranscripts were coded and analysed,according to the objectives of theproject. Despite the self-selection ofthe interview sample it reflects a broaddiversity in age, nationality, educationand skill levels and employmentsectors and covers the whole of theEast of England region. Findings fromthe interviews are presented in detail inChapters 6-11.

THE EMPLOYER, TRADE UNION AND MIGRANT WORKER DATA


The researchers acknowledge that there is a substantial number of highlyskilled migrants in the East of England who are, for example, working as doctors, consultants, IT specialists and researchers. It was, howeverdecided to target employers operating in less highly skilled sectors.

This decision was made on the basisthat firstly, highly skilled migrants arequite commonly employed throughlegitimate agencies and might bedifficult to access through an employers’survey. Additionally, with highly skilledmigrants moving from and to the UK,there was no evidence of employmentissues affecting them that raisedserious concerns that would require thedevelopment of particular regional andnational policies. At the other end ofthe employment spectrum are nannies,au pairs and domestic workers whoalso were not included in the survey,again due difficulties in accessing theiremployers.

4.1 Employer survey

Out of the 1,000 posted surveys 83completed useable ones were returned,6 further employers had changedaddresses and one simply stated in theresponse that they had never employedmigrant workers. Out of these 35 (42.2per cent) reported that they wereemploying migrant workers and/orrefugees. Thus, almost half employedsome migrant workers. The followingtables provide an overview of thenumbers of workers employed and thenumbers of migrant workers. Chart 4.1shows the distribution of sectorsamong all 83 respondents:

The employer, trade union andmigrant worker data

4

Agriculture

Construction

Health care

Food processing

Hotel

Manufacturing

Other

Chart 4.1 Distribution of employment sector among all responding employers

139THE EMPLOYER, TRADE UNION AND MIGRANT WORKER DATA


Chart 4.2 shows the distribution of responses from within the targeted employmentsectors (35 respondents employed migrant workers (MWs)). It shows that the largestnumber of respondents were from the hotels sector, followed by health care andthen agriculture:

Chart 4.3 gives the overall number of employees as reported by all the 83respondents, adding up to around 20,000 in total:

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

number of employers

over 1000 empl

500-1000 empl

200-500 empl

100-200 empl

50-100 empl

20-50 empl

5-20 empl

under 5 empl

num

ber

of e

mpl

oyee

s

Agriculture

Construction

Health care

Food processing

Hotel

Catering

Manufacturing

Other

Chart 4.2 Distribution of employment sector among employers of MWs

Chart 4.3 Number of employees among all respondents



Chart 4.4 shows the reported numbers of workers employed by the 35 respondentswho indicated that they employed migrant labour. As can be seen the respondentemployers represent small, medium and large enterprises, although smallemployers (with under 50 staff) predominated, representing exactly half of allrespondent employers with migrant workers. The 35 respondents employed around10,000 workers in total:

Chart 4.5 shows the number of migrants employed on a regular basis (excludingadditional seasonal workers) by the 35 employers. These ranged from just onemigrant worker to several hundred, with most businesses employing around fivemigrants, but a few employing up to several hundred. In all they employed around2,000 migrant workers. Thus around one in five of their workforces was a migrantworker:

Chart 4.4 Total number of employees

0 2 4 6 8 10

number of employers

1900 empl

500-1000 empl

100-200 empl

20-50 empl

under 5 empl

num

ber

of e

mpl

oyee

s



Chart 4.6 shows the number of additional seasonal migrant workers employed by 11out of the 35 businesses at times of high productivity. Most employers needed aroundfive to 20 additional workers, but a few, operating within the agricultural sector,needed several hundred additional migrants to meet seasonal demands. Thus one inthree of those employing migrant workers increased their numbers to meet seasonalpeaks. In terms of overall numbers of additional workers, these 11 employers wereemploying around 1,500 additional seasonal migrant workers:

Chart 4.5 Reported numbers of regularly employed migrant workers

Chart 4.6 Additional number of seasonal migrant workers

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

number of employers

850 MWs

500 MWs

100-200 MWs

50-100 MWs

20-50 MWs

10-20 MWs

5-10 MWs

1-5 MWs

num

ber

of m

igra

nt w

orke

rs

0 1 2 3 4 5

number of employers

850 MWs

200-500 MWs

100-200 MWs

20-50 MWs

10-20 MWs

1-5 MWs

num

ber

of w

orke

rs



Seven employers in the survey, whowere employing migrant workers, didnot provide any figures on how manymigrants they were employing. Theseemployers were operating within thehealth care, manufacturing and hotelsectors. Due to the sample size noconclusions can be drawn aboutreported or non-reported migrantemployment in these sectors or of theunderlying reasons why figures werenot presented. What they do mean isthat our estimates, taken from theemployer survey, are more likely to bean under-estimate of the number ofmigrant workers, rather than anoverestimate.

Out of the 35 respondents who wereemploying migrants, four reported thatthey were employing refugees: one wasa labour agency employing eightrefugees; the second was a food retailoutlet employing one refugee; the thirdwas a manufacturing businessemploying 25 refugees out of 100-200employees; while the fourth was a foodprocessing company, employing 50refugees out of a total of 200-500employees.

4.2 The trade union survey

All of the 67 unions affiliated to the TUCwere contacted and asked to completea postal questionnaire form. In additionwe also sent questionnaires to regional

union offices where they were presentin the East of England, which wasusually only the case for the largerunions. The postal survey (see AppendixC) covered similar areas to those in theemployers’ survey and the aim was toobtain information primarily that wouldassist the researchers in mapping themigrant workforce within the region.

Nineteen completed responses werereceived from a range of trade unions,including all those who were known tothe researchers as organising migrantworkers, such as public services’ unionUNISON, building union UCATT, and the general unions GMB and T&G. Thus although only a minority of unionsresponded, they are the key tradeunions organising in the dominantsectors of migrant employment. Otherunions, for example the NationalAssociation of Probation Officers wereunable to provide information, as thesector they operated in had no directinvolvement with migrant workers.Some union officials did not completethe postal questionnaire form, mainlydue to pressure of work, but agreed toa detailed telephone interview. Anexample of where this occurred waswith the building union UCATT, where a senior regional official providedresearchers with information onconstruction sites in the region. Thiswas useful for the mapping exercise.



Of the unions responding to the postalquestionnaire, three, the T&G, the GMBand UNISON, reported that they wereorganising migrant workers. The T&Gand GMB covered workers in a range ofemployment sectors, while UNISONwas organising among health careworkers in the NHS, as well asindependent health care sectors.

We further interviewed a keyrespondent in the public services’ unionUNISON who provided the researcherswith information on migrant workers inthe health sector, both public andprivate. We were also aware of theRoyal College of Nursing organisingmigrant nurses in the region withinitiatives aimed at supporting refugeenurses. Additionally we conductedinterviews with other key respondenttrade union officials, including TUCofficials and local unionrepresentatives.

Other unions expressed an awarenessof migrant working and a few wereplanning to reach out to this group ofworkers, but at the time of the researchwere not organising among migrants.

Of the 19 trade union representativeswho completed the postalquestionnaire, the main issues theyraised, in relation to migrant workerswere:

• language and a lack of knowledge of English and how it was a major barrier in the workplace, leading to communication problems, not just between managements and the workforce but within the workforce itself

• exploitation and racism encountered by migrant workers, and at least one union reported having frequently received complaints about bullying and harassment

• in relation to sources of information about migrant workers generally they told us that they accessed this through the TUC, through conferences and through websites

• problems that migrant workers raised with the unions included those related to family issues, banking and religious issues

• some unions had approached employers to provide language training

• there were problems over a lack of clarity over pay slips and unions believed that employers should be obliged to provide a clearer explanation of pay slips and pay deductions

• migrant workers required training in how to raise grievances with their employers

• union officials predicted an increase in migrant workers, particularly from Poland and other Eastern European countries.



With many NHS migrant health careworkers being directly recruited fromcountries such as the Philippines,UNISON is trying to recruit themthrough talks given as part of theinduction process, but didn’t presentany figures of how many of themembers were actually migrantworkers.

4.3 The migrant workers’ interviews

A key aim of this research was todevelop an understanding of theworking experience of migrant workersthrough interviews with the workersthemselves. Our aim was to conductin-depth face-to-face interviews with

50 migrant workers. The workers wereselected to cover the main nationalitiesof migrant workers known to beworking in the area. It was alsoselected to represent both female and male migrant workers and to cover their employment experiencethroughout the region, from East toWest and from North to South.

We begin with a description of the sampleof the 52 workers who participated inone-to-one, semi-structured interviews.We then move on, in 4.3.2, to focus onthe themes set out in the interviewguide (see appendix D).

4.3.1 Overview of the interview sample

As table 5.1 (see below in Chapter 5)

shows, the sample of migrant workerswho participated in semi-structuredone-to-one interviews displays a widedemographic spread related to gender,age, nationalities, skills andqualifications and employment sectors.Table 5.1, while protecting the identitiesof the individuals who agreed to theinterviewed, provides a detailedoverview of the interview sample.

The interview sample includes 28 maleand 24 female respondents; theaverage age was 34 years with an agerange from 19 to 57 years. Countries oforigin represent 19 Portuguese,including Portuguese who had beenliving in Brazil and Africa; 5 Chinese; 6from Poland; and the remainder fromRomania, Kenya, India, Zimbabwe,Latvia, Bulgaria, Kurds from Iraq andRoma from Slovakia.

Skill levels ranged from people whohad worked in engineering, public orgovernment services, managementpositions, medical services to peoplewho had acquired manual skills whilelearning on the job. Educational levelsalso present a wide range with someholding university degrees and otherswho had limited education and wereilliterate.

Their employment at time of interviewwas mostly in lower skilled, lower paid positions in factories, hotels,supermarkets, Care Homes and onhorticultural farms.



Due to the diversity of individualsinterviewed a series of very differentemployment experiences and personalstories have emerged. These storieswere analysed according to theresearch objectives and the findings are presented in Chapters 5-11 of thisreport.

Overall our interviews have uncoveredthat there are significant differences in migrants’ motivations for coming to Britain and their plans for the future. Some of the workers (mostlyPortuguese or Asian) had come withthe intention of settling in the UK either because they already had familyconnections here or because theybelieved that it offered greateropportunities for their children’seducation. Some women from India hadcome because of an arranged marriageand viewed their new opportunities towork very positively.

Others, mostly younger migrants (andmostly from Eastern Europeancountries such as Poland or Latvia)intended to spend a few years workingin Britain or even just a few seasons if they were working in industriessubject to seasonal peaks and troughs,such as agriculture or horticulture.Their motivation was economic to earnmoney for their studies, or their families,or to enable them to set themselves upin their countries of origin.

Among those whom we interviewed,five had applied for asylum. Of these,three had been granted leave to remainwhile the other two told us that theyhad permission to work while theywaited for a final decision on theirapplications. At least two furtherrespondents were undocumented andone admitted to using false documents.

4.4 The interview guide

Appendix D gives the interview guidethat was used to conduct the face-to-face interviews. This demonstrates thatwe began by asking migrant workerssome questions relating to when theyhad come to the UK, where they hadcome from and whether they had anyprevious ties with the UK. From thatpoint the researchers went on toexplore with the workers their reasonsfor coming to the UK, their aspirationsin relation to work and whether theiraim was to stay for some time or toreturn relatively quickly. Issues that we also raised related to their jobs,their accommodation, the languagesthey spoke and their lives moregenerally in the East of England.

THE SCALE OF MIGRANT EMPLOYMENT IN THE REGION


Chapter 2 laid out the estimates for the number of migrant workers employedin the UK and within the East of England, based solely on the official figuresgleaned from the Work Permit statistics, together with those obtained throughthe new worker registration scheme for the Accession States.

But as we have demonstrated, theseomit large numbers of recent migrants.There are, for example, no statistics onthe number of EU citizens with a rightto work and who are working within theregion, nor more obviously are thereofficial statistics on the number ofunauthorised or undocumented workersin the region. Chapter 2 referred toprevious research that had been able to put numbers on some migrantcommunities within the region, forexample, the Portuguese communityaround Thetford (Taylor and Rogaly,2003)138, or the Chinese communityaround King’s Lynn (Pemberton 2004)139

(Norfolk Constabulary 2004)140.

5.1 The number of new migrants in the region

One of the tasks of this research was todocument further the scale of migrantlabour, by going beyond thegeographical areas covered in theprevious research, which mainlyfocused on Norfolk. However,undertaking the research hasdemonstrated how mobile somemigrant communities are forced intobeing, making it difficult to assess theirnumbers over time. For example, by thetime the fieldwork for this research hadbegun (January 2005), the Chinese

community in King’s Lynn had declinedin number, with reports that workershad been moved out of the region,further North, either into Lincolnshireor beyond. There were reports thatsome workers were to be found, onceagain, at Morecambe Bay. The impactof seasonal work (which as noted inChapter 4, represented around one in six of the migrant workforce in theemployer survey) also adds to thecomplexity of collating accuratestatistics, particularly, as in the case of this research, when much of thefieldwork had to be carried out duringthe winter period, when additionalseasonal labour was not required.

What our research has been able toreveal is just how complex the patternof the migrant workforce within theregion is, not just in terms of itsmobility, but also in terms of thenationalities represented. As wedemonstrate below, migrant workers inthe region come from all corners of theglobe. Furthermore, in Chapter 8 weagain visit the question of the numberof new migrants in the region, focusingon numbers by sector of employment.

Our task therefore has been to project,from the data available to us, the likelynumber of migrant workers in theregion. The employer survey, which ofcourse represents only a small sample

The scale of migrantemployment in the region

5

138 Taylor and Rogaly (2003) p1-2 139 Pemberton (2004) 140 Norfolk Constabulary (2004)

139THE SCALE OF MIGRANT EMPLOYMENT IN THE REGION


of employers in the region, neverthelesssuggests that, within the sectors that dorely on migrant labour, potentially onein three could employ migrant workersand that they could account for arounda fifth of their workforce (see Chapter 8for further details).

The research finds that there aresignificant numbers of workers fromthe former Soviet Bloc states working inthe region, both Accession Statecitizens and those from candidate orother states. There has beenspeculation as to whether the numberof migrant workers from the AccessionStates would grow, although we notethat existing research (IPPR 2004)141 hassuggested that, after a small period ofgrowth, it is likely that the number ofmigrant workers from these States willactually begin to decline, as and if theirown economies strengthen. However,this is not to imply that the overall number of migrant workers in the regionwill decline. In the employer survey,although less than half currentlyemployed migrant labour, most of theremainder did predict an increase inmigrant workers, and, surprisingly,given the IPPR research, predictedincreases, particularly among thosefrom Eastern Europe. The CIPD AnnualSurvey Report 2005142 has shown agrowing reliance on migrant workers among employers in response torecruitment problems.

The CIPD found that one in fiveorganisations nationally have opted to recruit staff overseas with migrantworkers filling posts where there is no suitable locally available labour.Similarly, the trade union officers’survey also predicted an increase innew migrant workers to the region,particularly from Poland and from theother Eastern European states. Onereason for this discrepancy may be dueto the proximity of the region to theEastern part of Europe and to thelocation of Stansted Airport within theregion, making the East of England apreferred UK destination of choice formigrant labour from Eastern Europe.

Taylor and Rogaly (2003)143 estimatedthat at the date of their research therewas a population of around 6,000Portuguese workers in the Thetfordarea alone and around 1,000 to 1,500Chinese workers in King’s Lynn and the surrounding areas. The NorfolkConstabulary put this figure slightlyhigher, at around 2,000144. TheIndependent newspaper recentlysuggested, based on the registrationfigures, that the number of migrantworkers from the new EU accessioncountries was 19,225 for East Angliaalone145 with 55 per cent being Polish, 16 per cent from Lithuania, 10 per centfrom Slovakia, 7 per cent each fromLatvia and the Czech Republic, 2.6 percent from Hungary and 1.5 per centfrom Estonia146.

141 IPPR (2004) 142 CIPD (2005) Recruitment, retention and turnover, Annual Survey Report 2005 143 Taylor and Rogaly (2003) p1-2144 BBC News, Chinatown shooting link to Norfolk, June 6, 2003 145 East Anglia forms part of the East of England region, it mainly includes Suffolk and Norfolk and parts of Essex but the

boundaries are ill-defined and the term has no official status. 146 The Independent, Migrant workers boost economy by £120m, p15, November 11, 2004



Table 5.1 provides an overview of the interview sample by collating all the available data,in addition to the information provided through the interviews with key respondents andthe migrant workers themselves, covering the whole of the East of England:

Table 5.1 Migrant worker interview sample

No County & Town Country of Origin Demographic details Gender Current employment sector

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

Norfolk Thetford

Norfolk Thetford

Norfolk King’s Lynn


CambridgeshirePeterborough

Norfolk Norwich

Norfolk Norwich

Portugal

Portugal

Poland

Latvia

Poland

Portugal

Portugal, Madeira,also worked inCuracao

N/A

N/A

24 partner in UK, no children

25 girl friend andsister in UK, no children

22 single, no children

23 married, extendedfamily in UK, wife pregnant

34 married,extended family inUK, two children:4yrs & 6m

Community worker:Portuguese FamilySupport

Community worker,after school club,support to familyWelfare Association

HorticultureTraining for children work,permanent contract

Horticulturerepeated seasonal worker

Short term work:agriculture,Building, foodfactories, currentlyunemployed, no benefits

Food factory: line setter,permanent contract

Food factory:production line for sandwiches,pastries, permanent contract

M

M

M

M

M

F

F

F



Employment issues Future ambition Past occupation & skills,including language

NI & tax, bank account

NI & tax, bank account

Recruited through agency for students, first came 08/2002,paid £250 first time and £100 second time, came by busfirst time, now flies, accommodation with job, houseshared with boyfriend, working hours: 7.30-15.00, 15 and30 min. breaks, NI & tax, access to car, help with bankaccount, no remittances, no TUC member

Recruited through agency for students, first came 04/2000,paid £500 to get job, came by plane, borrowed money,accommodation in caravan with job, pays £23/wk, access tocar, NI & tax, help with bank account, 9hr working days, 1hr breaks, pay: £250-£270/wk gross = £5.50/hr, sendingremittances, no TUC member

Came by bus 7 months ago, paid a Polish agency £300 atKings Cross in London, lives in 4 bed house, occupied by13-14 people, paying £35/wk for accommodation, job 1:working hours: 10-12hrs/day, 60hrs/wk, 15min break, pay:£4/hr, £2 deducted for transport, job 2: working hours:8hr/day, 15 and 30min breaks, pay: £4/hr, no NI, noremittances, no TUC member

Came in 2001 through father who works in the same factory,accessed job through job centre, promised Council house,rent: £256/month for shared house, 2 rooms, includingbills, working hours: 6.00-16.00, 6 days/wk, 3 breaks,£25/wk extra pay, pay: £5.25/hr = £202/wk, tax, NI, withovertime: £250-290/wk, problem opening bank account forwife, no TUC member, but was member in Portugal

Came 3 yrs ago through direct recruitment by the factory,bought house, working hours: 10hrs/day, 4 days/wk,40hrs/wk, 2 20min breaks, pay: £270/wk gross = £215 net,tax and NI, no remittances, help with setting up bankaccount received, TUC member

N/A

Secure continuousfunding for thecommunity project

Work withchildren, doingEnglish languagecourse £60/month

Getting out ofdoing militaryservice in Latvia

To find new job inUK, if no successreturn to Poland tobe with family

Earning moneyand move toBrazil, wife isBrazilian

Wants to stay atfactory andimprove English

N/A

N/A

Worked in tax office inPoland, degree in economics,some English prior to arrival,also some French andGerman language skills

Worked in practicalengineering, diploma intelecommunications fromLatvia, English is self taughtand quite good, has no timefor a course, has languageskills in Russian, Polish,Ukrainian and German

Worked as electrician after 3yr training in Poland, couldn’tstudy Economics due to lackof money, learnt English sincearrival, interview wasconducted in English, haslanguage skills in Russian,Slovakian and Czech

Worked in Post Office inPoland, completed equivalentto A levels, wanted to studyPsychology, but didn’t getgrades, learnt some Englishat school, now is too tired todo classes

Worked as salesman inCuracao, Caribbean for 8.5 yrs,no qualifications, couldn’tunderstand or speak Englishwhen he arrived in UK, nowlearns on the job




M

M

M

F

F

F

Food factory:permanent contract

Food factory: line supervisor,supervises 12people, permanentcontract

Owns a Café

Working as careassistant in nursinghome (husbandworking at foodfactory)

Car factory

Student nurse inEssex, MentalHealth Care Trust

50 separated, twoadult daughters inUK, son planning tocome

43 partner in UK

53 divorced, partner in UK, two children

26 married, husband in UK

26 single, no family in UK

32 partner in UK

08

09

10

11

12

13

Portuguese fromBrazil

Portugal

Portugal

India

Lithuania

Portugal

Norfolk Norwich

Norfolk Norwich

Suffolk Ipswich

Norfolk Friday Bridge,Wisbech


Essex Takeley,working inChelmsford




Travel in Europe,return to Brazil

Plans to work inEngland untilretirement, dreamsabout becoming ajournalist, writepoetry or open aCafé

Intends to stay inUK

Plans to stay in UKfor 5 yrs, wouldlike to be nurse inUK, in contact withNMC (Nursing andmidwifery Council)

Plans to stay atfactory, wants tomove to US in 2yrs. where sisterlives and works asdoctor

Wants to go backhome when he is42, dreams ofsetting up Portwine importbusiness

Arrived 06/2004, stayed with sister in law, then moved outdue to family problems, now rents 2 bed house, rent:£425/month & £89 tax, directly employed by factory,working hours: 10 hr days, 6.00-16.00, 4 days per week,breaks: 20min and 35 min breaks, cold workingenvironment at 2-3°C, pay: £200/wk, gross: £270-280, withovertime: £300-£350/wk., NI, tax, help with bank account,TUC member

Arrived 3 yrs ago, came because partner was workinghere, domestic violence, re-housed by council, workinghours: 7 ? hrs/day, 37.5 hrs/wk, 15 and 30 min breaks, pay:£6.50/hr, £205 net, NT & tax, help with bank account, noTUC member now, but was a member in Portugal

Arrived 5 yrs ago, friend informed him about factory work,worked at factory for 3 yrs, before opening Café 16 monthsago, rents house for £450/month, plans to buy, workinghours: 12-13 hrs/day, 7days per week, wife helps at café,no TUC member, but thinks it’s a good idea

Arrived 12/2003, through agency in India, paid £1000 toaccess job, came by air, paid for visa, lives in sharedaccommodation, rent: £45 per person - £90 for the coupleplus bills, accommodation independent from job, workinghours: 42-49hrs/wk, 7hrs/day, 20min break, pay: £5.50/hr,tax, NI, has car, sending remittances £600-800 for 2months and paying off loan for £1000, no TUC member

Arrived 01/2005, came by bus, got job through agency andinformation from friends, no payment to access job, sharedaccommodation 3 bedrooms, 6 people, rent: £48/wk for acc& bills, not tied to job, working hours: 8hrs/day, 30minbreak, 40hrs/wk, pay: £6, tax, no remittances, no bankaccount, no TUC member

Arrived 2 yrs ago, through Portuguese agency, workingconditions differed from what was promised, changed job to work in a Nursing Home and now training to become a nurse, rents 2 bedroom house for £600month & bills, NI & tax, had problems opening bank account,working hours: 8hr, sometimes 16hr shifts, 60-70hrs/wk,breaks increase with length of shift, pay: £8/hr andovertime pay, but this is taxed highly

Worked as secretary in Braziland has diploma insecretarial work and some ITskills, studying Englishtwice/wk at two schools

Was working in the familybusiness, a restaurant, wentback to school and completedsecondary school at 38yrs, noprevious English, plans toattend classes

Has worked in a solicitor’soffice, then in sales, did basicschooling, never studiedEnglish

Qualified nurse in India whichincludes 2 year universitytraining, good English prior toarrival, also language skills inHindi and Malayalam

Worked as welder, someEnglish, motivated to learnmore, also speaks someRussian

Worked at Stock Exchange in Porto, holds a degree inaccountancy and has studiedEnglish for 16 years, also haslanguage skills in Germanand Spanish




14

15

16

17

18

19

HertfordshireBishop Stortford

Suffolk Stowmarket

Suffolk Stowmarket

Suffolk Stowmarket

Essex Stansted


Portugal, lived in Africa for 42 years

China

China

China

Poland

Bulgaria

50 married, wife in UK, onedaughter: 11yrs

34 divorced in China,married in UK, two children: 9 and4yrs

36 married, wife just arrived inUK three children:two in China

38 married, wife inChina and twochildren in China

22 engaged, partner in South Africa, no children

26 married, husbandin UK, no children

Started asreceptionist, nowGeneral Manager at a hotel

Part-time cashier atASDA supermarket,teaching Chinese toadults at WestSuffolk College

Chef in ChineseRestaurant

Kitchen Assistant inChinese Restaurant

Hotel: housekeepingand cleaning,permanent contract

Factory workthrough labouragency, repeatedseasonal migrantworker

M

M

M

F

F

F




Arrived 2004, came because he liked English system andhoped for better prospects, working hours: 8hrs/day,£6.50/ hr, renting 2 bed apartment, independent of work,NI, bank account, received child benefit, applied for taxcredit, no remittances, no TUC member

Came as teacher in 1997 and stayed for 1 year, returned1999 to marry an English man, owns house, £300-400/month mortgage, working hours: 20hrs/wh, £5.10/hr,pay: 7.50/hr on weekends, no remittances

Arrived 1999, wife followed 12/2003, come as tourist, hasnow applied for asylum, came though snakehead gangsoverland, paid 200.000 yuan (£12,000), will take 2 yrs to paydebts, no ID, no registration, accommodation providedthrough employer, working hours: 11.00-14.00 and 16.00-23.30, 10hrs/day, 6 days/wk, pay: £200-300/wk, paid holidays,sending remittances and paying debts, no bank account

Came to England 3 yrs ago with false documents throughfriends help, flew directly, paid 200,000 yuan (£12,000) tocome to UK, no previous cooking experience,accommodation provided by employer at restaurant, freefood, working hours: 10.30-14.00 and 16.00-23.30, 6days/wk, paid holidays pay: £240/wk, sending remittances,will take 5-6 years to pay off debts

Arrived 10/2003 through agency for students, paid £300 toaccess job, shared room with another girl at hotel, NI, tax,help with bank account, working hours: 8.00-15.00, ? hrlunch break, pay: £5 per hr

Repeated seasonal migrant, this is 4th year. Came to UK 9 months ago, accesses work through labour agency,accommodation provided by the agency, pays £77 foraccommodation and food, dormitories for male and femaleworkers, camp accommodates up to 500 workers insummer, working hours: 40hrs/wk, 15min and 30minbreaks, pay: £5/hr, tax and NI, no remittances

Hopes forpromotion, plansto stay for 10-15yrs, so that childcan completeeducation

Settled here

Not clear

Not clear

Plans to stay 6months, travel toother countriesincluding SouthAfrica

Plans to stay foranother 6 months,hopes to work asaccountant inBulgaria in 2 yearstime, may be dofurther studies towork in EU

Worked in financemanagement for an airline inMozambique, studied at theInstitute of Finance andCommerce, equivalent touniversity, good Englishlanguage skills, alsolanguage skills in French

Qualified teacher, taughtEnglish at high school inChina, diploma from teacher’straining college, good Englishlanguage skills

Worked as self-employedcarpenter n China, did middleschool in China, no Englishlanguage skills and no time tostudy, language skills:Mandarin, Cantonese, Fuzhoudialect

Was employed as a decoratorin China, no English languageskills

Attended Hotel Industrytechnical school and hasCollege Certificate, completedfirst certificate English course

Studying accountancy inBulgaria, good Englishlanguage skills




20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27


CambridgeshireCambridge





BedfordshireDunstable


China

China

Portugal

Roma fromSlovakia

Portugal

Roma fromSlovakia

India

India

44 married, wife andone son 14yrs inChina

37 divorced, one child:14yrs in China withgrandmother

41 partner in UK, onechild: baby


52 married, husbanddisabled, one adultson

37 married, husbandin UK: one daughter

30 arranged marriage,husband in UK, two children

45 arranged marriage,husband in UK, twoyoung children

Flower factory andcleaner at ChineseRestaurant

Chinese MedicalPractitioner,employed throughChinese Company

Vegetable PackingFactory

Packing Factory

Fruit PackingFactory

Cleaner at Cinema,permanent contract(husband working atPetrol Station)

Both working atSandwich Factory

Food factory:Hygiene qualitycontrol

M

M

M

F

F

F

F

F




Arrived 2003, job through friends, working hours: 8am-4pm, 5 days/wk, pay: £230-250/wk, £5/wk for transport,earns up to £400 after tax in busy periods such asValentine’s Day, also part-time restaurant work: night shift,5 1/2hrs/night, £35/night, no remittances, accommodation:shared house, rents room for £30/wk

Arrived 12/2003, accessed job through newspaper add,accommodation provided by employer, working hours: 9hrs 6days/wk, pay: £12.000/year & bonus of 20 per cent,no remittances

Arrived 09/2003, working hours: 40hrs/wk, 8hrs/day, pay:£4.85/hr, £3 deductions per day for transport, NI & tax,rented accommodation for £115 & bills for 2 rooms, noremittances

Arrived 2yrs ago, shares one-bedroom flat with anotherperson, working hours: 8hrs, 6 days/wk, £4.85 /hr, tax &NI, pays rent on a flat in Slovakia, but no remittances

Arrived 09/2003, rented accommodation for £120/wk &bills for 2 rooms, pay: £5 /hr, working hours: 8hrs/day 40hr wk, one hr break, hours controlled and monitored, no remittances, tax & NI

Arrived 1998, council accommodation for £54/wk, getsworking tax credit of £70 every 2 wks, pay: £130/wk, £6/hrfrom the Cinema, working hours: 8hrs/day, 5 days/wk, pays tax & NI, no remittances

Arrived 1994, buying accommodation, working hours: 2-8pm, 2 20min breaks & 30 min break, 8hrs/day, 5 days/wk, pay: £5/hr, NI & tax, remittances only forcelebrations

Arrived 1980, bought house, husband unemployed, NI & tax, working hours: 8hrs, 5 days/wk, total 39 hrs, 6am-2pm, 2 breaks, pay: £5.42/hr, £35/wk extra skill rate,has £180/wk left to live on

To bring his wifeover and start aChinese TakeAway business

Return to Chinabecause she has agood job there

Similar sort of job

Hopes to get abetter job withinthe next few years

Uncertain, noplans, doesn’texpect any change

To stay in Britain,has ILR, may beget better job

Finds job cold, butthinks that to get a different job shewould have tostudy, enjoysfreedom to be able to work

Would like toimprove her skillswithin the factoryby doing sometraining once thekids have grown up

Has worked as peasant,soldier, worker andpoliceman in China,completed 2 year collegecourse in Human ResourceManagement, poor English

Worked as doctor in ahospital, specialising inacupuncture, learnt English inHigh School

Did temporary jobs since age15, completed 4yrs. PrimarySchool and 1 year Secondary,no English language skills,speaks some Spanish

Worked as electrical engineer,rewiring houses, collegedegree in hard electricengineering, 9 yrs schooling,no English language skills,but some German, Polish,Russian and Czech

Worked in a restaurant inPortugal and is anexperienced cook, littleformal education and noEnglish language skills

Worked in hotels and bars,completed Hotel College afterschool, little English

Did housework in India, wentto College in India, but didn’tfinish, felt constrained by theIndian perception of women’sroles, met husband in Indiaand took opportunity to cometo UK, good English

Worked in garment factory,operating sewing machines,limited school education,Taught herself English




28

29

30

31

32

33

Suffolk Lowestoft

Suffolk Lowestoft

Suffolk Lowestoft


Essex Stansted

Essex Great Dunmow

Kurd from Iraq

Romania, worked in Libya for 10yrs

Kurd from Iraq

Kenya

Portugal

Mozambique

25 girlfriend in UK

Both early 50s,married couple,adult children, notin UK

25 single

57 married, wife in UK, one grandchildin UK, four adultchildren in Kenya

Both early 40s,married couple, two children atuniversity in Portugal

35 married, one son,planning to bringthem to the UK

Community SupportWorker

Both working inNursing Home, fixedterm 2 year contract

Chicken factory:permanent contracton night shift

Sandwich factory:responsible forsanitation andhygiene (wifeworking at NursingHome)

Working at Hotel,kitchen &restaurant, some pt. cleaning, living in hotel room,permanent

Supervisor atsupermarketcleaning company

M

M

M

M

M

M

F

F




Arrived 04/2002, paid £5000 to leave Iraq, did not know hewas coming to Britain, rented accommodation, left factorywork following racist incidents, went on sick leave for 6months, now doing Community work, gets NMW,remittances & paying off loan to come to Britain, workpermit, tax & NI

Arrived 1 year ago, through Romanian agency, paid £3000for both to access employment, now paid directly by theHome, work permit, Tax & NI, holiday pay, working hours:48hrs covered by contract, but could be 54 or 56, workovertime, no added pay for weekend work, get holiday pay,one 50min break, no problem with bank account, someremittances

Arrived 2002, paid $5000 to leave Iraq, did not know he wascoming to Britain, family sold shop to finance his trip, noremittances, father died following his flight, working hours:40hrs/wk, Mon-Fri, rented accommodation, long busjourney to work, NI & tax, went to TUC meeting, but hasnot yet joined

Arrived 1997, NI & tax, working hours: 8hrs/day, 39-40hrs/wk, 5days/wk, £5/hr, sending 20 per cent of pay inremittances when he can, supports parents and children,no problem with bank account

Arrived 08/2003 through agency, worked in Devon onOyster farm and then accessed hotel job 3 months laterthrough friend, remittances: 200 Euro every 3 months inuniversity fees, this will double soon, assistance with bankaccount, pay: £5/hr, £600net, accommodation provided bythe hotel: £100 deducted for room, working hours: 4pm-midnight every day and 2-3 times per wk 5 hrs inrestaurant 7am-noon, partner, working hours: 8hrs athotel & 2hrs cleaning

Arrived 01/2005, multiple migrant: Zimbabwe, South Africa,Spain, US, Portugal, came to Britain through friend,applied for work directly, uses room at friends, pays norent, looking for flat, working hours: 7hrs/day, 6days/wk,doesn’t take regular breaks due to his supervisory role,paid monthly, gets £16,000/per year, NI & tax, openedaccount

Wants to improvelanguage skillsand do computertraining

Wants to adapt her nursingqualification, butboth want tohonour their 2year contract

Earn money, go toCollege, learnEnglish

Has done courseson Chemicals andIT, wants promotion,not worried abouthis age

Paying for theirchildren’suniversityeducation, hopingfor more money,no plans to returnto Portugal

Will see how itgoes, may besettle, plans tostay in job 1-2 yrs,then advance hisskills and moveout of cleaningbusiness

Worked as shop manager inIraq, learnt English sincecoming to Britain

She is a qualified Nurse,specialised in Paediatrics andholds a diploma and he is aqualified and experienced Labtechnician, their English ismoderate and both alsospeak Romanian and Arabic

Worked in a Pita bread bakeryin Iraq, learnt English sincearrival

Used to work at Nairobi CityCouncil, Social Services,Housing department and wasan assistant secretary ofKANU, English is secondlanguage

Worked in manual jobs,fishing, factories, frozen foodplant, take away shops, shehas 8 yrs schooling ad heless, both have limitedEnglish and attend classes atthe hotel once a week

Started studies mechanicalengineering, but didn’tcomplete, did military serviceand then worked as waiter oncruise ship, was also doingother manual jobs, waspromoted to supervisorrepeatedly in past, completedsecondary school, very goodEnglish language skills, alsospeaks Spanish




34

35

36

37

38

39

HertfordshireBishop Stortford

Bedfordshire Luton

Bedfordshire Luton

Suffolk Lowestoft

Suffolk Lowestoft

Suffolk Ipswich

Portugal

Zimbabwe

Pakistan

Portugal

Tunisia

Romania

23 married, husbandin UK, no children

24 single

39 married, wife in UK, no children

31 and 22, couple,baby, mother-in-lawcurrently in UK


29 girlfriend in UK

Cleaner

Packing factory

Short term factory work, now unemployed(partner doing NVQ studies)

Factory: qualitycontrol and part-time in supermarket

Hotel: cleaner,permanent contract

Self-employedConstruction worker

M

M

M

F

F

F

F




Arrived 07/2004, followed partner who came throughagency, got job through word of mouth at Portuguese Café,working hours: 8hrs/day, 40hrs/wk, office cleaning in theevenings, irregular working hrs, pay: £5/hr, paid weekly, notax payment, company doesn’t pay tax either, no NI, noremittances

Arrived 2002, accessed job through agency, temporary NI,pays tax, shift work, working hours: 8hrs, 5 days/wk, 30minand 10 min breaks, pay: £4.50 per hr, £20-30 inremittances per month, shares house with 5 others, ownroom, rent: £45/wk

Arrived 4 months ago, followed partner who came 8monthsago, applied for NI, but delay, temporary NI & tax, working40hrs, living with brother, no rent payments, but someexpenses, living off savings from Pakistan, pay £4.85 forone job and £6.20 for another for night shift, wife has bankaccount, no remittances, no income at present

Arrived 4 years ago, had previously worked in Ireland, thencame to England working hours: He: 50-70 hrs, pay: under£100 per week, she works 10hr part-time flexible hours atsupermarket, pay: £5.50/hr and this will increase everyyear to £6.00 then £7.00, bank account, very occasionalremittances, receiving occasional payments from herfather who is a business man in West Africa, receiving child benefits

Arrived 2002, had a visa to work and is now waiting forwork permit, renting flat for £300/month, working hours:13hrs/day, in the summer every day from 6.45-21.30, in thelaundry room, washing up and cleaning hotel rooms, foodprovided by employer, bank account, NI, waiting for workpermit, first got £4.25, now £4.95/hr, remittances

Arrived 1999, false documents, pays NI and tax on these,bank account in false name, paid £700 for documents,shared flat, renting room for £440 per month, workinghours: 57-70hrs plus 2.5hrs travel, £10-10.50/hr, noremittances, travels in UK and goes skiing, union memberin Romania, not UK

Wants to doEnglish courseand work withchildren again, butexpects to stay incleaning for thenext few years

Doing the samejob

Plans to return to Pakistan in 2years when wifehas finished herstudies, openNursing Home in Pakistan

Plan to return toPortugal if theemploymentsituation thereimproves or toAfrica where herfather hasproperties

Is attendingCollege to learn to read and writeand improve herEnglish, wants tobecome hotelmanager, plans to stay in UK

Wants to becometruly self-employed and runhis ownconstructionprojects

Worked as an assistant in aninfant school, did a child carecourse in Portugal and hascertificate, completedsecondary school where shelearnt English

Helped her family withhousehold tasks, completedabout 9yrs of schooling, godEnglish language skills, alsospeaks Shauna

Worked for the government ina local education department,completed a BA in education,sociology and political sciencein Pakistan, some Englishalso language skills in Urdu,Punjabi and some Arabic

He worked as accountant fora Portuguese company andholds a Health & Safetyqualification, both are welleducated and went to college,she was brought up speakingEnglish and speaks slightlybetter than he

Helped in family householdand fields until she worked indomestic service in Tunisia,has no schooling as girlswere not allowed to go toschool, she has 7 sisters and3 brothers, learnt someEnglish and has languageskills in French and Arabic

Worked as mechanic in metalmine in Romania, finishedGSE at school, didn’t go touniversity due to lack offinances, learnt some Englishsince arrival, language skillsin Romanian and Italian




40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

Bedfordshire Luton

SuffolkLowestoft

Essex Southend

CambridgeshireHuntingdon

Essex Stansted

Bedfordshire Luton

BedfordshireLuton

Bedfordshire Luton

Poland

Portugal

Zimbabwe

India, worked in Malaysia for 2 years

South Africa

Poland

Poland

N/A


25 and 24 couple,not married, one child, 3yrs old,some family in UK

23 single, some family in UK

Married, husbandin UK, no children

19 single, somefriends in London

19 single, two brothers in UK


mid 20s

Temporary factorywork for phonefactory

Both worked at foodfactory: machineminder for packagingnow housekeepingand casual work atYacht Club, work infashion factory

Part-time Care workin a Nursing Homeand part-timestudies through theOpen University inInformation andComputingTechnology

Nursing working asCare Assistant inNursing Home

Hotel

Food factory, sportsequipment factory,warehouse

Food productionplant, range offactories

Warehouses andpacking factories

M

M

M

M

M

F

F

F

F




Arrived autumn 2004, sharing rented accommodation with6 people and share room with one other person, rent:£45/wk, working hours: 8hr days, 5 days per week, 15 and30 min breaks, pay: £4.85/hr, no remittances and no bankaccount, was borrowing and lending from friendsdepending on who had work at the time

Came to UK 3 years ago, started work in food factories,pay: £5 per hr, renting flat for £400 per month, plans tobuy a flat, both working part-time now

Came to UK 3 years ago, by air and had registered with aCollege in order to study and work, shares house withothers, pays £70 per week for room and bills, accessedcare job through the Job Centre, works at homesthroughout Essex, working hours: 10-24 hrs/wk, pay:£6/hr, tax, NI, has saved some money from a perviouscatering job in the UK, took 1 1/2 years to open a bankaccount, sending remittances

Came to UK last year, paid agency £1000 to accessemployment in Care Home, working 40-50hrs/wk, pay:£5/hr, no extra pay for weekend or bank holiday work,rents private flat

Came to UK last year through an agency, paid agency £880including air fare, pay: started at £5 now £5.50, tax, NI,accommodation provided by the employer in hotel room

Came June 2004 as a student, lives with her two brothersin Luton, accessed agency work, pay: £4.50/hr, £6.50 atweekends, tax, NI

Came to UK in May 2004, came independently, pay: £160per week, £4.50/hr, £2/day deducted for travel, 8 hrs/day,lives with friends

N/A

Looking for workindependently ofagencies, willreturn to Poland ifnot successful ingetting a job

Plan to stay in UKand becomesupervisor

Hopes to passstudies to access betteremployment

Hopes to adapt her nursingqualification,looking forplacement inCambridgeshire

Wants to studytourism in UK

Complete herstudies in UK

Wants to finish his schooling inEngland and work

N/A

Worked with computers, noprofessional qualifications,Learnt English at school,speaks Russian and Slovakian

Worked in catering and acoffee shop and onconstruction sites for his owncompany in Portugal, hassome certificate which is notrecognised in UK, she speaksFrench and German

Worked full-time as cashierin a bank. Did A-levels inZimbabwe, English as secondlanguage

Experienced cardiac nurse,completed nursing degree,English second language

Some restaurant experience,completed high school inSouth Africa, very goodEnglish

No previous job, completed A-levels in Poland, universityentrance exam, studyingjournalism, good English

3 years schooling in Poland,reasonable English

N/A



In addition, in Chapter 8, where wefocus on the employment of migrantworkers by employment sector, we havecalculated that the migrant workerpopulation is somewhere between50,000 and 80,000 workers, dependingon the time of the year, as some sectorsrequire larger numbers for specificperiods of the year, for example, thehotels sector in the summer,agriculture in the harvest season.

5.2 Length of stay

Our research provides a snapshot ofthe migrant labour force at the point intime when the research was beingcarried out. Our survey suggests thatwhile some migrant workers intend tostay within the region for aconsiderable period of time, for othersthe stay is more temporary, eitherbecause their work is seasonal orbecause they have come with aparticular motivation, to acquire acertain level of income or to help tosatisfy their aspirations for a futureeither in their country of origin orindeed in a third State.

The employers’ survey found that of the35 employers with migrant workers,seven stated that the same workersreturned for more than one season, tenstated that workers stayed for sixmonths to a year; five said that it wasone to two years, one said it was fortwo to five years while another fiveemployed migrants who stayed in the

region indefinitely. The remaindereither did not know how long theirmigrant workers planned to stay or didnot respond to the question. Thus theresponses suggest that the most likelyperiod of the migrant worker’s stay isup to a year or is for seasonal workonly. Only a minority plan to stay for twoor more years.

We also asked the migrant workerswho were interviewed how long theyhad planned to stay in the regionworking. Some said they were planningto live in Britain for a while, but hadother long-term plans that would eithertake them back to their country oforigin or on to a third country. Nearlyhalf of the interviewees planned to stayin the UK either indefinitely or at leasthad no other plans, five definitely onlywanted to stay for no longer than a yearand about fifteen had other plans in acouple of years. The remainder had nodefinite plans at all.

5.3 Countries of origin of migrant workers

The research confirms that the migrantworkforce in the region has a widediversity of origin. Respondents to theemployers’ survey reported that theyemployed migrants from a wide rangeof countries of origin including WesternEurope, Scandinavia, Australia, NewZealand; but more commonly Portugal(six employers), Poland (16 employers),the other new EU accession countries,



particularly Lithuania, Latvia and theCzech Republic (11 employers), otherEU countries, including the Balkans (13employers), India (11 employers),Africa, mainly South Africa, but alsoBurundi, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe(16 employers) and others employedworkers from Afghanistan, Iraq,Vietnam, South America and Malaysia.Thus is can truly be said that themigrant workforce in the region isgenuinely international, even thoughparticular nationalities maypredominate in certain areas.

We also obtained information oncountry of origin from the face-to-faceinterviews with the migrant workersthemselves. This information is collatedwithin the overall findings shown intable 5.1 (see above).

Even though there has been anincrease in the number of migrantworkers coming to region from EasternEurope many employers and tradeunions have forecast a continuingincrease in temporary migration fromthe new EU Accession States. Thefindings from the interviews withmigrant workers reflect huge diversityrelated to countries of origin.

The range of different nationalitieswithin the region, together with the factthat, in some cases, members of thesame national group have arrived in theUK at different points in their nationalhistory, poses key issues for community

cohesion. It is important to make thepoint that just because individualsshare the same country of birth it doesnot imply that their needs are identicalor that the policy strategies to addressthese needs are uniform. When andwhy they left their country of origin,their age, their social class and thenetworks they are able to connect within the country to which they move, alldetermine how easy or how difficulttheir transition will be. Parts of theregion have clusters of migrants fromcertain nationalities and particularlythe presence and increase ofPortuguese migrants indicates thatnewcomers tend to join existingcommunities with existing supportnetworks. Other clusters refer to thePolish and Asian communities, onoccasion exposing potential tensionsbetween new arrivals and settledpeople. For example, according to oneof the key informants in Luton the‘older’ Polish community, which arrivedaround the 1930s, is struggling tointegrate the newly arrived Polishmigrants, whose historic experiencesdiffer profoundly from those of theestablished community. There areenormous cultural and even languagebarriers for people from what to theoutsider seems to be the same nationalgroup. The dynamics betweennewcomers and long term residents istherefore not a black and white issuenor is it confined to people fromdifferent countries of origin, but it ismuch more multifaceted and complex.



There is a prominence of Indian andSouth African nurses working in CareHomes. Following the destruction ofApartheid, then South African PresidentNelson Mandela led an appeal to stopBritain draining the country’s medicalstaff, as nurses, in particular, wereattracted to what appeared to be muchmore favourable terms and conditionsin UK hospitals. Subsequently theDepartment of Health imposed a banon the NHS recruiting medically trainedstaff from developing countries147.Nevertheless, due to independentmigration and ongoing recruitment by private agencies, providing staff for Care Homes and private hospitals,the number of nurses from Africancountries working in Britain hascontinued to rise148. This trendhighlights the complexity of regulatinginternational recruitment andmigration, in circumstances wherethere is little regulation of the privateand agency sectors. But it also exposessome of the moral dilemmas itpresents to the individuals themselves,whose desire for a better life, at leastfor a future generation if not their own,encourages them to leave their countryof origin. The greater concern is that,having taken this profound decision tomove from their families and kinshipnetworks, they may find themselvesbetrayed by agency promises which arenot adhered to.

From the interviews with migrantworkers it does appear that theirexpectations of life in the UK in part is coloured by where they themselveshave come from. In particular, thosewhose countries of origin had beenformer British colonies were morelikely to view the UK as a place with a good education, health care andemployment system that wouldrecognise their skills and experiences.Although there were few complaintsabout the education and health caresystems themselves, several of thoseinterviewed had expresseddisappointment about their integrationinto employment. In this respect theyexpressed disenchantment with havingended up working in factories despitepossessing a good education, whichhad led them to think that there wouldbe opportunities for more rewardingwork in the UK. In Chapter 8 thecountries of origin of migrant workersis shown by sector of employment,demonstrating a relationship betweenthe areas that migrants work in andtheir country of origin.

5.4 The status of migrant workers in the region

Previous research has highlighted theimportance that the legal status of themigrant worker has on theirexperiences of work in the country to

147 DOH. (1999) Guidance on international nursing recruitment, London: Department of Health148 Buchan, J. (2002) The International Recruitment of Nurses: United Kingdom Case Study 28. Edinburgh:

Royal College of Nursing, Queen Margaret University College.



which they have migrated. While thosewho are employed under SAWS, forexample, have the advantage ofworking under a scheme that is quitewell regulated and controlled andtherefore less open to the worst formsof employment abuse, they also work inthe knowledge that their employment islimited in duration. This inevitablymeans, for example, that they will haveto leave their families behind. SomeWork Permit holders of course maywork in highly prized jobs, but theyremain temporary workers with all ofthe disadvantages that temporaryemployment can bring, other than forthose for whom it has been a positivechoice. For those working withoutpermission, their lack of legal statusmeans that it is likely that they willwork in the worst jobs and under theleast attractive conditions on offer.

The interviews with migrant workersincluded five with individuals whoreported that they had applied forasylum and out of these three had beengranted refugee status with theremaining two having been granted atemporary status. Two furtherrespondents admitted to residing inBritain undocumented, while oneadmitted using false documents; afurther one or two did not want todisclose their immigration status in anydetail to the interviewer.

The current legal rules mean thatasylum seekers cannot lawfully work inthe UK. Indeed, while their applicationis being considered, their papers areretained by the Home Office until adecision on their application has beenmade. Even once asylum seekers havebeen granted leave to remain andpermission to work, most findthemselves pushed into jobs belowtheir qualifications, while they try toearn a living and consider their options.Sometimes this may be because workat their level of qualification is notavailable, but more often it is becausequalifications are not recognised asequivalent or because there is a systemfor professional registration, attachedto which are tests that are difficult tosucceed at. Asylum seekers andrefugees face the same hurdles asother migrants when it comes to havingtheir qualifications recognised andrecent newspaper articles have madethis explicit149. As ‘foreigners’ andnewcomers they are often found in thesame employment sectors as migrantworkers and their day-to-dayemployment experiences mirror thoseof economic migrants.

In many cases asylum seekers willhave had to flee their country of originin fear of their lives and thus theirmotivation for leaving their countries oforigin can differ fundamentally fromthat of migrant workers.

149 The Independent 2005, 5 March, page 1 and 2, The Dentist’s Tale; The Independent 2005, 14 March, pages 1, 4 and 5, Refugees could cut skills shortages and pay £100m tax



But the relationship between refugeestatus and economic migration canalso be blurred where the onlyperceived lawful entry point is througha claim as a refugee.

One of the workers interviewed for thisreport had come to England for mainlyeconomic reasons but as he was anundocumented migrant (indeed he hadno documentation at all since he hadbeen forced to hand all his identitypapers to the agency that facilitated hisjourney to Britain) his only option wasto claim asylum. This highlights theunclear boundaries between someasylum seekers and economicmigrants, but also demonstrates thedilemma undocumented migrants findthemselves in. It also shows thatmigration policies, which have theeffect of limiting lawful entry, mayindeed create the conditions wherebyentry is pursued through unlawfulmeans. The net effect is to enhance thepower of unscrupulous agents andpeople traffickers, who can use theirknowledge of the workers’ status tooblige them to work at very low rates ofpay or in poor conditions and pressurethem to pay up exorbitant fees.

For those who have fled persecution,the options are more limited. One ofthose interviewed, a woman from theRoma community in Slovakia hadalready completed a hotel college

course, but is now working as a cleanerin a cinema. She had fled with herfamily due to racist attacks that made itimpossible for her and her family tostay in Slovakia.

Fees to agents are commonplace inthese circumstances. One of thoseinterviewed, a young male Kurdishrefugee from Iraq, who now works ascommunity worker, had paid £5,000 tothe people smugglers and was nowhaving to work to pay the money back.Another Kurd from Iraq, who wasworking night shifts in a chicken factorysaid: “I spent nearly $5,000150, actuallyborrowed not from [non-family]people. That's because my uncle, hehelped me. And my dad sold his shop.It's better I come here, because thereis a lot of trouble in there.”

Another of those interviewed, a 57-year-old male, was a refugee fromKenya who had been accepted as arefugee and indeed now had Britishnationality. He had fled his country forpolitical reasons, he was politicallyinvolved and working for Nairobi CityCouncil in Social Services and Housing.He still would not consider apermanent return and was nowworking in a sandwich factory.

These refugees were included in thesample, not as a result of the particulartargeting of asylum seekers and

150 This equals £2,625



refugees in the sample, but due to thefact that their day-to-day experiencesof working in the region did notdistinguish them from the remainder ofthe interview sample. Thus while it isimportant to distinguish betweenmigrant workers, asylum seekers and

refugees, in terms of their actualworking experiences, they face thesame obstacles and hurdles to havetheir full potential recognised to enablethem to progress out of low paid jobs.

Chapter 5: Key findings

1 The interview sample highlights the diversity in nationality, age, gender, skill levels and employment experiences of new migrant workers in the East of England. It also shows how complex the patterns of migration can be with workers coming from all parts of the globe to work across a wide range of sectors, in jobs ranging from high skilled professionals to unskilled manual jobs.

2 Migrant workers’ intentions regarding length of stay vary greatly, from those who are short-term seasonal workers, to those making repeated short-term visits, to those whose intention it is to spend several years in the UK. Plans could change frequently, confirming migrant workers’ mobility.

3 Migrant workers in the East of England originate from all over the world, with pockets of Portuguese, Polish and East European workers, in particular locations or employment sectors.

THE DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND


As noted in Chapter 2, migrant workers present in the region are aheterogeneous group and while their profiles may be more polarisedthan those of the population as a whole, they consist both of the old andthe young, of men and women, of the high skilled and the low skilled, ofthose with a high level of educational experience and those with little orno formal education (see table 5.1 for the demographic details from theinterview sample).

6.1 The age profile of migrant workers in the region

While Glover151 suggests that migrantworkers are clustered around the 25-49year old group, this research hasuncovered a much wider range of ageand experience, than might have beenanticipated. The age of workersinterviewed in the course of thisresearch ranged from 19 to 57 years of age, with the average age being 34years. However, even though there is a wide age range among migrantscoming to the region, by far themajority are young and are in their 20sand 30s. Older recent migrant workers,in their 40s and 50s, may have cometemporarily as the only way tofinancially provide for their families,although it would be incorrect tocharacterise all older workers in thisway. Some may come with the intentionof returning to their country of originafter a short period of time but laterdecide to settle in the UK, either due to

family commitments or because thereare better opportunities for themselvesin the UK.

Age, gender and family-relatedcommitments affect individuals’motivation in coming to Britain, howthey plan for their future and what kindof work and living conditions they findacceptable. Although in danger of itbeing an over-generalisation, youngermigrant workers seemed more likely to identify their decision to move to theUK for work as an ‘adventure’ whereasolder migrant workers were more likely to see it as the only route toemployment, in circumstances whereage was seen as a barrier to furtheremployment in their country of origin.As one 50 year old Brazilian womannoted: “I retired in Brazil at the age of45 years old. I used to be a secretary,working in a steel industry. I workedfor 27 years in the same company. InBrazil at 45 years of age we have no[further] chance [of getting] a job. I

The demographic characteristicsof migrant workers in the East of England

6

151 Glover (2000) p29

139THE DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND


had knowledge and experience but nochance to get a job.”

Similar statements about ‘being too old to get a job’ were made by migrantsfrom Portugal. A 53-year-old male caféowner noted: “In Portugal, it is difficultto get a job if you are 35 years old orolder, regardless of the sector:factories, offices, banks. I was 48already when I moved. A friend of minesuggested the alternative of moving toEngland.”

Indeed several of the older workersfrom Portugal or Brazil made specificreference to how much more restrictedtheir opportunities for futureemployment would have been in theirhome countries. They showedenthusiasm for their new lives in theregion and had a lot of life and workexperience to offer their newemployers. None of them mentionedpossible retirement in the course of theinterviews. To the contrary, they were

making ambitious plans for theirfuture, either in Britain or elsewhere. Awoman who had a primary educationonly and worked in temporary jobssince the age of fifteen commented onthe employment situation in Portugaland on her and her husband’s futureplans. She told the interviewer: “Thesituation in Portugal is bad now and sowe are not thinking of going back. Wehave to wait for our kids to finish theirstudies, to arrange their own lives, andthen we could think of ourselves. Butfor now, we have to be here. If we wentback now, they couldn’t study; wewould be cutting their legs. We aresaving for ourselves as well; we havesome money to travel. Considering ourage, we cannot find work in Portugal.”

Her husband commented further: “InPortugal, if you are 50 you are too oldto work; if you are 15 you are tooyoung. Here you go to a supermarketand you see these old people working.This doesn’t happen in Portugal.”



Maria completed her secondary schooling in Brazil. She holds a secretarial diplomaand has extensive computer skills. Maria had worked as a secretary in the steelindustry for 27 years but at the age of 45, she retired. Maria knew that there wouldbe no opportunity for future work in Brazil, since work was not available for olderworkers. She had then done some voluntary work recruiting volunteers to work inNGOs. She trained people and placed them in hospitals, crèches and schools anddescribes the work as “very gratifying.”

Maria is separated from her husband and came to the UK with her two daughters. Herbrother was already living here. Maria and both of her daughters work in a packagingdepartment. She describes her life in the region as “good” and she knew that when shecame to the UK she would be working in a factory. Maria wakes at 4am on workdaymornings. She works a 10- hour shift, from 6am to 4pm four days a week. She workson a conveyor belt in a very cold environment with temperatures at just 2 to 3 degrees.

When she first arrived in the UK she did a lot of overtime, working each working day of the week but nowadays, if she does overtime she will only do it at most three days aweek. She says that her salary is much higher than it ever was in Brazil but that thecost of living is also much higher.

Maria and her daughters want to learn English. They are keen to be able tocommunicate, not just with colleagues at work, but also with their neighbours. Shesays that her English colleagues and supervisors on the line where she works are“fantastic.” They help her a lot, as she is the only Portuguese worker on the productionline. Maria and her daughters are studying English twice a week at two differentschools. They would like to attend more classes a week but there are no free schoolsoffering evening classes every day or even for just three days a week. The family livesin a village where they are the only Portuguese speakers. Maria hopes that withimproved language skills she would be able to get an office job. Maria’s daughters arethinking about working part-time next year so that they can study English during theday. They want to pursue academic degrees in hospitality so that when they return toBrazil they will have a qualification. But they may also stay in the UK for longer.

Maria and her daughters live in a two-bedroom house and pay £425 per month in rentplus council tax of £89 per month. She was able to open a bank account, using a letterfrom her employer. Maria joined the union as soon as she started work. She thinks that things have improved for migrant workers like herself, as there is now moreinformation around and more people from her community live in the region.

Female migrant worker from Brazil, 59 years old, separated, lives with 2daughters in the East of England, arrived one year ago and already had herbrother living here:



6.2 The gender profile of migrant workers in the region

The migrant worker sample interviewedfor this research was fairly evenly splitbetween women and men (see table 5.1above). There were 28 men and 24women. Twenty-five of them lived withtheir immediate or extended families.Four, all of them Chinese had left theirchildren in their countries of origin tobe looked after by other members ofthe family. However, the labour marketexperiences of the men and women in the sample differed, reflectingtraditional labour market dividesbetween the sexes, with women morelikely to be found in the ‘caring’ sectorsof employment and men in the ‘heavy’or manual sectors. Thus migrantlabour is likely to experience the sameoccupational segregation as the rest ofthe UK labour force and migrantwomen workers therefore are likely toencounter greater discrimination in theworkplace, compared to male migrantlabour. Our survey sample suggests:

• there are more women employed in health care, in the NHS as well as the private Care Home sectors

• far more male migrants work in construction

• both, men and women work in food and packing factories

• both men and women work in horticulture and agriculture, even though men slightly outnumber

women in the latter and there is a clear gender division in relation to the type of jobs they do, with more women working in the packing houses

• both, men and women work in hotels, however, women are more likely to be found doing cleaning jobs, while men also get to work in the kitchen and as bar staff.

Within the interview sample more menthan women had been promoted tosupervisory status or had ventured outinto self-employment or to re-train orto work in management. Althoughwomen had fared less well than men, interms of their career progression, thisdoes not necessarily imply that theirexperience of work was viewednegatively. Indeed, from the interviewswith migrant workers, it can be saidthat it was the women, with perhapsfewer opportunities in their country oforigin, who were more enthusiasticabout their work experiences in theregion, regardless of the type of workthey did. The following is an example,from a 30-year-old Muslim woman whohad come to the UK to marry and whoinitially did not work:

“I didn’t think about work when I cameto England, because my husband’sfamily didn’t like ladies workingoutside. When I came to England Istayed in the house for three - nearlyfour years I didn’t work. I just stayed in



the house and looked after the family.My children, my sister-in-law, mybrother-in-law, and mother-in-law:everything we did together. Four yearsI didn’t work. Then I got really fed up,you know staying home. I don’t like itthere. I love my kids more, but I’m fedup there. I wanted to do something,not full-time but part-time, I want todo. Then I said to my husband I don’twant to stay [at home] anymore it’s soboring. I’m really fed up - four years Istay home you know. Then we find ajob in newspaper. My first job I’mworking in Edgware, London. I enjoyedit. Just every day I go and differentpicture - just developing and cuttingand packing for customers. It was allmixed - people from differentcountries. When we come here wedon’t know our way about Luton. When[my husband made] friends in Lutonthey said there is the factory, they aretaking on people, you should apply;then my husband took a form andapplied. I was working part-timenights when I started the job here - I was working 6 to 9 in the eveningsthen they made me full-time. Thisfactory is near my house, I like it, I can walk [to work] (laughs).”

6.3 The educational and skills profile of migrant workers in the region

It is not possible to generalise aboutthe education and skills levels of themigrant workforce within the East ofEngland. Some of those interviewedwere university graduates and highlyskilled professional workers, whileothers had little or no formal education,although they were likely to haveacquired valuable occupational skills.As we demonstrate in Chapter 8 manyof the migrant workers originating fromEastern Europe and doing seasonalwork in the agriculture andhorticultural sector are well educated,with high numbers of college graduatesamong them.

Almost all the migrant workersinterviewed could be described ashighly motivated and aspirational. One25-year-old woman from Tunisia hadnever been to school. From the age ofeight she had worked within the familyand later as a domestic where she hadbeen treated brutally. Although nowworking as a hotel cleaner, she wasstudying English and hoped one day tobecome a hotel manager. She was notunique in having had little formaleducation but possessing a strong driveto succeed. One 53-year-old male fromPortugal, who had little in the way of aformal education, but who now owned acafé, noted:



“I learned skills by doing [work] inPortugal. I started working at the ageof 10 years old. I worked in cafes,restaurants. Then at 14-15 years,when working is legally permitted foryoung people in Portugal, I startedworking in a solicitor’s office. Next, Ijoined military service at the age of 18,and went to a war in Africa. When Iwas discharged from military service, I went back to the same office. I learntsome skills there and then moved tosales, where I worked for 20 years, till my forties.”

This demonstrates that conclusionsabout the achievements migrants canmake cannot be based on their formalskills or education. In some casescoming into a new situation may assistworkers in progressing into self-employment. Indeed it is a key issuethat many of those without a formaleducation nevertheless had been veryentrepreneurial, as this exampledemonstrates.

“I didn’t have much education, noteven completed my primary school. Istarted work by decorating houses,sometimes [I was] also involved insupplying sand for construction use.Later on I moved to work as sandsupplier. It went smoothly at thebeginning because I knew where thesources of sand were. Then I began toship sand with trucks.”

At the other end of the educationalspectrum were workers who eitherwere still studying or had completeduniversity degrees in their countries oforigin. Often this meant that they hadbeen able to work in relatively highstatus, although not necessarily wellpaying jobs, prior to coming to the UK.But more often than not once they hadarrived in the UK their previousexperience had counted for nothing. As one 24-year-old from Poland, nowworking in horticulture, althoughtraining to work with children,remarked:

“My first degree was in economics…… I worked in Poland in the tax office. InPoland I was specialist in vehicle andhousing purchase tax for two years…..It was good job you know…… Mydegree means nothing here. I don’tknow that it means nothing, but I wasin the Job Centre and they said, ‘Thisdocument means nothing here.”

Another of those interviewed, a migrantworker from Portugal, had also held amuch more prestigious job prior tocoming to the UK where he is now, as a32-year-old, working as a student nurse:

“I have a degree in accountancy andhave done the normal school; then Iwent to university for four years and inPortugal I used to work in the stockexchange. Basically it’s selling bonds.Here I do something totally different.”



While a 37-year-old Chinese migrantworker, now working as medicalpractitioner in a Chinese medicalpractice in the region, but on low pay,said that in China she had been a:

“doctor in a big hospital. I worked inthe acupuncture department, but alsoworked in the ward, which coversgynaecology, dermatology, etc. I hadworked to the top of the medicalprofession before I came to Britain.”

In many of the cases involving highlyeducated migrant workers, theirinability to get jobs in the UK thatmatched their education andqualifications was due to these notbeing recognised as equivalent to thosein the UK, this has been taken up in therecommendations below in Chapter 12.For example, despite the shortage ofnurses in the UK, there is a shortage ofplacements for internationally qualifiednurses. NHS managers indicated to theresearchers that due to recent budgetcuts they had not been able to lay onmore adaptation programmes eventhough they had identified anabundance of internationally qualifiednurses living locally who could fill NHSvacancies in the long term. As a resultthere are many qualified nurses in theregion who are working in jobs in theindependent health care sector wellbelow their capabilities and sometimesunder conditions that arediscriminatory and abusive. Althoughthe NHS does not recruit nurses

directly from overseas, those who cometo the region through agencies oftenend up working as care assistants inCare Homes, as confirmed in ourinterviews with key informants fromNHS Trusts and from trade unions inthe region.

The employers’ survey also pointed tocases of workers not being able to workto their qualifications. Nine of the 35employers of migrant workers (one infour) considered the migrants theyemployed as over-skilled for the jobsthey were doing. Thirteen employersfelt that the migrant workers they hademployed had needed some on the jobtraining. But of course this, itself, doesnot mean that the workers wereunskilled. It more likely reflects the factthat they were not trained for the jobsthey were doing in the region. This isborne out by the fact that 20 employerssaid that they did not recognisemigrants’ existing qualifications; usuallybecause these were not relevant to thejob they were employed to do.

Almost all those interviewed wereworking in jobs that were below theirskill levels, regardless of whether theywere ‘high’ or ‘low’ skilled. In somecases workers were resigned toworking in factories for the NationalMinimum Wage (NMW), whereas otherswere trying to develop their Englishlanguage skills, as a first step on theirjourney to escaping low skilled, lowpaid employment. One example was of



a former telecommunications expertnow working in horticulture. Another ofthose interviewed compared his currentposition with his previous one:

“It’s beyond comparison - my currentjob and my former one. I was head ofthe human resources and securitydepartment in China and here I amdoing manual job in a flower factory.”

Table 6.1 gives examples of the formeroccupations in their countries of originof some of those interviewed and theirpresent occupations within the region.This demonstrates how migrantworkers with skills that are in shortsupply within the region are notutilising those skills for the benefit of the regional economy.

Economist

Accountant working in the Stock Exchange

Electrician

Teacher

Qualified in hotel industry

School assistant

Skilled office administrator

Telecommunications expert

Carpenter

Builder

HR and security manager

Electrician

Occupation in country of origin

Now working in horticulture

Student nurse

Food factory worker

Supermarket checkout worker

Cleaner

Cleaner

Food factory worker

Horticulture

Restaurant cook

Kitchen assistant

Flower factory worker

Packing factory

Current occupation in the region

Table 6.1 Former and current occupations of 12 migrant worker interviewees:



Some workers accepted that it wasinevitable that they would not be able toutilise their education and skills and,due to high unemployment in theircountries of origin, saw the jobs theyhad been able to obtain in the region aseither a stepping stone to somethingbetter or were content to do them forthe financial rewards they werebringing, compared to what theirsituation might have been in theircountry of origin. In many cases theyheld vocational skills, some of whichare in short supply in the East ofEngland, such as nurses, electriciansand builders.

The study has verified that manymigrant workers in the East of Englandare working below their skills andqualification levels. In fact they possessskills which are in short supply withinthe region but which they are not ableto utilise due to the barriers presentedby the non-recognition of theirqualifications. The pull-factor forindividual migrants, in the shape oftheir ability to earn higher salaries thanthey might have had in their country oforigin, may drive to the backgroundtheir desire to have recognition ofexisting skills, at least in their initialperiod in the UK. However, once thereality of working in Britain, with itsassociated high cost of living, wasrecognised, some of those interviewedwished they could better their

opportunities by working in a sector or occupation that they consideredappropriate to their skills andexperience.

Some workers also had valuable skillsthat were not directly related to theirpast or indeed current employment.The most common of these werelanguage skills. In addition to English,workers from Eastern Europe usuallyspoke at least one other language withRussian or German, in addition to theirmother tongue, being common. Otherworkers spoke French, several SouthAsian languages, Italian or Arabic (seetable 5.1 for a full list of languagesspoken). Table 6.2 illustrates thelinguistic talents of some of thoseinterviewed.



Table 6.2 Languages (other than English and home language) spoken by 17 migrant worker interviewees:

Worker in horticulture

Seasonal farm worker

Casual worker in agriculture and construction

Care assistant

Car factory worker

Student nurse

Hotel manager

Chef

Food processing worker

Packing factory worker

Care assistant

Cleaning supervisor

Cleaner

Construction worker

Factory worker

Factory worker

Care assistant

Current occupation Language(s) spoken

French, German

Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, German

Russian, Slovakian, Czech

Malayalam

Russian

German, Spanish

French

Cantonese, Fuzhou dialect

Spanish

German, Polish, Russian, Czech

Arabic

Spanish

French

Italian

Russian, Slovakian

French, German

Arabic



6.4 The impact of migrant workers on business and the economy

When asked about the impact ofmigrant workers on their businesses,the overwhelming majority ofemployers responding to the survey (27 out of the 30 who answered thequestion) viewed the impact of migrantworkers on the business as positive orvery positive. As one employer noted,“The Company would not functionwithout them.” Another reported, “Ifwe did not have them, we would not beable to do our job or harvest ourcrops.” The overwhelming assessmentfrom employers in the survey, who wereemploying migrant workers, was thatthese were workers who “filledproblematic positions”, “enriched thediversity of the workforce”, were “hardworking” and were “positive goodemployees.”

We have already noted (see Chapter 2)that the unemployment rate in theregion is low – at just 3.5 per cent - and that there are identified skills’shortages throughout the region. In]the survey a number of the employerrespondents made specific reference tothe local labour market, making it clearthat either there was no available locallabour or that the available jobs, for avariety of reasons, were not acceptableto local workers. This confirms Glover’sfindings152 that there is little evidence

that UK workers’ access to employmentis harmed by the presence of migrantworkers. Research by the Centre forResearch and Analysis of Migration153

concludes that while immigration couldinitially depress wages for lower skilledworkers, the effect is temporary, as theeconomy reacts by expandingproduction in the sector that usesunskilled workers more intensively.

Although a minority of thoseresponding alluded to the fact thatsome migrant workers would work forless money, in general this was nottheir primary reason for using migrantlabour. One employer was clear thatthey “would employ local people beforelooking at migrant workers” if suchworkers were available. Although theremay be locals who are economicallyinactive within the region and whowould like to work, there are barriers to their entry into the labour marketthat are not solely to do with the extentof their willingness to do the jobscurrently performed by migrantworkers. They are also due to their lackof skills that would enable them towork in sectors where there are labourshortages. It also has to be said thatemployers in the survey were morelikely to associate migrant labour withhard, conscientious work practices, as well as being better qualified. In aminority of the responses UK workerswere described as performing “to apoor level”, or in one case more criticallyas “too damn lazy to work hard.”

152 Glover (2001) chapter 6 153 The Independent, ‘Revealed: how immigrants help the economy’ 14 May 2005 (based on research by University College London)



Glover also notes154 that the presence of migrant workers is beneficial toeconomic performance. To the questionof what they would do if they were notemploying migrant workers, some ofthe employers in the survey reportedthat they would “struggle” given a localjob market of virtually full employment,or that they would “possibly run short

staffed.” As another respondentemployer noted:

“We need workers. My Romanianemployee is a nice, clean family man.Unfortunately he cannot get a visa towork here permanently. If I advertisefor a carpenter, I get no replies.”

Based on the research findings the next chapter highlights why migrants come toEngland.

154 ibid p4


1 Among migrant workers participating in the interviews ages ranged from 19-57 years, with an average of 34 years. Some older workers had encountered age-related unemployment in their countries of origin and this had been a push factor in their decision to move to the UK.

2 The experiences of migrant men and women reflected traditional labour market segregation. Men were more likely to be employed in ‘heavy’ or manual jobs while women were more likely to work in ‘caring’ jobs. There was also some evidence of males being more likely to be promoted than women.

3 Almost all of the migrants in the sample could be described as highly motivated and aspirational. They were more likely to be working in jobs that were below their skills and qualification levels. As Table 6.1 demonstrates many hold skills that are in short supply in the UK yet are in jobs where these skills are not utilised. In some cases, particularly involving highly educated migrant workers, their inability to get jobs that matched their education and qualifications was due to these not being recognised in the UK.

4 In the survey most employers viewed the impact of migrant labour on their businesses positively. In general the main reason for using migrant labour was the lack of available local labour.

THE MOTIVATIONS, ASPIRATIONS AND AMBITIONS OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE REGION


7.1 Motivations in coming to the UK and the region

Migrants’ stated motivations for comingto work in the UK were primarilyeconomic, although some respondentsreported a combination of factors thathad led them to migrate to Britain:

• some hoped to get a job, any job, as because of their age, lack of qualifications or the high unemployment rates, this was difficult in their countries of origin

• others reported that they thought they could earn more money than they would be able to in their countries of origin

• yet others thought that life in Britain would provide their families with better opportunities, in terms of health care and schooling or more stability

• some came for a combination of economic and political reasons and had applied for asylum upon arrival. In not every case were the reasons for coming to Britain clear-cut. Other respondents were also explicit about the disappointments they had faced. They were disillusioned, missing their families,had lost their jobs and found it difficult to establish a support network.

The employers’ survey also confirmedthat economic reasons were the mostimportant ones for migrants coming toBritain, with 30 of the 35 employers ofmigrant workers stating that this wastheir chief motivation. Lesser reasonswere given as ‘improving English skills’and ‘gaining work experience.’According to the employers very fewcame to travel or visit friends. However,our interviews with the migrantworkers themselves did reveal that adesire for travel and family reunionwere also significant factors in thedecision to seek work in anothercountry.

Those who had come through a well-organised student or agriculturaltemporary work scheme seemed tohave a reasonable amount ofinformation about their work and itsconditions prior to their arrival in theUK. As one 26-year-old femaleaccountancy student from Bulgaria whohad come to Britain repeatedly as aseasonal factory worker noted:

“I think I had clear information fromthe university agency that sent me to… Farm Camp – you always have toactually be in a place to know what it is like; and I like it here.”

Others had just gathered informationabout England from the media or

The motivations, aspirations andambitions of migrant workers inthe region

7

139THE MOTIVATIONS, ASPIRATIONS AND AMBITIONS OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE REGION


friends and had come in the false hopeof earning huge amounts of money veryquickly. There is evidence from theinterview data that this myth wasperpetuated when the new AccessionStates joined the EU in 2004, leadingonly to deep disappointment, as thefollowing example suggests:

“Because in Poland my friends weretalking only about England. ‘After 1stof May there will be jobs in England,good jobs’. Yeah. Everybody thoughtthat, everybody thought that – goodjobs. From the TV, from the Internetand friends. Yeah, because noteverybody has had a bad situation.Some people they have good job, goodmoney. Yeah. No because sometimeme and my friends we [are] thinkingwe [are] living like animals in thiscountry. We are not feeling [good].”

Some had migrated several times. Twoof those interviewed, for example, hadworked in Libya for 10 years beforecoming to Britain; another had beenliving in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Spain,the US and Portugal and had recentlyarrived in the East of England followinga friend’s suggestion to apply for a jobhere. Thus migration to England is justone aspect of the wider scale of today’sincreasing mobility.

Migrant workers in the sample thushad varied reasons for coming to theUK and to the region. However, ingeneral they can be categorised into

seven main motivations:

1 financial reasons - to earn more money than they could in their country of origin

2 unemployment - high levels of unemployment in their country of origin

3 adventure - a desire for new experiences

4 family - family members or friends already working in the region

5 language - a desire to improve their knowledge of English

6 historic links - workers whose country of origin has historic links with the UK

7 racism - experience of racism or persecution in their country of origin.

7.1.1 Financial motivations

For many migrant workers the primereason for moving to a new country iseconomic. Their hope is that they willbe able to earn sufficient money, toenable them to realise plans in theircountry of origin. Many respondentsclearly stated that they had come toBritain to earn a living, because thiswas difficult in their countries of origin.

Although as we have noted in Chapter6, most of the migrant workersinterviewed were working below theirskills and qualifications, there was oneindividual who started out by working ina Care Home and was now studying tobecome a mental health nurse in the



UK. His was a relatively rare example ofsomeone who had improved his workstatus through migration. Here too,however, the primary motivation waseconomic:

“Basically the pound. The economicside of migration, I think, in every caseit is the value of the money [comparedwith] the value of the money backhome. Doing the same thing you’dearn something like half, from whatyou earn here.”

In one of the cases in the migrantworkers’ sample, it was the desire toassist their children who were studyingin Portugal that was the principalmotivation for migration:

“We have two children in Portugal, theson is studying at university and thedaughter will start university next

year, and we need to help them. If wewere living there, we wouldn’t be ableto help them, so that is the reason wecame to England. I pay 200 euros everythree months for the fees for theeldest one. In the next year, mydaughter will start university.”

A nurse from India, currently working ina Care Home, also said that she hadcome “basically for money” as had auniversity graduate from Poland, who isworking in a factory, described hiscoming to the UK as “just theopportunity and you use it. If somebodygives you a sweet you take it.” Arespondent from Latvia, also auniversity graduate, working on a farm,also said, “My main reason for comingto England was money.”

The following case study gives a flavourof how interrelated motivations can be:



Yuan has had little formal education, having not even completed his primary schooling.He started work decorating houses, and moved on to work as a sands supplier. At firstthe business went well but then there was an accident which ruined it. His businesspartners fled, Yuan was bankrupt and had little choice but to leave China himself. Yuanentered the UK without permission having paid a large amount of money to get apassport. He says that it will take him five to six years just to pay off this debt. He saysthat anyone from his area who can leave has done so.

Yuan came to the UK to make as much money as possible. He intends to stay a fewyears and then go back to China. He has two children, a 14 year old and 12 year old andknows that it would be impossible to arrange to bring his family over to the UK fromChina.

He works a ten and a half hour shift in a restaurant. He starts at 11am, works until2pm has a two hour break and then works from 4pm to 11.30 six days a week Yuanearns £240 a week and sends most of it home except for a small amount for his owndaily expenditure. He says that his boss is honest and fair and treats him “like abrother.” He lives in a shared house with four others.

Yuan does not speak any English, indeed he says that even his Chinese is weak due tohis lack of education and now feels he is too old to learn, because he only had a fewyears of schooling. “I am too old to learn. It doesn’t matter; I [will] only stay here for afew years and then go back.

Yuan gets free accommodation and meals from his employers. He also has elderlyparents back home in China whom he helps support financially. When he has a day offhe mainly stays at home and watches television. He visits London once a month.

He has occasionally visited a doctor, sometimes a Chinese practitioner and sometimesan English doctor. These medical visits are assisted by the presence of a translator.

Male migrant worker from China, 38 years old, wife and two children in China,no family in UK, arrived in East England 3 years ago:



7.1.2 Unemployment

If there are no jobs then inevitablysome people will risk moving to a newcountry to find work. The interviewsample reveals that unemployment inthe country of origin is a significantfactor in a decision to move. Mostrespondents had come to the UK toearn a living because this was difficultin their country of origin, either salarieswere extremely low or job opportunitieswere limited. The following comment,from a Polish worker, speaking of hisdecision to come to the UK, was typical:“Because in Poland it’s very difficult tofind a job. Because Poland is a verypoor country.”

Thus migration is not just about gettinga better job or improving a standard ofliving. It is also about getting any work,causing a qualified electrician in thatcase to come to work in an unskilledfactory job. One worker from Slovakia,also an experienced electrician, hadcome to the UK after being maderedundant:

“In the factory I was working in (backin Slovakia) there were 1,000 workers- and after [a while they didn’t] need thatmuch staff and so only 500 people - 500must go. In Slovakia the government saysthat 24 per cent are not working, but inreality it is something like 45 per centnot working – and a lot of people areworking [all over the] world - like in

the UK, France, Czech Republic,Germany.”

High levels of unemployment inPortugal had contributed to thedecision by many to migrate to the East of England. Lack of jobs and inparticular lack of work for olderworkers was a commonly toldexperience, as this comment from a 50-year-old male Portuguese worker,speaking about his decision to move tothe region, demonstrates:

“Because I found that the UK wouldoffer me a better life in terms of jobopportunities, in terms of theexperience I have gained over theyears. I saw a brighter horizon. I wasin Portugal and the life there is veryhard. As you know Portugal is not richeconomically although it is a memberof the EU, the unemployment ratethere was 7 per cent. It was awkwardregarding job opportunities. Having afamily, as I do, looking after thewelfare of my family I decided toimmigrate to the United Kingdom.”

Unemployment within Portugal hadmeant that some workers had onlybeen able to get seasonal or casualwork there and were now competing forthat work with nationals from othercountries also migrating in search ofwork. Thus migration into Portugal wasalso resulting in migration from it, aseach migrant group sought ways offinding some or better employment.



As noted above, in some casesunemployment was a factor of age. Incountries with an over-supply of labour,older workers had less chance ofsuccess within the labour market. Forthem migration was the only route towork.

7.1.3 The desire for new experiences

Among the younger, single migrantssome stated that they had come toBritain out of curiosity, that they hadnothing to lose and wanted to check outthe opportunities in another country.For them the desire to experience newcountries and different ways of livingwas a motivator, sometimes beyondfinancial advantage. As one male fromMadeira (part of Portugal), who ispresently working in a food factory, putit:

“My dream was to leave the place. Iwanted to know the world. I didn’twant to be born and die in Madeira. Myparents use to say, ‘Outside is better’.My father had lived in Venezuela(South America) in the 50s. So I wascurious to know what was there,outside the Island. In Madeira, I couldsee the sunrise, the sunset, I couldonly see the ocean around me. Iwanted to know what was beyond. Atthat time I had done the militaryservice and was working in the army.Maybe I should have stayed; I could bebetter off. Who knows? It wasn’t for

the money, because I was almostworking autonomously in Curacao,buying and selling products and usingmy own car for it.”

In these cases individuals were oftenprepared to put up with conditions(particularly in relation to the quality ofaccommodation and the hours of work)that would not have been acceptable forother groups with different motivations.One individual who had held a seniorposition in China and was now workingin a manual job in the region said of hisdecision to come to the UK to work, “I didn’t expect too much at that time.Besides, I have the ability to cope withany conditions so don’t mind whateverjob I can get. I am like a seed that cangrow anywhere. Before I came out, Ididn’t have much knowledge aboutBritain. So I didn’t expect what kind ofjob I should be able to find. Just go andsee.”

Some of these younger migrantworkers, who also were more likely tobe found in casual, seasonal work,were living in dormitories or multipleoccupancy housing, sharing rooms withstrangers. However, they expressedvery few complaints about their livingconditions, indicating that for them thiswas very much a temporary situationand that they had other long-termplans. As a young woman student,working in seasonal work, fromBulgaria confirmed:



“Yea I like it because you meet a lot ofpeople, you see a different culture,everything is different, it’s not like myhome and I found here a lot of friends,we write letters or messages – it isgood. Nearly everybody is a student.”

Our interviews with migrants workingin hotels show that they had originatedfrom a diverse range of countries,including Eastern Europe, South Africa,Western Europe, Australia and NewZealand. This suggested that for atleast some of those working in hotelstheir employment was viewed as astepping stone in their professionalcareer or way to secure an incomewhile enjoying another country andculture. Fewer, compared to thoseworking in factories, were in the regionsolely for economic reasons or hadparticular financial commitments whichhad required them to work as migrants.

Of course some migrants had initiallyarrived for an ‘adventure’ but it haddeveloped into something more thanjust an interlude in their lives. As a 53-year-old Portuguese male described it:

“When I came here it was anadventure for me. I didn’t speak aword of English. I came on my own. Ihad a friend waiting for me in theairport. It is normally the same foreverybody. …I was unemployed. Iswapped an uncertain life for a certain

one. For someone that doesn’t havemany skills and doesn’t know thelanguage, I am doing very well.”

His is a clear success story, as he nowowns and manages his own café,something that he would not haveenvisaged doing prior to coming to theUK. And just to demonstrate that onetype of ‘adventure’ can lead to anotheris the experience of one 24-year-oldPolish woman:

“The first time I came it was [out of]curiosity and money. The second year:love. This year: love. We can sacrificeour life for love.”

Another of those interviewed had cometo the UK from China initially to work.She had stayed for a year, returned toChina and then the following year comeback “to marry my husband, anEnglishman.”

7.1.4 Family motivations

Among the Portuguese community, thelargest migrant community in Thetford,Great Yarmouth, Peterborough andKing’s Lynn as well as among the Asiancommunity in the Luton area, familyties were an important pull-factor formigrants to come and settle long-termin the East of England. In addition toeconomic benefits it was family tiesthat had attracted people to come



either first and for their extendedfamilies to join them after, or for themto come straight away with theirfamilies. Often family-relatedcommitments transferred into theworkplace, with members of the samefamily also working in the samefactories. Where such familyconnections existed, the first membermay have come to Britain through anemployment agency, but the rest justfollowed, either applying for a jobdirectly at a factory or through aBritish-based employment agency.

Several of those interviewed had cometo the region because they already hadfamily members working here. In onecase, the individual interviewed alreadyhad her sister-in-law, her husband andher brother working in the region. Inanother case, this time of a womanfrom India, her family had alreadymigrated to the UK and there was noclose family left at home. A marriagewas arranged and she too came to theUK. In another case the individual’sbrother was already in the UK. Thusfamily ties were an important motivatorin choosing to come to the UK. The factthat there were these ties alsoindicates that future patterns ofmigration into the region may well bedependent on whether the existingmigrant workforce views itsexperiences positively and thus iswilling to encourage others to come tothe region.

In some cases the pattern of migrationhad begun with an individual memberof the family coming first to prepare forthe long-term resettlement of the restof the family. This was the route whichone of the Portuguese workersinterviewed had taken. He spoke of howhe had “prepared life so my familycould come. In the first year, my wifecame for holidays with the baby girl andspent Christmas with me.” Eventuallythe whole family was able to relocate tothe region. In another case, that of a23-year-old male from Portugal, theinitial motivation in coming to the UKhad been to assist his father who haddebts and his mother who was ill. Thepattern of migration was as follows:

“So, first my father came, and thenmyself, followed by my brother and mymother. We had to find a workplace formy mother here. Now she works as acleaner in a hospital. My brotherworks in ….. and so [too does] myfather.”

Family commitments affected howindividuals arranged their personallives and how long they planed to stayin the UK. Family commitments emergeas an important factor both in thedecision to migrate in the first placeand in the decision to stay. A 50-year-old woman from Brazil had come to theUK, following her brother who hadalready been working in the region fortwo years. Her motivation was the need



to pay for her children’s education inBrazil. But the decision to come wasbased on strong and positiverecommendations from her brother:

“My son was studying at university; Iwas still married and could pay hisstudies with my pension. But I [was in]no condition to pay university for mygirls, as I was already separated [frommy husband]. My brother said that inEngland it was very good for work;that the salary was very good. As I wasalready retired and couldn’t see afuture for my daughters, I decided tocome.”

In some cases migration may open upopportunities that would never havebeen available at home, and this ismore likely to be the case for women,who may find that coming to a newcountry allows new freedoms that theycould not otherwise have experienced.In one case, of a young woman fromIndia who had come to the UK as theresult of an arranged marriage,working in a cold sandwich factory,being paid just £5 per hour signified forher a freedom that she would not havebeen able to enjoy at home. Shecommented:

“I’m a quality auditor. Checking thequality; checking the hygiene area.Making sure there is no mess on thefloor, making sure everybody iswearing the proper stuff when they go

on the line – making sandwiches. If thequality is not going right I tell mysupervisor. It’s really cold in here. Butat the end of the day you need themoney. I would like to do computertraining but I haven’t got time. Yes. It’snot hard work really. I’ve worked a lotof places and I find the work here a biteasier. Usually you’ve got peoplestanding on your head telling you: ‘dothis, do that’. But here nobody tellsyou what to do. You just do your workand go home – that’s why we enjoy ithere – everybody gets on with eachother – everybody happy. Even ourproduction manager gets on with us.”

However, in not every case did arecommendation to come to the UKturn out to be as good as had beenmade out. In one case, a Portuguesewoman had been encouraged by aboyfriend to come to the UK. He hadtold her that he had set up a businessthat she would be managing and thatshe definitely would not be working in afactory. This turned out not to be trueand it was indeed a chicken factorywhere she ended up working.

7.1.5 A desire to improve a knowledge of English

The dominance of the English languageon the world stage means that thereare distinct financial rewards for thosewho have a good grasp of English. Anumber of respondents indicated that a



wish to learn or improve English wastheir motivation in migrating for workand this was particularly the caseamong the younger, educated migrants.Our research (see Chapter 8) points tothis being one of the driving forces foryoung people from Eastern Europeworking seasonally in agriculture. Atypical example is that of one youngwoman from Poland who is doing hotelwork but whose prime motivation wasdescribed as, “I came to study. Myreason is to learn English.”

Another young Polish woman, withaspirations to become a journalist inPoland, recognised that she needed “toknow English. This move to Englandmeant for me the opportunity to learnEnglish.” Although economicmotivations were important, the desireto acquire English was highlighted in anumber of the interviews with themigrant workers. Even those who hadnot been motivated to migrate by a wishto learn the language had identifiedlanguage acquisition as an importantfactor in their current work experience(see Chapter 11).

7.1.6 Historic ties

The interviews with migrant workersshowed that in some cases theirmotivations for coming to the UK hadbeen based on historic ties betweeneither their country of origin and theUK or between third countries in whichthey had resided and the UK.

For example, one of those interviewedintimated that he knew “a lot about theAnglo Saxon mentality, because I havealready lived in the US and in Rhodesia,and South Africa.” This had led to adecision “to try to live in England.” Thuspre-existing knowledge of the UK andits institutions was a reason forchoosing to come here. As noted above(see section 5.3) those who had comefrom former British colonies had tosome extent expectations of superioreducation and health systems and weresometimes disappointed. One migrantworker from Kenya noted:

“I came to England because of manyties: economic, language. If you arechoosing a country where to go youhave to feel that you will be wanted farmore than the others. I cannot evenimagine going to Canada – England isa friendly country. But that will comelater – the first is the one that willunderstand our problems.”

Similarly a recent migrant fromPakistan told the interviewers “InPakistan [there] is [the] idea [that the]UK is very good country – reasonablejobs.” Unfortunately that had not beenhis experience. He had been seeking anon-manual office job, but none wasforthcoming and he ended up doingtemporary factory work.

Some migrant workers had chosen tocome to the UK because there was anexisting chain of migration between



their country of origin and the UK. Thus some members of the communityalready living in the region acted as aconduit for further migration. However,in other cases, the UK was merely seen as a stage en route to a new life.Particularly for nurses from thePhilippines, there was some evidenceof their desire to eventually move to theUSA, where better opportunities wereperceived to exist.

7.1.7 Experiences of racism and oppression

Although it is asylum seekers andrefugees who are most likely to havefled for reasons connected withoppression, migrant workers who areidentified as ‘economic’ migrants maystill have been motivated to leave theircountry of origin for reasons connectedwith oppression. In one of the migrantworker interviews this emerged as verymuch the background to the decision tocome to the UK. In this case the workerwas a member of the Roma communityin Slovakia and had experienced racismin the workplace:

“In Slovakia we don’t have much work.After, thinking where to go, I came to

the UK and work. Because in Slovakiafor Roma a big problem about gettinga job is racism. In 1990 all the Romawere kicked out of their jobs. And fromthis time Roma people are no more inthe workplace. Doesn’t matter ifshe/he is educated or not – it is aracist problem.”

This also demonstrates that anindividual’s experiences andmotivations for coming to the UK willvary according to the personal, political,economic and historic situation theyfind themselves in and that there is nosuch thing as the ‘typical’ migrantworker. Without understanding the fullbackground of where individuals havecome from and what caused them tomake the decisions they have made,one has to be careful not to treatmigrants from certain backgrounds, beit nationality, age or ethnic origin, as ifthey were all the same.

The following example of a Romamigrant worker who did not come tothe UK as an asylum seeker shows thecomplexity of motivations for migration:



Alan had been employed in Slovakia, he was made redundant and then came to the UK.In Slovakia he says that there wasn’t much work, particularly for Roma people likehimself. He says that in 1990 all the Roma lost their jobs in Slovakia and hecharacterises the society as racist. Alan was a community activist in Slovakia. In the UKhe feels that “everyone is the same: it doesn’t matter if you are white, black orwhatever.”

In the UK Alan has been living with two other people in a one bedroom flat. His renttakes up a third of his wages. He still has a flat in Slovakia and has to pay the rent on itas well and this comes to an additional £30 to £40 in expenses every month.

Alan completed nine years’ schooling in Slovakia followed by four years at an electricalcollege. He describes himself as a ‘hard electric engineer’, which covers domestic andindustrial electrics. He has 24 years’ experience of working in the electrical industry inhis home country.

Alan has a reasonable working knowledge of English and has been teaching himself inthe evenings as well as trying to meet with English people to improve his spokenEnglish. He attends ESOL classes three evenings a week. But he believes that if hespoke better English it would enable him to make more friends within the Englishcommunity. He also speaks Russian German, Polish, Czech and Hungarian. He hasregistered under the Home Office Workers’ Registration Scheme and has a NationalInsurance number.

He says that he has often visited the Job Centre in the town where he now lives but hasthe impression that “if a person does not speak English, he must work in a factory.”

He is currently working through an agency in a packing factory, doing eight hours aday, six days a week and gets paid the national minimum wage. He gets holiday payand understands that he is entitled to 1.5 days’ a month (18 days a year – less than thestatutory minimum). He says that other workers and his supervisor (who is Serbian)treat him “all right.”

He has managed to set up a bank account but only after a lot of difficulty and with afriend’s help after two months. He has also registered with a doctor and says that whenhe needed an interpreter he got one through a Roma refugee organisation. He saysthat he aspires to a better future.

Male migrant worker, Roma from Slovakia, 44 year old, single, with somecousins in the UK, arrived in the East of England two years ago:



7.1.8 Motivations related to female migrant workers

The interviews with migrant workerssuggest that for women, in particular,work in the region had created newopportunities and given them newfreedoms. Some of the migrant womeninterviewed told the researchers thatthey would not have been able to go outto work or develop their careers in theircountries of origin. This was due toeither family or cultural values. AnIndian respondent indicated that, priorto moving to the region she had notbeen allowed to work outside the familyhome where she had been kept busywith household chores. Another, ayoung migrant from North Africa,reported that she had not been allowedto gain any formal school education, asthis was reserved for her brothers andwas indeed common in her village. Forher, working in a hotel in Englandprovided a freedom that she wouldotherwise not have been able to enjoy.In addition to her full-time work shewas attending classes in order to learnto read and write, aiming to become ahotel manager one day.

A young Polish woman expressed herview of her life in the UK as follows:

“I’m finding here interesting things todo, because it is easier. In Polandwhen you finish your university youjust go to work and get married and

[have] children and nothing else. Andhere you can, you know, have so[many] opportunities to go to onecourse, to a second course…..Like I amdoing this course – I never [wouldhave] thought [possible] in Poland.”

For others, their initial aspirations forthe future (which had envisaged areturn home) had changed over time,again indicating how migration hadallowed them to have new perspectivesand ambitions, beyond those that mighthave been contemplated prior to theirdeparture. A woman from Brazil spokeof how her plans were changing, mainlybecause her decision to come to the UKhad influenced others in her family:

“My initial idea was to open doors formy daughters and to go back to Brazilin March 2005. Because there I havemy house, my pension… but now myson has decided to come to the UK aswell. So, I had to rethink my plans, as Ioriginally was going back to stay withhim. So I intend to come back. He iscoming in March. I plan to stay foranother year and then I want to travelin Europe, a bit. And then I will decideif I stay here with my daughters or if Igo back to Brazil. If they go back? Idon’t know.”

The fact that for woman there weremany positive sides to working in theregion did not mean that they did notalso experience major problems, in



attempting to reconcile work with theirfamily life. Women with children, inparticular, found that the hours theyhad to work had created difficulties inarranging childcare. Often the onlywork that was available to them waswork in ‘unsocial’ shifts and this was a cause of depression because they did not have time to spend with their children. For others, childcareresponsibilities limited the type of work they could obtain:

“Well, I don’t know how to say it. I feelrather depressed about my current jobsituation, because I can't get a regularjob, and haven't got a professionalqualification that would help me get abetter job. Given the situation oflooking after children, I can’t start afull-time job at the moment and thiswill last for a long time. Even when myson goes to school, I still can’t workfull-time. I am not saying I ampessimistic about the prospects, norcan I say I am optimistic about it.”

The issue of childcare is an importantone of which account needs to be takenin any assessment of the position ofmigrant workers. Primarily womenmigrants are detrimentally affected bythe lack of suitable childcare as theystill bear most of the family caringresponsibilities, in addition to going outto work. Without access to extendedfamily members to offer support and

often also in the absence of friends andneighbours, they have to rely onstrangers to look after their children.For those doing shift work this posesthe additional problem of a lack ofsuitable nursery places and unqualifiedchildminders.

7.2 Aspirations and ambitions

A high proportion of the migrantworkers interviewed did not aspire toremain indefinitely in the UK, althoughthose with children who lived with themwere more likely to view their move tothe UK as a permanent one Additionally,as was noted in the report, KnowledgeMigrants155, skilled migrants were morelikely to decide to extend their stay. Ourinterviews suggest that while somemigrants had come to settle, otherswere planning to live in Britain just fora while but had other long-term plansor dreams. Many of the migrantworkers interviewed had quite carefullyworked out plans for the future, as thefollowing two cases demonstrate:

“I only plan to stay here for 10 years.I’m 32 at the moment. When I reach 42I want to go back home and I don’tcare to pay for a pension – I can die in15 years and there goes the pension. Ishould be allowed the option ofworking tax free with no pension. Ididn’t come here to live and die inEngland.”

155 NOP Business, Institute for Employment Studies (IES) (2002) Knowledge Migrants, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Home Office: London



“I see my future prospects inqualifying as an accountant. In sixmonths’ time I will be studying inBulgaria. In two years time I hope tobe back in Bulgaria, with my husband,in our own home, close to my parentsand working as an accountant.Hopefully Bulgaria will soon be part ofthe EU and accountants will makemore money. It is possible I will dosome further study in England andwork in the western EU countries.”

Self-employment, either in the UK orback home, was the aspiration of anumber of those interviewed,emphasising that they had a strongentrepreneurial streak. The most likelyform of self-employment that theyaspired to was to open a restaurant,café or bar. As generations of previousmigrants to the UK (Italian, Chinese,Indian) have found, this can be a routeinto successful self-employment. Therecent arrival of Portuguese cafés andRussian shops within the region, pointsto a developing and successfulentrepreneurial grouping within thenew migrant community. However, self-employment is not necessarily an easyoption. Those with such aspirationsoften encountered barriers to therealisation of their plans, as thefollowing demonstrates:

“One thing I would like to do would beto work on my own. The only way I can

achieve this in England is to have arestaurant. I already have a place inmind, but I need credit. I have beenasking the banks, but my bank doesn’tlend money for business. In Portugal itwould be much easier to borrowmoney for business than to getpersonal credit to buy a car, forinstance. Here is different, thepreference is for personal creditinstead of business. I have tried somebanks, but it is difficult. The last one Iapplied didn’t say no, but sent mesome application forms, but thequestions in the form refer to asituation of people who already have abusiness and want to open an accountfor such a business.”

Self-employment was even consideredas a better option for those who hadrelatively ‘good’ jobs in the UK. One ofthose interviewed, who was beingtrained in the NHS as a nurse, wasconsidering the option of creating hisown company, importing wines fromPortugal.

For others, their work in the region wasjust a stepping stone, to a better lifesomewhere else, either in their countryof origin, with one person describinghis ambitions as to “earn money, thefastest way possible and move toBrazil” while another aimed to move onto warmer climes, ”In two years I willlive in the USA. Where lives my sister.



California. It’s warm.” Another personnoted, “I just want to save some money,travel, go to my boyfriend, othercountries.” Employment in the regionwas also described as “like a port ofentry” for future plans. Several of themigrants we interviewed had plans tomove on: to Dubai, to Brazil, to Italy,Germany and Libya, while for onePolish worker Sweden was a possiblefuture move, given its proximity toPoland.

Not all experiences of working in theregion were viewed positively. Some ofthose interviewed talked of returningearlier than planned, mainly due to thedismal state they found themselves in.They spoke of being overwhelmed bythe high cost of living or by theirregularity of their employment, asituation which left them with expensesbut few earnings to meet them, makingit impossible to send money backhome, despite that having been amotivation for coming to the UK. Insome cases their currentcircumstances were almost toodepressing to enable them to see a wayout. One Portuguese person’sdescription of her current lifeencapsulates the predicament of manyof those interviewed:

“I also write poetry. I always kept ajournal, since I was a child. But inEngland, I lost my inspiration for

writing poetry. This country doesn’tgive me inspiration. I never wroteanymore.”

It was asylum seekers andundocumented workers who expressedthe greatest uncertainty about theirfuture and could therefore not permitthemselves aspirations for a better life.For those migrants who came withoutpermission to work and for those whoclaimed asylum in Britain theirmotivations for being in the UK differedand their options were more limited, atleast until their application for refugeestatus had been granted. One describedthe possibility of life without the grantof refugee status as “life without afuture.” Chinese migrant workerswithout documents also experiencedgreat difficulty, trapped in a limited jobmarket and open to exploitation due tolack of knowledge of English and theirinability to consider the option of areturn home:

“In England we can only work inChinese restaurants. We can’t work inthe local factory because we can’tspeak English so can’t communicatewith others….. It is impossible for us togo back to China without a passport,and once you are back, you can’t comeagain.”



With economic gain being such a driving force behind international migration to theEast of England, levels of pay and hours worked are decisive factors to bring thisabout – this is explored in the following chapter.


1 Migrants’ motivations for coming to the UK and to the East of England included: unemployment in their country of origin; a desire for new experiences, particularly among young and single migrants; family-related reasons, either because other family members were already living in the region or because migration was viewed as the only way of providing for dependants left behind.

2 A desire to improve English, because of its global usage as a language or as a stepping stone to continued migration into other English-speaking countries, such as the USA; and historic reasons related to Britain’s colonial history.

3 For some women the opportunity to work in the UK could be liberating, by extending their experiences beyond the narrow confines of their households. However, for those with children there were great difficulties, in attempting to combine work with childcare responsibilities, particularly because the work available was often on the least attractive shifts.

4 A high proportion of the migrants surveyed did not plan to stay indefinitely in the UK. Among those who did intend to stay a number aspired to self-employment.

5 Importantly, the research shows that there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ or stereotype of a migrant worker. Individuals have many different motivations for moving to find work and often these reasons are complex and multi-faceted.

139THE ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF MIGRANT WORKER EMPLOYMENT


As Haque noted156 migrant workersgenerally fare worse in the labourmarket than UK born workers,experiencing higher levels ofunemployment and greater likelihood ofworking below their skill level. Racealso plays an important role and Haqueshows that those whose origins are inthe developed industrialised areas ofthe world (the USA, Canada andAustralia, for example) fareconsiderably better than those whocome from the developing areas of theworld, regardless of individualqualifications.

For this research most of the migrantworkers interviewed were in paidemployment at the time of theinterview. However, as we noted inChapter 6, many were workingconsiderably below their skill level (seetable 6.2).

While the sample of those intervieweddemonstrated no direct relationshipbetween gender, nationality or age andthe skill levels migrants held or thelevel of ambition they brought withthem, there was some evidence ofparticular national groups beingclustered around particular sectors ofemployment. Although this may be no

more than a generalisation, migrantworkers in the agricultural sector weremost likely to have come from EasternEurope under the Seasonal AgriculturalWorkers’ scheme (SAWS) and were ingeneral highly qualified. Some wouldhave studied at agricultural college(and tended to remain in the regionlonger) others would have had a mixedprofessional background. One farmerinterviewed said that he had employedlawyers, doctors and engineers asseasonal workers under SAWS. Thisemployer described the migrantworkforce as “good reliable labour”that is “very motivated to work.”

Eastern European workers were alsoworking in the construction and foodsectors and again sometimes workingbelow their skill level. A union officialorganising in the food-manufacturingsector knew of at least one migrantUkrainian worker who was a doctor byprofession. Albanian workers present inthe region were mainly skilled manualworkers, like plumbers, carpenters andelectricians.

The educational background of thePortuguese workers was more varied,with those coming from the North ofPortugal being generally less well

This chapter explores in more detail the sectors within which newmigrants are employed in the region.

The economic geography ofmigrant worker employment

8

156 Haque, R (2002) Migrants in the UK: a descriptive analysis of their characteristics and labour market performance, Department for Work and Pensions, London p31

THE ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF MIGRANT WORKER EMPLOYMENT


educated than those from Lisbon orother parts of the country. Migrantsfrom Portugal seemed to be clusteredin the Thetford and King’s Lynn areas,mainly working in the food factories.Not all those working in such semi-skilled jobs were low skilled. Highlevels of unemployment in Portugal hadforced even those with high skills toleave in search of employment.Portuguese workers who had foundwork in the factories came from arange of backgrounds with some of theyoung ones having come from towns orcities in Portugal with good levels ofeducation while others came from ruralparts.

South African workers, who were foundworking in the private care industry andhotels, were skilled workers, althoughemployed in unskilled work. TheFilipino and Indian workers who wereinterviewed and who worked in the NHSor private health care sector were allqualified nurses, although in manycases they were working belowqualification. Although there wasevidence of some promotion beginningto occur, the majority were still to befound in the lower grades. There wasalso some evidence (obtained ininterviews with workers from theCitizens Advice Bureau) of Mauritiannurses working as care assistants inprivate nursing homes. This wassubstantiated when highly qualified

nurses from India, also working in CareHomes, were interviewed.

Our research therefore suggests thatthere are significant numbers ofinternationally qualified migrant nurseswho are commonly working in CareHomes, where they are employed notas nurses but as health care assistants,performing additional non-nursingduties and working long hours at lowpay. One reason for this under-utilisation of qualified workers is thatfor an internationally qualified nurse tohave her or his qualificationsrecognised, the appropriate documentsneed to be submitted to the Nursingand Midwifery Council; the applicanthas to achieve a score of 6.5 in theILELT language test; and the Councilthen advises the applicant on thelength of ‘supervised practice’ requiredbefore they can be considered forregistration as fully qualified nurses inBritain. This is a lengthy process,suffering from delays not just inobtaining the right documents andreferences from the home countries,but also due to a shortage of‘supervision placements’. This leads toa situation, highlighted in the followingcase, of a very well qualified nursecouple from Romania currently workingon a two-year contract in a private CareHome in the region. The female hadbeen a paediatric nurse, her husband a hospital laboratory technician:



[Female] “Yes, I'm a nurse. I worked28 years in a hospital. In paediatrics,because I am a paediatric nurse. I havea diploma as a paediatric nurse. And Ihad worked for 10 years in Libya in apremature [babies] unit.” [Male] ”I ama laboratory technician. I spent eightyears [working on a] computer forblood tests. And I [was] in Libya [for]the same 10 years, working in a verybig hospital for kidney transfers. Buthere, you know, here our diplomas arenot recognised.”

The employers’ survey was targeted onthose sectors which the desk-basedresearch had indicated employedsubstantial numbers of migrantworkers. In general migrants withinthese sectors were employed in lowskilled and low paid jobs, including foodproduction, processing and packaging,cleaning, manufacturing, hotels andcatering. The survey also covered thehealth sector where migrant workersperformed high skilled work, as well aslow skilled work and where the sectorincreasingly relies on migrant labour.One of the migrant workers fromPortugal interviewed, who was trainingto be a mental health nurse in the NHS,noted:

“If you go to a general hospital inHarlow or London you will probablysee two white or two English doctors,all the rest [will be] foreigners fromPakistan, India, South Africa,

wherever,…. especially from SouthAfrica and Zimbabwe…. they are black.Some Caribbean as well fromBarbados, but mainly it’s from Africa. Ican tell you; in my hospital (maincounty hospital) I am the onlyEuropean. All the rest …even my boss,who is the general manager, she’sfrom Malaysia. It’s quite funny becausebeing in England, I look around, andI’m the only white in here.”

Together with the responses from theemployers’ survey, the interview dataconfirmed that the majority of migrantworkers in the region were working in arelatively small number of sectors suchas agriculture, horticulture, food andother factory work, the health caresector, hotels and tourism andsupermarkets. Our interviews suggestthat the 39 of the 52 migrant workerswho were employed directly have somesort of job security which is unknown toworkers employed by agencies who canfind themselves for weeks without anywork. Self-employment amongmigrants was still low with only oneinterviewee running his own business.

The researchers acknowledge that theregion is also host to a substantialnumber of highly skilled migrants/overseas workers in the region,working mainly in the University, IT andScience-based sectors. In general thisgroup is more likely to be working at itsskill level and indeed may have the



advantage of generous employmentpackages as an encouragement tocome to the region. Our focus has beenmore on those who are working inlower to medium-skilled jobs, becausethey were more likely to be over-skilledfor the work they were doing. Thisallowed the researchers to focus onuncovering the skills that migrantscould bring to the region, beyond thosethey were already offering.

The main sectors of employment formigrant workers in the East of Englandare covered in this chapter, they are:agriculture and horticulture (seesection 8.1); manufacturing, foodprocessing and packaging, includingretail (see section 8.2); the health care sector (see section 8.3); theconstruction industry (see section 8.4);hotels and catering (see section 8.5);the Universities and IT sectors (seesection 8.6). There are also smallpockets of migrant workers in someother sectors (see section 8.7).

We describe the work that they do,indicate where they are located, andmake an overall assessment of theirnumbers, based mainly on evidencefrom four sources:

• interviews with key respondents• the employers’ postal survey• the trade union postal survey• the interviews with the migrant

workers who were often able to provide information on the number of migrant workers either within their own workplace or in other workplaces known to them.

The tables in this chapter demonstratejust how international the migrantworkforce in the region has become.Every continent is represented.

Based on these sources of information,the likely number of migrant workers inthe region, is estimated at between50,000 and 80,000 workers, split amongthe employment sectors in thefollowing way:



8.1 Agriculture and horticulture

The survey data showed that the largestnumber of migrant workers employedin agriculture and horticulture were to be found in North West Norfolk,Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. There are large pockets located around Ely,Wisbech and King’s Lynn, with smallernumbers in and around Peterborough,Thetford and Ipswich.

The employer survey shows that thethree largest employers of migrantworkers who responded to theemployer survey, employing 100-200,500 and 850 migrants, were based in

Cambridgeshire (Ely and Wisbech). Allthree employers employ an equalnumber of seasonal migrant workersduring peak times. These workersoriginate from a wide range ofEuropean and Eastern Europeancountries, but also from some Africancountries, particularly South Africa. Inmany cases the same workers returnand they stay between 12-24 weeks inthe East of England. Two of theemployers used SAWS, but also HolidayWorking Visas to recruit their workers.The workers were paid weekly either incash (one employer) or into their bankaccounts (two employers assistedworkers in setting up bank accounts).

The next sections examine each sector in more detail.

Table 8.1 Estimates of numbers of migrant workers by employment sector (Nov 2004-April 2005)

Agriculture/Horticulture

Food processing

Health Care

Construction

Supermarkets

Hotels (280 in the region)

Restaurants

Other, including highly skilled

Sector Migrant workers (see sections below for details)

25,000

20,000 - 30,000

2,000 - 5,000 (including 1,300 doctors)

10,000

unknown

1,000

500 - 1,000

unknown



It appears that many horticulturalfarms are now employing around half a dozen migrant workers throughoutthe year, with 20 or more taken onadditionally during the summermonths. Yet, as the employer surveydata has shown there are also somevery large employers of agriculturalworkers, employing close to a thousandworkers all year round with an equalnumber added during peak season.

The migrant workforce in agricultureand horticulture is predominantlyEastern European with a smallernumber of Portuguese and othernationalities, mainly working in thepack houses that pack agriculturalproducts for the market. Workers fromEastern Europe have been coming towork in the region in large numbers for

around six years, as evidenced by thesharp increase in the numbers fromEastern Europe coming under theSAWS scheme, which tripled in numberbetween 1996 and 2002. Most of thosewho come to work are well educatedwith a high number being collegegraduates or postgraduates. In generalthey stay for the season (six or sevenmonths) and may return the followingseason. Indeed some return overseveral years. Their motivations forcoming may be due to lack of jobopportunities in their own country or tosupplement their income. Even if theyhave work at their own professionalskill level at home, their earnings frommigrant labour can form a substantialpart of their overall income. For manythe main aim is to improve theirEnglish. The existence of this pool of

Below we disaggregate their number, by area of the region and country of origin.

Table 8.2 Examples of migrant workers in agriculture/horticulture

Ely

Wisbech

King’s Lynn

Peterborough

Ipswich

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Portugal and Eastern Europe

Portugal and Eastern Europe

Portugal and Eastern Europe,mainly Poland

3,000 & equal number in peak season

several hundred and equal numbers again during peak season

2,000

10,000-16,000

2,000



migrant labour is essential for anindustry that has to be able to respondto peaks and troughs of work.

Poland, as the most populous countryin Eastern Europe, provides a highpercentage of those working in thesector. Out of a total of 19,372 workerswho came to Britain under the SAWS in2002, nearly 5,000 were from Poland,4,000 from the Ukraine, 2,250 fromBulgaria and about 1,000 each fromRussia and Latvia157. Since 1 May 2004Polish workers no longer need to comeunder SAWS.

Our research suggests that theseworkers have been reasonably wellreceived by the local host communities.The fact that they are educated to ahigh level (graduates and postgraduates) has contributed to anenriched experience for the UK workerswho work alongside them. Employerswho had used SAWS were positiveabout it and were pleased with thecontribution migrants from EasternEuropean countries were making totheir agricultural or horticulturalfarms. Key informants confirmed therigor of the selection process of theworkers who had applied to participatein the scheme. The stringentrecruitment process, taking place in theworkers’ countries of origin, ensuresthat workers who join the scheme donot come to the UK under false

pretences and that they hold a valid andproper contract.

Their primary reason for coming toBritain is economic, with many willingto work long hours in order to earn asmuch as possible during their timehere. Having established their linkswith the region there are potentialfuture opportunities for exchanges ofskills and trade, facilitating economicbenefits for both the sending andreceiving countries. Reports from keyinformants and from the workersthemselves point to some individualssetting up import-export businesses.Additionally the presence of Russianshops, Portuguese Cafés, Polishcommunity centres, Chinese churchesand so forth is a confirmation of thisprocess.

8.2 Manufacturing and food processing and packing, including retail

The sector employing the highestnumber of migrants is themanufacturing and food processingsector, including packing, foodprocessing, sandwich production,flower processing and others. Ourestimates, again based on our fourmain sources of information, suggestthat the sector employs anywherebetween 20,000 and 30,000 migrantworkers.

157 Martin (2005) “Merchants of labour: agents of the evolving migration infrastructure” Geneva: International Institute for Labour Studies.



There were four respondents to theemployer survey from the foodprocessing sector who declared thatthey were employing migrant workers,however their numbers are relativelysmall: ranging between 5 and 50, eventhough two were employing a totalnumber of 200-500 workers. Theworkers have global origins withPortugal, Poland, new EU states andthe Ukraine being named as countriesof origin. The employers stated thatthey did not know how long theirworkers were planning to stay inEngland, as these were less seasonaland recruited in the UK through JobCentres and direct recruitmentcampaigns. Payment arrangementsvaried from monthly to weekly into theworkers’ bank account and one employer

offered help with setting these up. Theother two respondents did not specifypayment arrangements.

This work is mainly factory-based, and the factories can be found all over the East of England. Many of the Portuguese migrants interviewedwere working in such factories inHertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk,where Portuguese communities havedeveloped in towns like Thetford, GreatYarmouth and Lowestoft. In Ipswich thepredominant factory work is in thechicken and red meat companies in thearea. Peterborough, which is not only acentre for migrant workers but also anasylum dispersal centre, is anotherbase for Portuguese and other migrantgroups of factory workers.



8.3 The health care sector

Over the whole of the region the health care sector, both NHS and private, relies heavily on theemployment of migrant nurses andmigrant health care assistants.

Six responses to the employer surveywere received from employersrepresenting the health care sector and

out of these, one NHS Trust, employing200-500 workers did not give anydetails of how many of these weremigrants. The respondent did providethe nationality of their migrants asIndian, they were recruited through e-recruitment and intended to stay 2-5years. The other respondents statedthat the number of migrants theyemployed were: 1-5: three respondents;5-10: one respondent and 50-100: one

Table 8.3 Examples of migrant workers in food processing

37 different countries, mainly Portugal, Eastern Europe

N/k

N/k

Eastern Europe, Balkans

Portugal, Eastern Europe, mainly Poland, Balkans, India

India, Eastern Europe, China, Bulgaria, Australia

Portugal, Brazil, Eastern Europe, South Africa

Eastern Europe, Africa, China, Iran

N/k

Romania, Portugal, Iraq

Portugal, Poland

From all parts of the globe

several thousands

several hundreds

several hundreds

400-several thousands

several hundreds

400-500

2,000,

dozens

dozens

150

12,000

commonly half a dozen or more mainlyas cleaners

Luton

Dunstable

Norwich

Peterborough

Wisbech

Friday Bridge

King’s Lynn

Chelmsford

Bury St Edmunds

Lowestoft

Great Yarmouth

Supermarkets throughout the region



respondent. The origins of these weregiven as Indian, African, particularlyKenya, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe,the Philippines and Spain. They allwork in shifts and were recruited eitherdirectly from their countries of origin orthrough advertising in the UK. Onlythree employers state that they werehelping overseas qualified nurses toadapt their qualifications to Britishrecognised ones. Payment was monthlyand it was not reported that

accommodation was tied to the job.

Some parts of the region, such asCambridgeshire, Bedfordshire andHertfordshire, have seen smallnumbers of Caribbean nurses comingto work from the 1960s onwards.However, the employment of migrantnurses is a phenomenon that hassharply risen over the last six years,particularly in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Table 8.4 Examples of migrant workers in health care

India

N/k

Zimbabwe, South Africa, India, Philippines

India

India

India, China, Bulgaria, Australia

N/k

South Africa

India

Romania, Poland, Philippines, South Africa

Spain, Portugal and India

10-15

20-100

700-1000

60

N/A

10-15

N/A

10-15

10-15

10-15

50-100

Huntingdon, Care Homes

Chelmsford, NHS

Norwich, NHS and Care Homes

Great Yarmouth, NHS

Hemel Hempstead

Wisbech, Care Homes

Cambridge

Stowmarket, Care Agency

Ipswich, Care Home

Lowestoft, Care Home

Gorleston, NHS



From our research it is possible toconclude that most Care Homes in theregion will be employing anywherebetween half a dozen to two dozenmigrants as health care assistants. Inthe case of NHS hospitals, most havebeen recruiting migrant nurses directlyfrom their countries of origin. Althoughthe figures vary by NHS Trust, thelarger hospitals are likely to beemploying anything up to severalhundred internationally qualified nursesdepending on the size of the hospital.

It is estimated that migrant nurses nowmake up to around a third of thenursing staff in the two main hospitalsin Norfolk and Suffolk that, according tokey respondents, are each employingupwards of 600-700 internationallyqualified nurses. A large number ofthese workers were recruited originallyfrom the Philippines, but that source oflabour is now drying up and thehospitals have had to cast their netswider and have turned to therecruitment of nurses from the Indiansub continent. As will be noted from thetable 8.4, nurses from India have beenrecruited to work in a number of NHSTrusts throughout the region. GreatYarmouth NHS Trust has recruiteddirectly from India, but a key informantat the hospital said that the Trust wasaware of a rising number of qualifiednurses from India working in CareHomes in and around Great Yarmouth.The Trusts have also been recruiting

nurses from other EU States, likeSpain, but these recruits have tendednot to stay long and in general havenow returned to their home country orhave moved on to a third country.Nurses from Australia and NewZealand were generally viewed asworking in UK hospitals as a way offinancing their travels and, for thisreason also tended not to stay for long.

One union official interviewed also saidthat there were pockets of Chinese andSouth American workers in the privatehealth care sector, although theirnumbers were small. There were alsoindications that South African non-medical graduates, on working holidaymaker schemes, were working as careassistants in private care homes. We are also aware of some qualifiednurses from Mauritius similarlyworking in private nursing homes. They have mainly been recruitedthrough agencies. Some qualifiednurses working in private Care Homeshave been given the promise of beingable to participate in adaptationcourses, to have their qualificationsrecognised so that they can eventuallywork as qualified nurses and progressin their careers.



In addition to the migrant nurses thereare also medical doctors, researchersand lecturers based at universities andresearch institutes. According to a keyinformant from the Eastern Deanery

there are currently 1,333 migrant orimmigrant doctors in the East ofEngland who have graduated overseas.

Bharti decided to come to the UK because she believed that the opportunities innursing were better as was the salary. She was recruited through an agency and had topay £2,500 for what she was told was the cost of a work permit. The permit allows herto work for four years. She works in a care home doing a 58-60 hour week, withoutovertime pay. She is being paid as a care assistant, not a nurse. She knows that locallybased nurses get an overtime premium and a much higher hourly rate of pay. She ispaid a little above the national minimum - £5.36 an hour.

The job involves getting the patients up in the morning, feeding and washing them,taking them to the bathroom, cleaning their rooms, washing their clothes. She findsthat some aspects of the work offend her dignity and that she is not providing anymedical care at all despite her qualifications.

Bharti speaks Hindi, Tamil and Malay as well as English. She finished her secondaryschooling in India and did a two-year college course and then a laboratory vaccinationcourse. After that she trained as a nurse and had worked in that profession for foursyears in India.

In the UK she has tried to get on an adaptation course to be registered as a nurse inEngland. Bharti says that she has written to nearly 50 hospitals who respond saying “Iam sorry, we are not running any adaptations.” Some have rejected her because theyonly offer places to individuals living in parts of London. Even when hospitals in theregion do run adaptation courses, according to Bharti they only recruit new arrivalswho are coming to the UK directly through the agencies. Bharti is in a ‘no win’ position.Working in a care home she cannot get on to an adaptation course that would allow herto practice as a nurse, leaving her feeling very frustrated about her personal andprofessional future.

Female migrant worker from India, early thirties, married, husband joined herin the UK recently, arrived in the East of England about one year ago:



Migrant workers in the health caresector are also to be found outside ofthe NHS and the traditional privatehealth care sector. As the result of therecent interest in alternative medicalpractices, many larger towns in theregion, for example, Cambridge andNorwich have Chinese medicalpractices, dispensing Chinese medicalremedies. These practices cater bothfor the host communities and also forChinese migrant workers who, in theirinterviews with the researchers, usuallyindicated that if they had medicalproblems they would visit a Chinesepractitioner, rather than seek treatmentfrom the NHS. These practices areusually served by medical practitionersdirectly recruited from China.

Our estimates are that the sector employssomewhere between 2,000 and 5,000migrant workers, excluding doctors.

8.4 Construction

The available evidence suggests thatthere are large numbers of migrantworkers within the constructionindustry. A key respondent from aKosovan/Albanian organisation told

researchers that as many as ‘10,000Albanians’ were working in the regionand that around 80 per cent worked inthe construction sector. We were alsotold that the new shopping centre inNorwich has been recruiting migrantworkers in large numbers, due to thelack of a local skilled workforce. Theconstruction union UCATT also toldresearchers of dozens of migrantbuilding workers being employed onmajor building projects in Colchesterand in Ipswich, as well as in Norwich.However, our fieldworkers were unableto gain access to these particular sitesto interview the migrant workersthemselves.

The fact that there are high levels of‘self-employment’ within the sectormeans that there are no statistics forthe exact numbers of workersemployed on construction sites, letalone information on the number ofmigrant workers employed within thesector and the region. Much of theevidence is therefore anecdotal. Forinstance a key informant mentionedthat some migrants were sleepingrough on the construction site and thusevading immigration controls.

Table 8.5 Examples of migrant workers in construction

Ethiopia, Moldova, Lithuania, India

N/A

from many countries

dozens

dozens

N/A

Norwich

Colchester

Peterborough



A draft DTI report158 on workforcemobility in the construction sector in the UK, due to be published later this year, notes that the scale ofdevelopment in the East of England has resulted in the creation of majorconstruction sites in the region. Inrelation to migrant workers, inparticular, it notes that one in tenworkers in the sector were born outsidethe UK. The report notes a number offactors about the constructionworkforce generally:

• more than a third of construction workers are self-employed, with the proportions varying by occupation and age, with a higher proportion of younger workers being self-employed

• agencies are used for general labouring

• only a small proportion of constructionworkers are from black and minority ethnic communities (3 per cent)

• two-thirds of the construction workforce consists of skilled workers.

The fact that so many constructionworkers are self-employed has made itdifficult for trade unions to organisewithin the sector. It also means thatemployment protection rights are oftenavoided and that there is considerablescope for the evasion of tax andnational insurance contributions.

Based on the evidence we haveobtained, our best estimate is that inthe region there are some 10,000migrants working within the sector, butthe margin of error here is quite highwith +/- 50 per cent.

8.5 Hotels, tourism and catering

The highest number of responses tothe employer survey, 13 in total, wasreceived from employers in the Hoteland Tourism sector. Even though thesehotels were not employing highnumbers of migrants, the trend stillindicates that migrant employment iscommon even in small hotels and manyrely on their contributions.

The numbers of migrants employed bythe respondents varies from 1-5: fiverespondents; 5-10: two respondentsand 10-20: two respondents. Fourrespondents did not provide thenumber of migrant workers theyemployed.

Hotel workers originated from all overthe world. The interview datasupplements this and it can beconcluded that hotel workers fromWestern Europe or South Africa aremore likely to be given managementresponsibilities whereas workers fromEastern Europe or India will be found incleaning. Not many respondents

158 IFF Research Ltd with the University of Warwick (2005) Workforce Mobility and Skills in the UK Construction Sector, Draft research report prepared for Construction Skills: Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and ECITB, February 2005



specified how they recruited migrants,those who did mentioned directrecruitment, a university website, JobCentres and their head offices. Most ofthe migrant workers tended to staybetween 6 months and 1 year (responsegiven by eight employers). With oneexception they were all working shifts.Some were unskilled while others wereover-skilled for the job they were doing.All workers were paid directly eithermonthly or weekly and either in cash orinto their bank account. Nine employersoffered help with setting up bankaccounts. A different selection of nineemployers stated that accommodationwas offered with the job and theinterviews showed that it was commonfor hotel staff to live in a hotel room onthe premises.

This suggests that most hotels areprobably employing some migrantworkers usually, based on theinformation provided by the employers,to do the cleaning and kitchen workand sometimes to wait on customers.Based on this information and ondiscussions with key respondents andwith migrant workers themselves, wetentatively conclude that the size of themigrant worker population within thesector and the region is somewherearound 1000 workers. There are around300 hotels in the region and the tablebelow shows the data upon which thisestimate is based.



Within the restaurant section of thesector migrants were more likely to befound working in ‘ethnic’ restaurants,such as Chinese and Indianrestaurants. Some of the Chinesemigrants interviewed were working inChinese restaurants and living on thepremises. With a high number ofChinese migrants being undocumented

and therefore difficult to access, anyconclusions about their overall numberwould have to be made with greatcaution, but our enquiries suggest thatmost of the Chinese restaurants in theregion will be employing at least onerecent migrant.

Table 8.6 Examples of migrant workers in hotels & tourism

France, Spain, Estonia, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia

Poland, India

Poland, Burundi, Malaysia

Portugal, France, Slovakia, Poland, South Africa

Portugal, Poland, Vietnam

Poland, Latvia

Poland, India, South Africa

Spain, Poland and Equador

Poland, India, South Africa, Canada

Latvia, Czech Republic

Slovakia, Zimbabwe

France, Spain, Italy, Moldova, Ukraine, South Africa

Czech Republic

EU States, Lithuania, India

EU States, Lithuania, India

20

N/A

N/A

20

5-10 at each of six hotels

5

30

30

20

5

5

N/A

5

5

5

Welwyn

West Hartfield

Watford

Bishop Stortford

Stansted

Luton

Cambridge

Whittlesford

Bar Hill

Harlow

Westcliffe

Ipswich

King’s Lynn

Thetford

Norwich



A key informant reported that 50migrants are employed in food outletsat Stansted Airport. Thus the fast foodindustry is a further niche employer ofmigrants. We tentatively estimate thenumber of migrants in the restaurantsector to be between 500-1,000.

8.6 The university, professional and IT sectors

In addition to the substantial numbersof migrants working in sectors wherethe work is predominantly low andsemi-skilled, there are also very highlyskilled migrants working at theuniversities (as researchers andlecturers) and in the NHS as doctorsand in Information Technology (IT). Wehave not been able to put numbers tothis group of professional and highlyskilled workers. Many are linked to theresearch and further educationinstitutions in the East of England.

At this level of highly skilled migrationthere is a more balanced in and outflowof people with specialised skills. Britishexperts work in other countries andlikewise overseas workers will come toBritain for a while to work on specificprojects or on fixed-term exchangeprogrammes.

For over 30 years the NHS has relied ondoctors from the Indian sub-continentto make up shortfalls and fillundesirable posts in rural communitiesor poor urban areas. The fact that there

are 1,333 doctors in the East of Englandwho have graduated overseas confirmsthat this trend continues.

The government’s programme forhighly skilled migrants emphasises thatthis group of workers is welcome and,in general, they have not experiencedthe same negative press as those whocome with fewer skills or are preparedto work in low skilled jobs despite beingover-skilled.

8.7 Other regional employers

Ports and docks

Up until now there have been fewmigrant workers employed in the portsof the East of England. However, it wasreported that one employer in Harwichintended to bring in the first group ofPolish dockworkers. The individualswere to be recruited in Poland throughan agency that would be responsible fortheir transport to the UK andaccommodation while here. It wassuggested that this group would consistof around 30 workers. There may alsobe some Portuguese migrants workingin the ports and docks. They arerecruited through agencies that operateout of Portugal but it has beenextremely difficult to get any specificconfirmation of the number of migrantsworking in the docks. It can beconcluded that their number isrelatively small.



The fireworks industry

The Guardian newspaper recentlysuggested that some Chinese migrantswho used to pick cockles have moved to farms, domestic labour and into thefireworks industry159. Following aninterview with a key respondent withknowledge of the fireworks sector, we

investigated whether there werefactories employing Chinese workers in the region, but have been unable touncover any. Our information suggeststhat these factories are mainly basedoutside of the region, to the North inLincolnshire.

In the next chapter we look at how migrants access employment, both initially onarrival in the region and subsequently.


1 The research evidence suggests that particular national groups may cluster around specific sectors of employment and, therefore, may also begeographically clustered.

2 The majority of migrant workers in the region are working in a relatively small number of sectors.

3 The research suggests that there are between 50,000 and 80,000 migrantworkers within the region, with agriculture and food processing employing thelargest numbers, followed by construction.

159 The Guardian, “The gunpowder plot”, November 3, 2004

139ROUTES OF ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT


Through the interviews with themigrant workers themselves, with thekey respondents, with employers andtrade union officials, we have identifiedfour main routes of access toemployment for recent migrantworkers. These are through:

• employment agencies, either in the country of origin or in the UK

• gangmasters• individual searches for work• personal contacts and word of

mouth.

Some workers, the Portuguese inparticular, had also visited Job Centresseeking work. But as we note belowtheir experiences of the service were ingeneral not positive.

Some of those interviewed had come toBritain without any pre-existingcontacts while others told theresearchers that they had to paybetween a few hundred to thousands ofpounds to agencies, middle men or‘gangmasters’ for their travel to the UK.In some cases migrant workers had toborrow large sums of money in order tofinance their journey to England. Inmost, although not all cases, workersdid have the option of returning to their

country of origin or moving to anothercountry if things did not work out in theUK. In fact, as we have notedelsewhere, some had already beenmultiple migrants or it was part of theirfuture plan to go elsewhere, havingspent some time here.

Life while looking for work was themost difficult period for those who didnot have work on arrival. Whilesearching for work, some migrants hadrun short of money and had needed torely on the help and support of others.A key informant from the Red Cross inPeterborough reported that he hadrecently seen an increase in thenumber of unemployed migrants whowere destitute. One 44-year-old, who isnow working in a flower factory and at arestaurant, described these times:

“I was very good at coping withdifficulties. I ate whatever my friendoffered me. Sometimes I did somepart-time work in the restaurant,which also provided me some food toeat at the restaurant and to take home.In this way, I managed to survive.”

The employers responding to the postalsurvey indicated that they used variousdifferent routes to access migrant

This chapter explores migrant workers’ routes of access into employment.It shows how migrants get their first and subsequent jobs and theimportance of agencies and local contacts in accessing the jobs market.

Routes of access to employment9

ROUTES OF ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT


workers. Five of the 35 employers ofmigrant labour recruited migrantsdirectly from their countries of origin,12 used British based employmentagencies and one an agency based inthe migrants’ country of origin. Elevensaid that they had used other methodsof recruitment, such as directrecruitment within the UK, adverts inlocal papers, Job Centres orrecruitment through the company’shead office. Employers who hademployed migrant workers felt that itwas important to use respectable, wellknown agencies if recruiting throughagencies and to take steps to ensurethat workers’ documents were valid.Some employers also advisedrecruiting based on recommendationsfrom existing workers. They alsosuggested establishing links withreputable contacts in their country oforigin and making sure that those whowere coming to work had sufficientEnglish language to enable them tooperate effectively in the workplace.

Only three of the employers whoresponded had experience of recruitingthrough the migrant workeremployment schemes. Those who hadused the Seasonal Agricultural WorkingScheme (SAWS) commented veryfavourably on the scheme as a sourceof recruitment. Employers of migrantworkers reported that they receivedtheir information about the availabilityof migrant labour from the followingsources: DEFRA, DWP, recruitment

agencies, local government orgovernment websites, includingimmigration, DOH, Health Authoritiesand DTI. Five employers mentioned theHome Office. Others referred tosources of information representingtheir sector, such as the RCN (RoyalCollege of Nursing and Midwifery) orConcordia (an agency recruitingagricultural and horticultural workersin Eastern Europe).

9.1 Employment through agencies

Many of the migrant workersinterviewed had at least initiallyobtained work through agencies, eitherin their country of origin or throughagencies in the UK. This wasparticularly the case for workers withinthe agricultural sector. The mostfrequently mentioned agency wasConcordia which specialises in therecruitment of students to workthrough SAWS. In general those whohad come through Concordia and SAWShad no complaints about the work theywere offered or the conditions theyfound themselves in. This is mainlybecause the terms were clearlyexplained to them before they left homeand the scheme was well regulated.Additionally the types of worker whocome under SAWS, were mainly young,who are possibly more adaptable andwho recognised that the work they weredoing was just a temporary interlude intheir lives. One of those interviewed, a



26-year-old woman, who had applied toan agency for work before leaving homedescribed how she had obtained workin the region:

“I write for … Camp and they found uswork, because …Camp is like anagency for students. All the time I stayhere. It’s my 4th year. It’s a big camp.In the summer there are like 70different sites of work and they comehere work then they go back home tostudy again.”

However, for older or more experiencedworkers this kind of employment andthe conditions on offer were lessacceptable.

Even outside the SAWS scheme thereare responsible agencies who recruitmigrant workers to factory and otherforms of work. Employers, such as thePost Office use agencies in order tocover the need for extra staff duringpeak times, especially aroundChristmas. Other employers, such asAmazon regularly use agencies tosupply their staffing needs. Some of theNHS nurses we interviewed wererecruited through recruitment teamsfrom the hospitals themselves. Theseteams travel to countries with anavailable labour supply, to recruitworkers directly to the hospital trust.Most of the nurses recruited in this wayintended to stay in the UK for theforeseeable future and some were nowbeginning to bring their families over to

the UK. They were relatively young,mostly female and were employed in allsections of the NHS other thanpsychiatric care where only UK workerstended to be employed, due to the veryhigh levels of communication skillsrequired.

Some of the workers interviewed hadused the help of an agency to come toEngland and to obtain their first job.Subsequently they had changedemployers without reference to theagency. Others had relied on theagencies providing continuedemployment throughout differentseasons of the year. It seemedimportant for some of the workers topoint out to us that they were employedby an agency, not a gangmaster,probably due to the negative presscoverage that gangmasters havereceived.

However, while there are agencies withethical employment practices, ourresearch has also uncovered very poorpractices, with some agencies offeringwork at well below the NationalMinimum Wage level, while makingsignificant deductions from workers’pay for matters like transport to andfrom work (see also Chapter 9). Oneparticular practice among several ofthe agencies was to demand thepayment of fees from the workersbefore they are placed. This goes ondespite the practice being illegal, underthe Employment Agencies Act 1973.



Agencies of course do not guaranteework, and those relying on them oftenfound that no work was available. Oneworker interviewed, a highly educatedprofessional worker, spoke of how hewas still on the books of the agency buthad not been able to get a job throughthem. He said:

“Every day I go to the agencies – thereare more than 25. I go every day.”

The payment of fees

Reports from the interview sampleshowed that the practice of chargingfees for access to work was relativelycommon, although the level of chargesand agency practices varied greatly.Figures quoted to us ranged frombetween a few hundred pounds toseveral thousands of pounds. Onewoman from India, working in a CareHome, had paid £1,000 to the agencythat obtained work for her. Another hadpaid £3,000 and was told that thiswould also gain her access as a fullyqualified nurse in the UK. However, shewas still working as a care assistant ina Care Home at the time of theinterview with no immediate prospectsof work at her level of qualification.

Two Chinese workers had paid out200,000yuan (equalling £12,000), whichwas the equivalent of five to ten years’wages in China. A student from Polandwho was working in agriculture, had

paid about £250 the first time she cameto work in the region. The second timeshe had paid £100 because she hadcome through Concordia. A studentfrom Latvia complained:

“I paid £500 to come. The air ticketwas separate. Is really rough, peoplemake it a business. It is a lot of money,but you have no choice. I borrowedmoney from a lot of people. I paid itback all right.”

Another student from Poland had paid£300, while a 22-year-old male fromPoland, who had only been able to getfactory work at below the NationalMinimum Wage, had also paid £300. Hesaid that all of his friends had had topay cash to get a job. The meeting pointwas at Kings Cross station, 10 minutesbefore the train left for Peterborough.Someone he had never seen before (oragain) took his money and that of twofriends, who had also paid £300 each.

For workers from the Accession States,who since 1 May 2004 have the right towork in the UK, there is also arequirement to pay. Under the WorkerRegistration Scheme, Accession Stateworkers should pay a £50 fee to obtaina Worker Registration Certificate towork. Our research suggests that whilesome have applied for the certificate,many others have continued to workwithout one, mainly as the fee itself is adisincentive to apply. Delayed



registration has implications in termsof future entitlement to state benefitsas the qualifying periods for benefits,for example two years for Jobseekers’Allowance does not begin until the

worker is officially registered.

The following case study makes thedependency of some migrant workerson agency employment explicit:

Georg couldn’t find any work in Poland. He had left school at the age of 18 and hadwanted to go to university to study economics but didn’t have the necessary funds. Hecame to the UK looking for any kind of work and has worked on the land, inconstruction and in factory work.

He is currently working in a potato factory. He works a 60-hour week and got the jobthrough an agency. He earns as little as £4 an hour. Georg works long hours –10-12 ona night shift and everything that he earns, he spends on food and accommodation. Hebelieves that there is a lack of respect towards Accession State workers and thatEnglish supervisors are sometimes hostile to them. He is continually moved fromfactory to factory because he is working through the agency and only gets work on adaily basis. Georg has registered however he has still not been given a nationalinsurance number. He has tried to get work through the Job Centre but they tell himthat they cannot help him. This, he says, forces workers like him to go back to theagencies.

On his arrival in the UK he had lived in London for six days and then after paying a feewas sent to Peterborough to a job. At King’s Cross station he and other Polishcolleagues paid £300 to what he describes as the “Polish mafia” for access to work.

Georg has attended ESOL classes and can read a newspaper but does not speak muchEnglish. He lives in a shared four-bedroom house but says that sometimes there are asmany as 14 people living in the house. His rent is £30 to £35 a week for a share in aroom with two others.

Georg thinks that his life was better in Poland because he had family networkswhereas here he has no contacts at all leaving him feeling isolated. In Poland he alsohas a house and he was a trade union member.

Male migrant worker from Poland, 22 years old, single, no family in the UK,arrived in the East of England 7 months ago:



9.2 Employment through gangmasters

While some workers obtained theirwork through an agency and weredirectly employed, for others work wasonly available through gangmasters orother labour providers, who only offeredcasual work. Those whose employmentstatus was less secure relied on this asthe only means to work. One 44-year-old male worker worked in a packingcompany as a subcontracted worker,another worked in a fruit packingfactory, again working through a thirdparty. In these cases the gangmasterexercised ongoing control over wherethe individual worked and over whatthey were paid, as payment wentthrough the gangmaster to the worker.

Workers, whose situation was mostprecarious and who were most at themercy of unscrupulous gangmasters,were workers without documents orpermission to work. Their only sourceof earnings was obtained throughworking for gangmasters (within theChinese community referred to asSnakeheads). As was noted in Chapter2, there are reports of gangmasterskeeping up to 60 per cent of anindividual’s earnings. Although none ofthe migrant workers interviewedreported that this had happened tothem, it was also clear that they hadlittle knowledge of what thegangmaster had been paid for theirlabour and in some cases what

they received was less than theNational Minimum Wage.

9.3 Obtaining work directly

Many of the migrant workersinterviewed had obtained employmentthemselves, through making enquiriesat workplaces or through searches inthe local newspapers. In some casesthis had been borne out of theirfrustration and negative experienceswith work obtained through agencies.This comment, from a 32-year-old maleworker, was typical:

“At the end of the first week we realisedit was not the Eldorado they promisedand obviously you start looking for analternative. We bought papers; wewent to some employment agencies tofind another job and another house tolive. Basically that was it. As soon aswe got another job we just left. I didn’tgo to the agencies, some people did, Iwent directly to another residentialhome in the same town and luckily Igot a job within a week. Finding a job itwas very, very, easy.”

A 20-year-old woman had also got a jobherself by getting an application formand filling it in. Another workerdescribed how she just “asked around”until she got a job. Yet another, whowas working in several different jobs,very proudly explained how she hadobtained all her jobs:



“All by myself. Take the college job forexample, I read its catalogue and senta CV to them. I also found the job ofassistant examiner through theinternet. I sent them a CV, and theytook me.”

9.3.1 Through personal contacts

Workers often used personal contactsto get work, particularly after anegative experience of having used anagency. Although one couple hadoriginally obtained work throughcontacts in Portugal before they left, inmost cases jobs were found throughcontacts after arrival in the UK. Butthere were cases where, even thoughpersonal contacts had been used toobtain work, money had still exchangedhands. In one case a worker hadobtained work with the help of a friendto whom he had to pay £200:

“Just I found [work] from my friend. Hewas working there. And he brought methe application form. I filled it out. Istarted directly at the factory.”

The individuals affected, particularlywhere it was traditional withincommunities to acknowledgeassistance in this way, did notnecessarily view this type ofarrangement negatively.

9.4 Experiences of Job Centres

When accessing employment, Bloch’ssurvey of refugees in Britain indicatedthat only 54 per cent had usedJobCentre Plus160. Subsequently theHome Office developed a strategy forthe employment of refugees inBritain161, one aim being to address theissue of JobCentre Plus take up amongthese workers. This research showsthat the uptake of Job Centre servicesamong migrant workers is even lowerthan for refugees. Among those weinterviewed there was very littleawareness of any government servicesfor finding work, contributing to thereliance on agencies and gangmasters.Some of those interviewed had visitedJob Centres when looking for work;however we interviewed only oneperson who had successfully obtainedwork through having been to the JobCentre. Another person interviewed,who was generally positive about theJob Centres and had visited them oftenduring his first weeks in the UK, hadnot found work through them. He wasworking in a chicken factory but the jobhad been accessed through friends. Ingeneral, however, those that hadknowledge of Job Centres were not atall positive about their ability to findwork for new migrants. Often this wasdue to a lack of interpreter facilities,combined with inadequate knowledge,

160 Bloch, A. (2002) Refugees' opportunities and barriers in employment and training: pp1-146. Leeds: Department of Works and Pensions.

161 DWP (2005) Working to Rebuild Lives, a refugee employment strategy. London: Home Office, March 2005.



by Job Centre staff, of the status ofmigrant workers and their rights towork in the UK. One person said:

“I’ve been many times to the JobCentre, but if a person doesn’t speakEnglish, must work in factory.”

For example, Portuguese workers wereoften questioned as to whether theyindeed did have the right to work in theUK, despite Portugal having been amember of the European Union formore than 20 years. One noted:

“If you pick up the phone and ask forsome employment. All the time theyask for your name and yournationality, where you were born.When I tell them I am Portuguese, forpeople from outside England, all thetime the doors are closed to me.”

Only one employer, who employed a small number of migrants, hadexperience with EURES (JobCentrePlus162) describing it as an ‘enthusiastic’scheme, but not very effective.

162 DWP, JobCentre Plus (2004) http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/cms.asp?TextOnly=True&Page=/Home/Employers/AdvertisingaVacancy/EURES-AdvertisevacanciesinEurope


1 Migrant workers in the East of England have a range of routes to access work: a high proportion of research participants had, at least to begin with, accessed work through agencies or gangmasters.

2 Some of those interviewed had paid the equivalent of several years’ wages either to organise their passage to the UK, or to get access to work both abroad and in the UK where it is illegal to charge for finding work.

3 Personal contacts had played an important role in finding work, as these were often the first port of call for new arrivals.

4 Whilst JobCentre Plus are committed to high levels of customer services migrants workers experiences with Job Centres had mostly been disappointing.

In the next chapter we look at the core terms and conditions available to migrantworkers, chiefly their pay and hours of work.

139CORE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF WORK


10.1 Pay and hours of work

As might be anticipated, given the jobsthey are employed to do, many of theworkers interviewed complained of theconditions under which they wererequired to work. It was not just thatthe jobs were low skilled, but that paywas poor, working hours were long andwork often required long journeys andunreliable transport to get to theworkplace. Given the nature of some ofthe work, particularly for those inconstruction and in the packingfactories, work was often carried out inextremes of temperature. Tasks weremonotonous and there were few andhighly controlled break times, allmaking for a rigid working atmosphere.Of course for some, where this type ofwork was merely an interlude or wherethey saw it as an opportunity to acquirea sense of independence or economicgain, poor conditions could betolerated. However, particularly forthose migrant workers who hoped tostay in the UK for some time, poorconditions of work were morechallenging and difficult to tolerate.Some therefore had considered leavingthe UK.

In this section we focus on the pay that

migrant workers are earning, includingovertime pay and on their workinghours. Chapter 11 examines workingconditions more generally, includingworkplace harassment,accommodation and training.

10.1.1 Conditions relating to pay

According to one respondent,agricultural workers working underSAWS are earning around £5.50 to£6.50 an hour. Another said thatmigrant workers in his area of theregion (North West Norfolk) wereemployed on what he described as “UK rates of pay.” Although someagricultural workers were paid anhourly rate, some worked under a piecework scheme where they could makebetween £9 and £10 an hour. Someworkers who were able to do pieceworkexpressed a preference for it, as it gavethem a direct reward for their hardlabour. However, others found itdifficult to keep up with the pacerequired.

Our research shows that those workingwithin the NHS were being paid at NHSrates of pay; however, they were likelyto be working in lower graded jobs andwould therefore receive a relatively low

In this chapter we examine migrants’ general conditions of work. Wealso explore employer’s views of the contribution of migrant workers totheir businesses and to the region’s economy.

Core terms and conditions of work

10

CORE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF WORK


rate of pay. In the independent healthcare sector migrants frequently seemto be paid less than their Britishcolleagues and there was evidence ofthem not receiving bonuses for workingweekends or bank holidays.

Within manufacturing and foodproduction, in some areas of the region,labour shortages had driven ratesabove the National Minimum Wage(NMW), with rates varying between£6.50 and just over £7 an hour.However, not everywhere in the regionwas experiencing labour shortages.According to a key respondent workingin an advice centre in Peterborough,most migrant workers in factories inand about the city were being paid at orjust above the national minimum wage.A key respondent at the CambridgeCAB also suggested that migrantworkers in the town were being paid atjust the NMW.

Within the construction industry wewere told of cases of migrant workersdoing skilled work but being paid at theunskilled rate. Some of thoseinterviewed said that they were notearning as much as their Englishcolleagues for the same type of work,saying that they got “less for the samework.” We also came across cases ofworkers being employed throughagencies, being paid at less than theNMW and then being dismissed after acouple of weeks, with the agency

withholding their last week’s pay.

The sample reflects a range of pay formigrant workers, with the lowest paidearning just £4 per hour, well under theNMW. Factory workers working inpacking and food factories commonlyreported that they were earningbetween £4.85 and £5.50 per hour. Ifthey had supervisory responsibilities orwere working unsocial shifts, theyearned up to £6.50 an hour. One workerwas getting just the NMW (£4.85 anhour) although he had been earning£6.20 an hour for night shifts whileworking at the Royal Mail. But some,even if earning a low wage, pointed outthat this still represented more thanthey would have earned at home. Asone person from Portugal said:

“The average salary in Portugal, if youare doing a middle class job, it’ssomething like £400 a month. Well,you can make £400 a week here.”

In another case, of a worker earning£4.85 an hour, that rate of pay was stillmuch higher than wages in his homecountry where he had been earningabout £50 a month.

In most of the individual cases weresearched, migrant workers were paiddirectly by their employer, even wherethey had accessed employment throughan agency. The employers’ surveyconfirmed this to be the practice, with



only two employers stating that theypaid money through gangmasters or to an agency. However, given that themajority of workers we interviewedwere documented, it may be that thepractice of paying through a third partyis more prevalent but that thoseemployers who do this either did notrespond to the survey or did not admitto the practice.

Most of the workers whom weinterviewed had tax and NationalInsurance contributions deducted fromtheir pay. This confirms a recentreport163 which found that most migrantworkers were paying tax. However,what was not clear, in relation to themigrant workers we interviewed, waswhether their contributions actuallyreached the Inland Revenue. Severalworkers had experienced difficulty inobtaining a National Insurance numberand had to wait anything between a fewweeks to over three months to obtainone. Those who were not paying tax and National Insurance wereundocumented workers. We cameacross at least one worker who hadfalse documents and was paying taxand National Insurance under a falsename.

However, once deductions for tax andNational Insurance had been made,those earning around £5 to £6 an hourwere left with not much more than£600 - £850 a month to live on. And

although this was more than theywould have earned at home, highercosts of living ate into these higherearnings. As one worker from Brazil,working in a food factory noted:

“My salary here is much higher than Iever earned in Brazil, although thecost of living is much higher as well.The rent and taxes are too expensive.If I had to live here with this salary Iwould have the same level ofdifficulties I had in Brazil. My life hereis from work to home, from home towork. We spend strictly [what is]necessary, and then you can save alittle bit. These savings in Brazil wouldhelp a lot.”

For workers in this kind of situation,the advantage of working in the UKreally was dependent on whether or notthey could save money to send home,where its purchasing power was muchgreater (see Remittances, below).

Many workers spoke to us about howthey struggled with the low salaries,indicating that even though the NMWmay provide for basic needs, it couldnot provide adequately for theirfamilies, particularly where they stillhad responsibilities to dependants intheir country of origin. Those whosefamilies were not with them had twohouseholds to maintain and it was thisthat caused the greatest financialdifficulty to them. One worker had to

163 The Times, Dole? We’re here to do a job of work, p8 February 27 2005



pay rent of £30 to £40 a month on hisflat in Slovakia, as well as rent in theUK. Another worker from Brazil alsotold of having to cover his costs athome:

“At this moment I am sending moneyin order to pay my apartment in Brazil.I send money via LCCE, which is acompany that sends money to Brazil. Icould send about £1,100 per month, inorder to pay various instalments, orless money, it depends.”

Several of those interviewed spoke ofbeing “really fed up”, “having to push”themselves when they did not feel likedoing so, “really struggling” or offeeling “depressed” or “bored” with thework they were doing. For one of thoseinterviewed these financial constraintshad meant foregoing the chance tohave a family:

“No (laughs) I have no family backhome. I haven’t enough money to runmy own family – you can’t run a familywith £200 a week can you? Paying themortgage and that. Sometimes I getreally fed up coming to work – whycan’t I be like a lot of other people,have plenty of money and stay home.Instead you have to push yourself.”

There were also other expenses thathad to be met by the wages thatmigrant workers earned, mostsignificantly debts they had incurred incoming to the UK to seek work. These

included the cost of travel, but the mostsignificant debt was to money lendersand others who provided cash for theagency fees to find work. One Iraqiworker reckoned that it would take himfive to six years to pay off his debts.

In some sectors of employmentovertime work was available,particularly during the major seasonalpeaks in work, for example, inagriculture during the harvest season.Those working overtime during theseason could earn anything up to £400or £500 a week. A CAB respondentconfirmed that SAWS workers could beearning between £8,000 and £10,000 forthe season. But doing overtime justduring seasonal peaks to earn extramoney is one thing, having to work longhours permanently just to earn enoughto support yourself and your family issomething different. For a number ofthose interviewed working overtimewas absolutely necessary, however, itwas difficult to sustain. One worker,typical of many said:

“When I [first] arrived, I managed towork everyday [of the week] for two orthree months, without resting. Therewas work, and they asked me to doovertime and I wanted to save money.Nowadays I don’t do this anymore. Istill do overtime, but not five days [aweek], I work three days’ overtime andrest two days. My body needs to rest.”



Moreover, overtime may not beavailable at all times or for all workersand for those employed throughagencies additional hours were rarelypaid at an overtime rate. They alsofaced high levels of job insecurity withopportunities to work drying up veryquickly. For example, workers weinterviewed in Luton had been enjoyingovertime pay during the Christmasperiod, however once the Christmasperiod was over, they found themselvesgoing from one agency to another insearch of any kind of employmentduring January and February.

For some migrant workers pay issufficient to provide for all of theirneeds, as the following positiveexample, from a Romanianconstruction worker demonstrates:

“I travel me and my girlfriend we goall over the UK. I was in Scotland forthe Christmas and two years ago I wasin Wales and every year when I havebank holidays we go to the seaside,spending money to Newquay or …Mostof the time we spend round here justdriving two and a half hours toBrighton or Portsmouth - you knowwhat I’m saying? B&B – bed andbreakfast – very nice. I mean I live verydecently here you know? I’m able toafford everything: I’m able to buy anice house, nice clothes – to buyeverything. I’d love to stay here. I go toMilton Keynes; they have got a nice

indoor slope with real snow. It’s a niceone. Most Saturday I go with mygirlfriend – or we go together with bitsand pieces. Visiting: I saw all themuseums in London, if we see apicture exhibition we say: Lets godown there. From Monday to Fridayyou work like a slave – on Saturdayyou want to go out and know people. Ithink it’s not difficult to integrate.”

Deductions from pay

The problems that migrant workersexperience are not solely in relation toa low hourly rate of pay. Some had notbeen given pay slips and had nodocumentary evidence of theircontractual terms. They also did notknow what deductions were beingmade from their pay. Even though it isunlawful not to provide a worker with apay slip, many workers did not knowthat this was the case or did not feelthey were in a position to challengetheir employer, or the agent throughwhom they worked. This lack of proof ofwork also made it difficult for workers(even those with a legal right to work)to go to a tribunal.

Deductions were also being made foraccommodation (see Chapter 9) and foruniforms and for transport to and fromthe factories, this was a commonoccurrence for workers employedthrough agencies. One young Polishworker interviewed was paying £2 a day



164 id21 society & economy “remittances and development: providing funds for the poor” http://www.id21.org/society/s5ajw2g1.html

to be taken to work and said that allthat he was left with was spent on foodand accommodation. We were told ofone agency which charges anythingbetween £10 and £30 for a uniform. Keyrespondents whom we interviewed inadvice centres also referred to largedeductions being made from workers’pay, even where they were earning nomore than the national minimum wagelevel. As a result their actual earningswere significantly below the nationalminimum.

Remittances to countries of origin

Two thirds of the workers whom weinterviewed were sending money backto their countries of origin. Theseremittances, which varied from a fewpounds every month to several hundred,are, particularly in developing countries,a more stable form of finance than anyother investments, as they remain steadyor even increase in times of crisis164.

Some of those whom we interviewedwere sending regular amounts homeeach month. Others sent money atparticular times of the year, forexample during festival periods in theirhome country. Remittances thereforewere not only a means of providing fordependants at home, they were also away of reminding families of thecontinued (if unseen) presence of themigrant worker.

Remittances together with repaymentson loans taken out to make the journeyto the UK could account for a largeslice of a worker’s take home pay. Forexample, one woman said:

“We’re sending almost £600, £800every two months, between the two ofus. After we’ve paid the bills and allthe expenses we don’t have any moneyspare. I had to pay to come here youknow, I told you …so have to pay a loanfrom a bank, we have to pay it back.That’s for the £1,000 (agent’s fees) andthe expenses of settling down. In Indiawe would still [be expected to] sendmoney home to support the family andthe youngsters. So manyresponsibilities now.”

Sending home money can itself involvepaying out money to a middleman, asthe following example demonstrates,from a 36-year-old man whose family is still in China:

“We send £200-300 a week. We sendall we have earned except basicexpenditures. We have two children tosupport at home, [to pay for their]care, school, etc. needs lots of money.[We send money not through] thebank, but [through the] undergroundmarket. We send remittance throughour snakehead. They have good creditand they make money from it. We givethem English pounds, and they send



RMB to our home based on the currentexchange rate. For example if we send£100, which converts into 1500 RMB,they send 1400 RMB to our home. Sothey charge 100 RMB for every £100we send home.”

About a third of those interviewed didnot send any remittances, usuallybecause they had no need to do so,either because the extended family wascaring for their dependants or becausethey were single with no caringcommitments. One 44-year-oldChinese male worker told of how hewas not required to send home moneyand more importantly he knew that itwas important for him to work at apace that he could sustain over a longperiod:

“Not at the moment, just notnecessary at the moment. My son issupported by my wife, who hasconsiderable earnings. While I know itis my responsibility to look after thechild, I never do more work than Inormally should, because I keep thissaying in mind: Keep the mountainsgreen, and you will never worry aboutyour firewood. It is not a short stay forme in England and I have to work at anormal pace.”

Others were not sending money homebecause, after paying their own costs inthe UK, they did not have any.

10.2 Hours of work

For others higher wages could beearned but at the expense of muchlonger working hours. Many migrantworkers were working long hours anddoing shift work as the followingexample demonstrates, although it alsoshows that these conditions over timecan become acceptable, dependent onhow the individual views her work (inthis case the woman concerned wasenjoying the experience of working inthe UK):

“I work for 10 hours per day, standingstill in front a machine. You cannotleave. I am in front of a conveyor beltand I move the ham from here tothere. So, my movements are fromwaist upwards. It is very cold in there:2 to 3 degrees centigrade. So, in thebeginning I had to wear two trousersand five or six blouses. But I haveadapted. Now I use only two blouses. Iwas not used to work in a coldenvironment, especially because thetemperature was 39 degreescentigrade when I left Brazil. But Ihave adapted well. For instance, I havebeen to Brazil last February and Imissed the cold weather.”

There are cases, according to a CABrespondent and other key informants,of those who are working shifts bedhopping or working double shifts and



our interviews with some migrant workers confirmed this. Long shiftpatterns are particularly common in thefood processing industry and in privateCare Homes. Some workers in the foodprocessing companies work under anannualised hours’ system. This can beattractive to workers who wish to returnhome for a long period each year. In theNHS, according to one union official,there is no difference between theworking patterns of migrant and UKlabour.

As already noted many working underSAWS are working long hours, butthere are fewer complaints, asseasonal workers are more likely towant to try to earn as much as possiblewithin the time they spend in England.Workers in Chinese restaurants worksix to seven days per week, often withsplit shifts, leaving them little time off.Those who were undocumented had noway of contesting the hours they wererequired to work. One 36-year-old malestated that he worked:

“10 hours (per day) six days (per week)Two shifts daily. 11 am to 2 pm, mostlypreparing for the evening meals,occasionally for lunch. Have two hoursbreak then start working at 4 pm until11.30 pm.”

The total number of hours worked, aswell as the individuals’ perception ofwhat acceptable working hours were,

differed greatly among the interviewees.Some were resigned to work 60 ormore hours per week in order to earnas much as possible or to pay off debts,as the following example shows:

“They offered an average pay of £1,500a month with accommodation free,obviously in expectation that you workfor them about 70 - 80 hours a week,which to us is basically normal.Obviously by law there is a 45-hourlimit or 48, but obviously we don’t carebecause if we work 48 hours you won’tsurvive…. When we came here thenthey the first month they gave you abill of £500 to pay which left me with a£100 in the first month in the pocket.”

Others compared the hours theyworked with those required of Britishstaff and felt that they had been treatedless fairly. This view was not related toany particular employment sector, nordependent on the type of employment,such as direct or through an agency.However, for others there was noperceived difference in treatment:

“I am working 40 hours per week,eight hours per day, a 15-minute breakin the morning and another in theafternoon, with a 30-minute break at 1 PM. I do not work shift-work and Iam happy with these arrangements.These arrangements apply to allworkers regardless of nationality.”



The working hours and the fact that asubstantial number of migrants workshifts impinges also on their ability toattend classes and to improve theirlanguage skills, something that we willreturn to in Chapter 9. One person whomwe interviewed had changed to workingnight shifts as the only way to allow himtime to attend college during the day:

“I tried to go to college or somethinglike this. That's why I'm working nightshift. Eight hours a night, five days aweek. I work hanging chickens, Youkill them in a machine. I kill them, Icut it I mean, have got licence for this.I get three breaks, half and hour 15minutes. I like working night shift tobe free in the day.”

Some workers had particularly longdays due to the time that it took totravel to work. In one of the interviews,with a construction worker fromRomania, we were told that he workeda 57 hour week but travelled to worktwo and a half hours each day givinghim a 70 to 80 hour week. These verylong working hours were notuncommon. One Polish worker, atrained electrician, was working up to70 hours a week on different jobsprovided through agencies. Anotherworker, working in a hotel, worked a13-hour day, starting at 6.45am andending at 9.30pm. While she recognisedthat these were unacceptably longhours, she also expressed pleasurewith the amount of wages she was

receiving. One student nurse wassometimes required work a double shiftof 16 hours and averaged 70 hourswork a week. A worker in a packingfactory worked eight hours a day, for six days a week.

The wide range of working hoursperformed by migrant workers wasalso confirmed by the employers’survey. By far the majority, 29 of theemployers employing migrantsreported working hours ranging from37.5hrs to 70, with most stating thatmigrants worked around 40hrs perweek. This suggests that while somemigrant workers are working very longhours (as our interviews with themdemonstrated) this was not necessarilythe norm. Indeed from the migrantworkers’ point of view, we were told bysome that they actually wanted to worklonger hours as this was the only wayto significantly increase their earnings.Most of the employers of migrantworkers employed them on shift work.

According to the employers’ survey, 26of the 35 employers of migrants offeredshift work, usually a mixture of early,late and night shifts, but three reportedthat they were employing migrants onlyon night shifts. The migrants weinterviewed did not make reference towhether they were more likely to beoffered more unsocial shift patterns,but the employers survey suggests thatcontinuous shift patterns and continentalshifts were relatively common.



The information gathered on levels and types of pay and hours worked by migrants inthe East of England indicates that many struggle by having to live on the NMW. Eventhough there were few complaints about doing shift work and working long hours, forthose migrants who have family commitments, this impinges of their well-being –something explored further in the next chapter.


1 Many workers were paid just about or even below the NMW, several reported deductions for accommodation or travel to and from work. Most had tax and NI deductions made from their pay, but in cases of gangmaster or agency employment it was unclear if these were forwarded to the Inland Revenue.

2 Some workers had large deductions made from their pay. These included deductions for accommodation, for uniforms and for transport to and from work.

3 These heavy deductions made it impossible for some to send remittances to dependants they left behind.

4 Those who saw themselves as working temporarily were less likely to complain about long working hours, as these were seen as a way of earning the maximum amount of money in a short time. There were however complaints about lengthy travel time to and from jobs added to working hours, leaving workers too tired to attend language classes or enjoy a social life.

139ISSUES RELATED TO THE WELL-BEING OF MIGRANT WORKERS


In this chapter we focus on other work-related issues, like training,discrimination, communication andunion organisation. From this we go onto examine issues not immediatelyrelated to employment, although theymay stem from an employmentrelationship. These are:

• family-related issues• financial issues• accommodation• access to vital services• relationships with the wider

community.

11.1 Work-related issues

Most of the migrant workers employedin the region are economicallymotivated to work and have been ableto obtain work because there arelabour shortages in large pockets ofthe region, or in particular sectors ofemployment or, for more complexreasons, including the type of workavailable, there are current demandsfor labour that cannot be met by UKworkers. Indeed, according to one keyrespondent, the issue of labour supplywas the main constraint on thedevelopment of his business.

Despite the fact that many employers,as evidenced both by the employers’survey and our face-to-face interviewswith employers, need migrant workers,this does not mean that the workers donot encounter a range of work-relatedproblems. Some of these, such as skilllevels, low pay, fee charging byagencies and long working hours havebeen addressed in previous chapters.Work-related issues also raised bymigrant workers during the course ofthe interviews were over their lack oflegal proof of work. Many migrantworkers did not get issued with acontract of employment. This meantthat they were unaware of theconditions under which they have beenemployed and they had no or littleinformation about holidays, sick payand other entitlements, includingstatutory entitlements. Some of theworkers we interviewed said there wasno recording of accidents, no signs inlanguages they could understand andno information on the risks associatedwith particular types of work. Therewas also a lack of health and safetyadherence.

They also often felt isolated and withoutsupport, not just from employers, butfrom State authorities, including Job

In the previous chapter we looked at core employment issues (pay andhours of work) and how they impacted on the lives of migrant workersand on their families, both here in the UK and in their countries of origin.

Issues related to the well-beingof migrant workers

11

ISSUES RELATED TO THE WELL-BEING OF MIGRANT WORKERS


Centres. Moreover, where informationthat could assist them was available, itwas usually not published in languagesother than English. Additionally wecame across workers who had theirdocuments taken away and who couldnot therefore leave their employer toseek a better job. And finally, those thatdid move on were often not providedwith a P45 to indicate what tax andNational Insurance contributions theyhad made. All of the information weobtained from the face-to-faceinterviews with migrant workersconfirms the findings in the CitizensAdvice Bureau report165 referred to inChapter 2.

Trade unions in the region report thatthey are acting to address thisinformation gap. SERTUC, the regionalTUC for the East of England, providesfree one-day courses for its memberson employment rights. The courses arealso open to non-members, althoughthere is a fee for their attendance.SERTUC has translated the coursematerials into Spanish and Polish andplans to produce them in Portuguese.The organisation says that it can alsotranslate its materials into otherlanguages and that it will work withmigrant communities to providecourses and to recruit and train tutorsfrom migrant worker communities.

In our interviews with migrant workersall of these emerged as issues whichaffected their sense of well-being atwork. One avenue through which theseissues might be challenged is throughtrade union organisations, but in ourinterviews both with the migrantworkers themselves and with tradeunion officials in the region, we weremade aware of the enormousdifficulties presented in terms of theunionisation of new migrant workers.Problems identified include:

• fear of victimisation by employers and agencies

• inability to communicate due to language

• mobility and the temporary nature of much of the employment available

• existing difficulties in organising the sectors, even in respect of UK staff

• a lack of a tradition of union organisation among some groups of migrant workers, or a suspicion of unions, based on their historic role in their country of origin.

In the TUC report166 examples of thepoor treatment of new migrants weredocumented and the report concludedthat “their weak bargaining power”contributed to their exploitation.According to the trade union survey

165 CAB , Nowhere to Turn, 2003166 TUC, Overworked, Underpaid and Over Here, Migrant Workers in Britain, 2003



carried out for this research only a very small percentage of migrantworkers were currently organised.Those unions responding reported that the main reasons for a lack ofunion membership was due to thegeographical mobility of migrantlabour, their transient employment and immigration status, languageproblems and the fear of being reportedif they work without permission. Ourinterviews with migrant workerssuggest that in some cases unions hadnot made sufficient efforts to locatethem. One worker said that it was onlyrecently that he had been made awareof a union presence in his workplace:

“We have the union- we have a unionbut I [found out] about the union onlytwo or three month ago. And theydidn't talk to me about this. I went toone day [to a meeting]. But lot ofpeople in there, a lot, well most ofthem are English. That's why I didn'tspeak- Because I am shy. I can't speakEnglish very well and lot of English inthere. I like get in contact with theunion. you know, I go- everywhere I gounion. I talk to them and I like to.”

The TUC itself has established awebsite that provides accessible adviceon rights at work167.Some unions told usthat they have been attempting toaddress these problems of

communication, by translatingrecruitment literature into thelanguages of the main migrant groupsand through working with communityorganisations and representatives fromdifferent migrant communities. Thishas been most successful in relation tothe Portuguese communities, wherelinks with workers have beenestablished and where somerecruitment has taken place, but mainlyin those factories where unionorganisation had already existed andwhere there was a tradition ofrecruitment. One of the migrantworkers whom we interviewed spoke ofthe union organising in his workplace.Here he had not yet joined, not throughhostility to unions, but because hisapplication had not been processed:

“We have one (trade union); they saythey are coming for recruitment. T &G. I filled in a form, but I don’t knowwhat happened because I’ve neverseen any deductions being made. Iattended meeting with other workers. Imight go to the union (if I haveproblems). Maybe next month if theyhave recruitment - I will become amember.”

One union reported that migrants fromSouth America were joining, but asindividuals rather than through acampaign of recruitment in their

167 www.worksmart.org.uk



workplaces. Again their mobility meantthat they changed employers frequentlyand were therefore not in a positionthemselves to organise in theworkplaces. In some cases it was notjust their mobility that made them notjoin unions, but also the fact that theydid feel well treated at work, as thefollowing demonstrates:

“No (not a member of the union),because the factory is very mobile,with workers moving in and out veryoften. They treat me well. They arevery friendly to me.”

Our interviews with migrant workersconfirmed that few were members oftrade unions. Those who were in unionswere mainly from Portugal and fromEastern Europe but, as noted above,their membership in general was morerelated to where they worked than totheir particular commitment to tradeunions. Those that had joined a unionhad usually done so because there wasone in their workplace, but had notnecessarily used the services of theunion in relation to their individualemployment. As with UK workers,migrants had joined out of a sense ofsolidarity or as insurance should thingsgo wrong for them. The followingillustrates this point:

“Yes. I belong to the unions and pay£2.10 per week to them. I have neverbeen to the union to ask anything. But,last year, the company wanted to

change the working hours and we willhave to work five days per week,instead of four.”

Another worker described his reasonfor joining the union as something thatwas there to help “if there is unfairtreatment.” The current lack of unionmembership was partially due to thefact that workers were frequentlychanging factories or agencies andwere moving around the country, thusmaking them more difficult to organise.Another factor was the relatively highproportion of migrants working in thehotels sector, one which traditionally isnot well organised. Migrant workers’low wages also played a part in theirdecision not to join a union, as the costof membership had to be considered.Additionally some of the workers weinterviewed were sceptical about unionsand not clear what benefit they wouldhave from joining.

11.1.1 Access to training and language skills

Lack of access to training, whetherlanguage training or more generallytraining for skills was also a factoraffecting the well-being of the migrantworkers interviewed. Some employersrecognised that there was the need fora more co-ordinated approach totraining, both basic skills’ training,often available through local collegesand also training provided byprofessional bodies. We were told that



the capacity for ESOL training hadincreased and that there was now aparticular focus on migrant workers.However, ESOL classes werethemselves under pressure to complywith targets related to deliveringqualifications. Additionally a pointssystem made it inefficient to deliverclasses, other than in accordance witha common format and as aconsequence there was some evidenceof classes not always being appropriateto migrant workers’ needs, even wherethe classes were provided with theseworkers in mind.

Most migrants pick up enough Englishwithin a very short time to be able tocommunicate in English and indeed inmany cases we were able to conductin-depth interviews with migrantworkers in English, despite this notbeing their first, or in some cases evensecond language. Those who exhibiteda particular determination to succeedhad often acquired sufficient Englishthrough listening and responding,without any formal training.

One of those interviewed, who at thetime of the interview was trying toteach himself English through books,was intending to start an evening classthree times a week, saying that it didn’tmatter “if I am tired or not – must bedone.” Another of the interviewees, whocould now speak sufficient English,expressed his determination as follows:

“Well, to be a supervisor yes. Even ifthe work is said not to requirelanguage skills, as in the buildingindustry, this is not true. In asupervisory level, it is necessary togive commands or explanations topeople. For the cleaners, a bit ofEnglish is also necessary. Even forcleaning jobs, it is necessary to explainhow they are expected to clean, whatnot to do, etc. A minimum of English is required.”

One migrant worker whom weinterviewed had picked up enoughEnglish in six months to be able tocommunicate and to read newspapersand documents. Another had learntsome English at school 35 years earlierand was trying to pick it up again.Those who already spoke severallanguages had perhaps the leastdifficulty in acquiring a new language,as the following comment suggests:

“I learnt it at school and in England Ihave met a lot of English people. WhenI returned home I studied it again atevening classes. It’s good to knowEnglish for when I [will eventually]work as an accountant. I speak my ownlanguage and German, French andEnglish. And I understand a little bitPolish.’’

Those who had limited or no Englishwere disadvantaged at work. Aninability to understand complex



documents because they were writtenin a language they were not sufficientlyfamiliar with and, in particular, theirinability to read and fully understandhealth and safety material, affectedtheir sense of well-being in diverseways.

One way to resolve these issues mightbe to provide translation orinterpretation services in theworkplace. Some employers,responding to the postal survey or ininterviews with researchers, indicatedthat this was something they didprovide. This was more likely to beavailable where there was onedominant migrant group in theworkplace, although its provision couldcreate problems in respect of otherminority migrant groups in theworkplace who could, as aconsequence, feel themselves evenmore isolated. In some casesemployers were offering some form oflanguage provision in response to newrules imposed on producers andpackers by the major supermarketsthat now require the communication ofbasic health and safety information inthe mother tongue of the workforce.But overall our research found that theprovision of important information,related to health and safety, in workers’native language was very limited,potentially putting workers at risk.

Although fewer than one in fouremployers (eight out of 35 in the postal

survey) paid for or offered some form oflanguage training, when asked toidentify the main problem theyexperienced in the employment ofmigrant workers (although it should benoted that the majority said there wereno problems) the most frequentlymentioned related to the workers’insufficient English language skills.Four employers put this down to therebeing little motivation among theirmigrant labour force to acquire a newlanguage.

However, when asked from the migrantworkers’ perspective what they thoughtthe biggest problems were, theemployers’ response was that languagewas the main issue. Two thirds of thosewho employed migrant workers feltthat to be the case. Any other issue(family related problems, insufficientskills for the job, insufficient motivationand cultural differences) rated farbehind ‘the language problem’,according to their responses. Eventhough they recognised that lack ofEnglish language was such a constrainton well-being, only three employerspaid for language training and justeight in total, out of the 35, offeredsome form of language training. Tradeunion officials responding to the tradeunion postal survey indicated that theyhad made requests to employers forlanguage training for new workers andin their view language posed a largebarrier, with communication problemseven at the lowest level of employment.



For many of the migrant workers weinterviewed their long working hours,the costs of the courses themselvestogether with their other caringresponsibilities left them unable toacquire a good grounding in Englishthrough attendance at classes. As onemigrant worker expressed it:

“But I feel too tired. I haven’t got time.Starting at 6am in the morning andleaving at 4pm is tiring. I go home andall I want is to have a bath and go tosleep, nothing else.”

Tiredness, childcare responsibilities,lack of money were all mentioned.Some of those interviewed also felt thatthey were perhaps too old to startacquiring a new language, with oneolder worker noting “when we achievea certain age, we find it difficult toassimilate certain things.” For others itwas not age, but other barriers thatprevented their acquisition of language.One woman looked forward to learningEnglish precisely when she was older,once her children had grown up. In themeantime an additional barrier was thelack of transport to and from the class:

“I can understand [English], but notmuch. I want to do classes but I’ve gota problem with my kids. I think in thefuture I can do it. But at the momentthey are at home. When they grow upthen …because I can’t leave themalone. I’m working in the daytime, I

don’t work at night, I couldn’t make itafter work. If they (the employer) didarrange classes, they would have togive me a lift because I can’t drive.”

For others a general sense ofdisengagement with the society theyfound themselves in made it moredifficult to acquire a new language. Thefollowing quotation expresses thissense of isolation and demonstrateshow it can impact on a worker’smotivation, even where there is anaspiration to learn:

“It is difficult because I miss my family.But first it was very difficult for me,because I can't speak English. I justspeak Arabic and French and don'tspeak any, any word of English. Twoyears here and I can't speak a word ofEnglish. And I try to learn. Now I thinkis better speaking. But I want to learnread and write because I want to belook after myself. I just want- becausemy boss now, she still helps me foranything. So for writing, reading and Iwant to learn myself because I don'twant to stay [in this job for ever] Yeah Iwant look, look after myself. I want toknow everything, how to read and howto write.”

One of the key problems continues tobe the access and appropriateness ofESOL classes, as long working hoursand changing shift patterns make itvery difficult for migrants to attend



classes regularly. In addition some ofthose we interviewed had begun takingclasses, having overcome the hurdlesof time and money, but had beendisappointed with the type of provisionon offer, as it did not respond to theirneeds, either because it was tooadvanced or too rudimentary. One ofthose interviewed described hisexperience:

“I did start an English class inDereham, but was disappointed. Onday one they start a lesson, next week,the same lesson has to be repeatedbecause new people joined, and thenagain in the third week. I just thought Iwas wasting my time. I am trying tolearn at home, in the computer. So,when I have a bit more of experience, Iwill look for a better course. I havebeen looking at the City College inNorwich, but it was too advanced formy level. I am trying to find a class formy level.”

Although we were aware that quite a lotof work has been undertaken toaddress the provision of ESOL classesin the region, it may be that thisprovision is more focused on the needsof refugees than on migrant workers.And although both groups have, as wehave already noted, many things incommon, their motivations for wantingto acquire English may differ. The speedthey may need to acquire English may

also be different and the times of theday when they are able to attendclasses are also different. For exampleproblematic for many of the migrantworkers interviewed was the fact thatmany courses were during the daywhen individuals were at work. In somecases there were just no appropriateclasses in the area or the courses werenot intensive enough. One person wasattending a course, which was just onenight a week, and felt that in that time“you learn nothing.”

But at the same time it should beacknowledged that not all the classeswere criticised in this way168. One ofthose interviewed was very positiveabout the course he had attended. Itwas an intensive course costing £60 amonth, offering four hours a dayteaching, four days a week. For him thecourse was good:

“Everybody who signed up for thecourse attended, but some of them, forexample couldn’t come every daybecause they were working orstudying. I don’t think many peopledropped out because they were tired.The course was quite interesting to behonest. Because we did what wewanted to, we gave our teacher ideasand he prepared for us what wewanted. I met also au pairs there fromforeign countries. It was good.”

168 EEDA (2002) Adult Basic Skills in the East of England, prepared for the East of England Development Agency, Learning and Skills Council, Hertfordshire



11.2 Family-related issues

Many of the workers whom weinterviewed had family responsibilities.For those whose families were in theircountry of origin there were emotionalproblems due to distance andseparation. It was hardest for thosewhose children were small and whocould not be with them to see themgrow up and for those with parents orother members of the family who wereelderly or ill. But family relatedproblems did not disappear for thosewho had their immediate, or evenextended, family with them. Forexample, many of the Portuguesemigrants in the region have come withtheir families. But their presence itselfexposed additional problems regardingthe finding of appropriateaccommodation, schooling for children,medical services and childcare whenworking long hours, as shift patternscould make it difficult to combinefactory work with family commitments,where both partners were working, asthe following example demonstrates:

“It (pay) is OK for the level of life I havehere. When my wife is working, we canmake £430 per week, which is goodenough. Now she is on leave becauseof the baby. The difficulty now is to finda baby sitter. Who is going to take careof the children from 5am when weleave home? The crèche opens at 8 or

9 in the morning. From 5 to 8, it is 3hours. So far, someone of the familywould take care of the children, butnow everybody is working in themorning shift. This is a problem for us.It would be good if there were a publicservice, a crèche for this time in themorning.”

The issue of childcare to assist thoseworking shifts is a crucial one. As wasmentioned above, migrant workers –both men and women - are more likelyto be working shifts but are less likelyto have family support networks toassist them in their caringresponsibilities. As a consequence theyare more likely to be dependent onunregistered childcare.

Although employers in the survey ingeneral made little reference to family-related issues affecting their migrantworkers, two of those who respondedwere aware that there were familyrelated problems among the migrantsthey employed. Only three employers inthe survey felt that there was aresponsibility to take account of the factthat migrants are part of a wider familyunit and that employers should beaware of the particular needs ofmigrant workers and how family tiesand family problems could affectconcentration and lead to more bemore open to requests for time off to gohome.



11.3 Accommodation

Although not directly related toemployment, the issue ofaccommodation and its suitability wasraised by a number of key respondents.We were told, and ourselves foundmany examples, of workers who werehoused in inappropriateaccommodation. For example,inadequately heated caravans in winteror multi occupancy housing with noprivacy. The link between housing andwork also meant that workers weremade extremely vulnerable to abuse.Thus, if they complained about workingconditions, or due to ill health or otherreasons could not work, even for oneday, they (and their family members)were threatened with immediateeviction. Lack of an adequate supply ofgood housing also contributed totensions between host and migrantcommunities, as they competed forscarce resources. Other issuesidentified included: having to share withdistant relatives; high rents; largedeposits; and charges by agents to findaccommodation (despite this beingunlawful).

In the employer survey 15 respondentsoffered temporary accommodation tothe workers, this comprised usually ofsingle occupancy rooms, but in twocases of shared rooms with 2-6 people.Particularly among the hotel staffmigrants usually lived in a room on the

premises. Six employers said that themigrant workers lived with theirfamilies and 12 that they rented andshared locally availableaccommodation. According to theirresponses this comprised usually ofsingle occupancy rooms, but in twocases they said that what was on offerwere shared rooms, taking anythingbetween two and six people. Theresponses from the employers in thehotel sector suggested that migrantworkers employed in hotels wouldmore usually be living in a hotel roomon the premises. Even in those caseswhere employers might be willing toimprove the accommodation theyprovide to their workers, by buildingstructurally better houses, they areoften prohibited from doing so due tothe restrictions of the planning system.

From our interviews with migrantworkers we found that many eitherwere renting from private landlordswere in accommodation provided bytheir employer or by the agent who wasgetting them the work. In any caseoften the accommodation was multipleoccupancy and two people sharing aroom was quite common. This couldcreate specific problems where thelandlord gave no thought to thecultural, religious or other preferencesof those who were being made to sharerooms together. In one case a youngwoman told us of Catholics andMuslims being put in the same room,



with one trying to sleep while the otherprayed. In other cases individuals weresharing houses with strangers andthere were potential dangers,particularly for women on their own,although none of those interviewedmade direct reference to this. Therewere also problems over security:

“The houses are like deposits. Wemaybe lucky and be with honestpeople, or else with a bandit thatsteals everything. Doors have no locks.It is complicated, and the agency doesnot assume any responsibility. Thereare scenes of violence in the houses.They charged £50 per person.”

Accommodation was often also verycrowded as landlords tried to squeezeas many people as possible into eachhouse. One person told us that therewere four bedrooms where he lived andthat 13 or 14 people lived in the house,each paying between £30 and £35 aweek. One woman described the firstplace she had lived in as follows:

“When I first came, I was living in ahouse owned by an agency. Then, andeven now, the agencies rent a room,but the room is not for just one person.If the room is big, they put a minimumof 2 people in the same room. I waslucky because I was sharing the roomwith my boyfriend, not with a stranger.But the room was so small that we hadto sleep in a bunk bed. Our clothes

were kept inside our suitcases.”

For those renting from privatelandlords their rents varied, but figuresof anywhere between £30 to £50 for asingle or shared room, to £115 plusbills for two rooms with no heatingwere mentioned. Those inaccommodation provided by theiremployer in general paid less – a figureof around £25 was the median, but thiscould rise to between £60 and £80 aweek where meals were also included.In some cases it could be considerablymore. One of the Portuguese workerswe interviewed, who was being paid atthe NMW, had a third of his wagesdeducted for rent, more than permittedunder the NMW regulations.

The interviews with migrant workerspoint to employer-providedaccommodation being often of the leastdesirable type, consisting frequently ofcaravan accommodation or even insome cases accommodation in tents orhuts. One person was told by anemployer that accommodation wouldbe provided but ended up sleeping in alarge tent. In one case the worker toldus that she was staying in one of twolarge dorms. Although there werefewer people there in winter (when theinterview took place) we were told thatduring the summer months these twodorms, one for men and one forwomen, would accommodate anythingup to 200 people in each. For these the



charge (including food) was £77 a week.Better accommodation could be foundin bungalows, but here too it was inmultiple occupancy. For younger peopleand in particular for those who wereonly staying in the UK for a relativelyshort period of time, thisaccommodation was not unacceptable,as one person noted:

“The first year I lived in the bungalowbecause the farm has a bungalow andtwo caravans for students. If peoplecome here for up to four months thenthey live in the caravan. It is not verydifficult, because they have friends,couples, they live here. The people aredoing this because it is better is betterfor them to pay say £25 or £20- a weekthan pay £50 somewhere else.”

Indeed even those currently housed incaravans expressed themselves happywith the arrangements, mainly becausetheir low cost allowed them to savemore money and because thearrangement was clearly temporary:

“In a caravan, there are three of us. Itis quite nice, yeah. We have separatetoilet and shower blocks. We have akitchen and a big screen TV. Mine[caravan] is alright, I have a heater. Ihave bought a telly, put in satellite.Everything, it’s alright. I have abedroom where I sleep. It is enoughfor me. (referring to the cold) It istough sometimes. Two heaters like…No it’s enough, I pay £23.”

This satisfaction with what on the faceof it seemed inadequateaccommodation, in part was due to thecost of alternatives. Not only werethese expensive, but there would be arequirement to pay a deposit and alsoto have references, something whichmost migrant workers did not possess,at least on arrival. As one person noted,“here in England, everything is basedon documents. If you want to rent ahouse you need a bank account. Inorder to get a bank account, you needa house. It is a vicious circle. In orderto get credit, you need residence forthree years.”

One interviewee was paying two-thirdsof what he earned for accommodation:

“The rents are very expensive. Interms of what you pay per squaremetre it’s quite dear. I found that,being on my own earning for the house– being on a salary of a £1,000 a month– and having to pay £655 per month fora 2-bedroom apartment. I mean that is70 per cent of my income – I just haveto make my life on a 30 per cent -including a family. So, I’m talking as amigrant, it’s very hard, it’s reallystruggling. As a matter of fact I paid anestate agent £500 non-returnable feeto find me and my family a place andhe was not even looking, I found itmyself, and on top of that I had to pay£900 deposit to the landlord before Ieven started paying rent.”



The alternative for some was sharingwith other family members, but this toopresented problems, particularly wherespace was tight or where familyrelations were not that good. Oneperson had been sharing with hissister-in-law, but family problems hadforced him and his family to leave in ahurry. It took him four months to findsomewhere suitable and in the interimhe and his family were reliant onfriends to put them up. In another casethe interviewee told of how he and hiswife were forced to live in his brother-in-law’s house, as they could not affordto rent anywhere but that he wanted “tolive separately and independently, but Ican’t afford it at the moment.”

Less common was home ownership(we interviewed one migrant workerwho had bought his own home) andcouncil or housing associationaccommodation. A small number ofPortuguese migrants, who had settledin the region, were the only migrantswho had access to this more stableform of rented accommodation. Oneman interviewed with a wife and childand whose wife was pregnant had beenpromised a house from the council,which meant they would no longer haveto live with his father and mother. Thenurses working for the NHS whom weinterviewed had also been givenaccommodation on arrival but after justsix months were required to find theirown accommodation.

11.4 Issues related to finances and banking

In Chapter 8 we explored issues relatedto pay, overtime and remittances. Therewas one other issue raised by many ofthe migrant workers we interviewedand this was in relation to setting upbank accounts. For many this wascrucial since the primary aim of comingto the UK was to be able to save or tosend money home. Having a bankaccount meant that these aspirationscould be more easily realised. One ofthose interviewed described how with abank account he was able to transfermoney back home and that, although itcost him £20 each time, it was “somuch easier” than other informalmethods of transfer. Key informantstold us that they knew of migrants, whodid not have bank accounts and weretravelling back home with wads ofmoney sewn into their clothes, riskingtheir safety in doing so and that indeedsome were robbed. A post office workerreported that migrant workers wereposting money around the world inlarge envelopes, because this was theonly way in which they could sendremittances to their dependants. A UKbank account obviously provides a saferand more reliable way of moneytransfer.

Having a bank account was alsoimportant for work purposes as,according to the employers’ survey, the



majority paid their workers eitherstraight into their bank accounts or bycheque. Without a bank accountworkers were more likely only to beable to find work at the margins. In theemployers’ survey, for example, only asmall minority said that they paid theirworkers in cash. The majoritydescribed payment systems thatreflected those that apply to UK bornworkers, with most employers alsopaying their migrant workforce monthlyand with just one in four paying themby the week. Thus for migrant workershaving a bank account, even just to getpaid, is essential.

Many of the migrant workers weinterviewed had experienced problemsin attempting to set up a bank account.The most frequently mentionedproblems were:

• a requirement for proof of residence or other documentation, which they did not possess

• difficulties in communicating their requirements to bank staff

• restrictions on the range of services the banks would offer.

In most cases banks will require someproof of identity before agreeing to opena bank account and in many cases therequirement was also for proof ofaddress. However, since many migrantworkers live in shared accommodationand do not hold the tenancy agreement,the requirement for proof of residency

is impossible to comply with. In thefollowing example, the worker had touse a friend’s bank account to transfermoney. He noted:

“I have applied to many banks, but wasrefused by all of them. The banks askfor proof of address, but as I am livingin rented accommodation [and the rentis] including bills, I can't provide thebills with my address on. They also askfor a permanent address. I used to livein the hotel, which is not a permanentaddress. This is really my headache.”

In some cases we heard that bankswere also asking for proof of paymentof income tax and National Insuranceand those who were working ‘cash inhand’ could not provide this. Forundocumented workers the ability toopen a bank account was even morelimited. Not only were they likely to beliving in multiple occupancyaccommodation without proof ofresidency but they also did not have thepersonal identification required.Workers whose employers were holdingtheir passports similarly could notprovide adequate proof of identity.

In some cases workers had been ableto get round the difficulties by openinga building society savings account,where the requirements for proof ofresidency were less formal. But forothers the only way they were able toovercome these barriers was throughemployer support. In one case the



worker had tried for some time to opena bank account without success. Somebanks had just refused his request outof hand. In the end it was only throughhis employer’s intervention, using thebank that the employer also banked at,that enabled him to open an account.

Another worker told us that his effortswere only successful once his employer“provided a letter for the bank whichwas accepted.” A woman, working in apermanent factory job, had only beenable to open the account with a letterfrom the factory. According to theemployers’ survey, 16 employers (lessthan half of those who employedmigrant workers) had helped theiremployees set up bank accounts. Yetthis was one form of assistance to newworkers which employers could readilyand fairly easily perform. In part theirfailure to offer more assistancereflected their lack of understanding ofthe importance of this as an importantissue for migrant workers. For exampleonly two of the employers surveyedmade any reference to it when askedwhat employers could do to assistmigrant workers.

Other difficulties that workersexperienced included not havingsufficient command of English to beable to explain their needs to the bankand of the banks making no real effortsto assist them in overcoming thesecommunication difficulties. We were

not provided with any examples ofbanks that offered translation orinterpretation facilities to newcustomers, even in those areas wherethere were significant concentrations ofparticular ethnic groups.

Some of those interviewed hadmanaged to open accounts but had onlybeen given access to a narrow range ofbanking facilities, being deniedoverdraft facilities or credit cards. Oneworker said that he had been promisedthat once he had been a client for sixmonths he would have access to all ofthe bank’s facilities. This had notturned out to be the case:

“But after two years they don't giveyou. After three years they don't giveyou any credit card, because when youwork, you have a basic card. And likeeveryone you want a MasterCard. Butthey don't give them. They don'trespect you. Nobody helps me, withthe bank nobody helps.”

For most workers treated in this way,the assumption was that racism wasplaying a part in the bank’s decisions.One interviewee said he was told:

“No, you are not English. You areforeigner. How can you get credit cardor a Visa card? I told her I don't ask toborrow. I don't ask for loan. Just I wantvisa card for when you got tosomewhere.”



11.5 Access to key services

For migrant workers who plan to stay inthe UK for a considerable period oftime and who have come with theirfamilies there is obviously a need toaccess a range of services, includingschooling and education, child benefits,accommodation and so forth. But forevery migrant worker, regardless ofhow long their intended stay, there aretwo key services:

• medical provision• access to sources of advice.

In this section we highlight some of theissues raised by the migrant workerswe interviewed in relation to theprovision of these two key services.

11.5.1 Medical provision

The migrant workforce in the region isgenerally younger than the UK bornpopulation of the region. In theory thisshould mean that migrant workers areless likely to need to access a doctor atall because they were healthy. Somesaid they were aware of medicalservices, but did not register with adoctor because, particularly in the caseof Chinese migrant workers, theyaccessed medicines through theirpersonal networks.

The fact that migrant workers may beworking in higher risk industries likeconstruction, or working in extremes of

temperature, means that their healthmay also be affected by the type ofwork they are engaged in. Thus theymay need to avail themselves ofmedical services, even if only in the UKfor a relatively short period of time.Additionally young workers arethemselves more at risk from accidentsat work and the fact that a largeproportion of those who work inagriculture and horticulture are youngrisk takers makes it likely that somewill sustain injuries and visit a doctor orhospital while in the UK.

Our interviews with key respondentssuggested that there were problems formigrant workers in getting registeredwith a local GP, due to surgery listsbeing full. Few of the migrant workerswe interviewed made reference to this,although one Portuguese worker whohad registered with no difficulty, hadexperienced problems registering hiswife, who was asthmatic. According tohis account the receptionist at themedical surgery asked his wife manyintrusive questions and demanded sightof her marriage certificate andpassport. When the passport wasexamined it was queried because it didnot contain an immigration entrystamp. Once again, as had happened toa number of other Portuguese workerswhom we interviewed, there was a lackof understanding from officials aboutEU citizenship and rights of freemovement. It was only after he hadmade a formal complaint that a return



to the surgery produced a change inprocedures. This time he said:

“There was a different lady and whenmy wife started to pull out herpassport and marriage certificate thelady said, ‘But why are you giving methis? I don’t need this’. And my wifesaid, ‘But your colleague asked me’.And the lady started to smile. So youcan see that it depends on theindividual, this is evidence ofdiscriminatory ...I mean, this is mycase, imagine how many more casesare happening.”

In terms of the quality of the medicalservice itself, our interviews withmigrant workers demonstrate that themajority of those who have used them,whether a GP or the local hospital,were satisfied with the service,commenting that they were “treatedwell.” Among those whose experiencewas very positive is that of a womanfrom China who is a medicalpractitioner:

‘I think it is a good service. I gave birthto my son in a local hospital, whichwas totally free. … Besides, I found thedoctors and nurses are very kind andtreat me very well.”

Of those who commented positively anumber made reference to the fact thatthe GP did provide translation servicesand this appeared to be an important

factor in their evaluation of the service.As one person noted:

“However, in the past I wouldn’t lookfor a doctor because there was notranslator there. I couldn’t explain myproblems. Now they have translators.”

In one case we were told that a Romarefugee organisation itself providedinterpreters. In another there was aSlovakian interpreter, although theworker we interviewed did not knowwho had provided the facility. We werealso informed of translation servicesthrough MENTER169 which wereavailable at doctors’ surgeries or otherpublic offices and many of thePortuguese workers we interviewedwere aware of the existence of this.

As indicated, while most hadcommented positively on the medicalservices, we did also interview someworkers whose experiences had beennegative. In one case a migrantworker’s friend had been diagnosedwith a minor ailment, when in fact hehad intestinal cancer and died within amonth. In this case the worker referredto delays and long waits in hospitalcorridors while his friend was beingadmitted to hospital. But there was noclear indication that this treatment wasrelated to the fact that the person wasa migrant worker. It may be more likelythat it reflects a generally overstretchedmedical service.

169 MENTER is the BME network for the East of England region



11.5.2 Access to sources of advice

Of all the migrants we interviewed, thePortuguese were most aware of theirrights and how to access them. Thismay be due to the fact that they werethe first of the new groups of migrantscoming to the region and that many hadcome with an intention to either settleor at least stay long term170. While othergroups of migrants have come to theregion with the aim of staying just longenough to save sufficient to financetheir aspirations at home, thePortuguese have established wellfunctioning community networks in anumber of towns in the East ofEngland. The appearance ofPortuguese cafés and restaurants andthe appointment of communityoutreach workers to service thiscommunity points to a two-way processof integration, between host andmigrant communities. This is evidencedin other ways, for example in theproduction of literature in Portuguesewhich explains entitlement to benefits.One Portuguese woman told us withpleasure that:

“In our English school in …, they gaveus a booklet. It explains a lot aboutbenefits to Portuguese workers.”

Another Portuguese worker explainedhow she had successfully applied for

Child Benefit and Tax Credits. Howevershe had also had to wait some time toget a National Insurance number andwhile on an emergency tax code hadnot been eligible for benefits to whichotherwise she would have beenentitled. This had also meant that whenshe had needed dental treatment shehad to pay for it herself, even thoughshe would have had been entitled tofree treatment had her tax and NationalInsurance paperwork been completed.

The existence of well-establishedcommunities and their assistance tonew migrants is also evidenced fromthe experience of those new migrantsfrom the Indian Sub-Continent who hadsettled in Bedford and Luton. In ourinterviews with Asian workers in thispart of the region they exhibited agreater awareness of the local servicesand benefits to which they had anentitlement. One worker told of howshe was claiming Child Tax Credit andWorking Families Tax Credit and hadready access to medical services. Shehad the benefit of a local communityand also had English friends who couldoffer support.

Without existing networks new migrantworkers are at a disadvantage inrelation to accessing services to whichthey have a legal entitlement. We wereinformed of the existence of European

170 Within the Thetford area Keystone Development Trust has produced an information pack, available through Libraries, Schools, Health Care services and other community outlets. The booklet is available in English, Russian and Portuguese.



Social Fund money to train serviceproviders in the main languages of themigrant worker community and thiswould without doubt be an importantadvance for workers, particularly iffocused on key services like JobCentrePlus, GPs, social security and InlandRevenue offices.

A source of advice available to allcommunities of migrant workers is theCitizens Advice Bureau and ourinterviews both with advice workers inthe bureau and with migrant workersdemonstrated how key this service is tonew arrivals in the region. AlthoughCAB workers told us that they arestruggling to service clients who do nothave sufficient fluency in English, somemigrant workers were very positiveabout the service, as the followingdemonstrates:

“One thing that I must stress – whichis very good – is that in the UK you’vegot the Citizens Advice Bureau, whichare very helpful. Because when amigrant has a problem he can alwaysgo to the CAB and the CAB gives thatmigrant the full picture. When I wentone time to the council I actuallymentioned to the person I spoke to‘Listen, I have been advised by the CAB(regards housing) to speak to a seniorperson and I would like to speak to asenior person’. And I felt that theperson on the other side of the counterto me felt the power – the force – of

the CAB. It was there and then. Themoment I saw a senior person I got aresult within 24 hours.”

11.6 Relationships within the workplace and the wider communities

Migrant workers coming to the regionhad mixed experiences about how wellthey had interacted with the hostcommunity and also with other migrantcommunities within the region. Wewere provided with evidence of warmrelationships and of goodunderstandings between communities,for example, in Thetford a successfulPortuguese market was held inNovember 2004 and a local Portuguesedelicatessen participates regularly inthe town’s Farmers’ Market. However,we were also told of migrant workersbeing subjected to hostility and abuse,particularly from the host community.Well-documented cases included theattacks in 2004 on a Portuguese pub inThetford. However, following this eventthe Keystone Development Trustreported that there was widespreadcondemnation of those involved in theattacks and many people came forwardto offer their support to the victims ofthe attacks, including the managementof the pub, whose premises weredamaged. Elsewhere we were providedwith evidence of harassment anddiscrimination. One key respondentsuggested that there had been a



70 per cent rise in racist incidents inthe region, although many had not beenreported to the police. Key respondentsalso pointed out that the general publicrarely differentiates between refugees,asylum seekers and migrant workers.Therefore, media attacks on refugeesand asylum seekers often createdgeneral feelings of hostility towardsmigrant workers, too, if not outrightracist abuse.

The cultural customs of new arrivalswere on occasion used as a justificationby the host community, for its lack ofwelcome to newcomers. For example,one key respondent, commenting ontensions between host and thePortuguese migrant community, saidthese were, in part related to the factthat Portuguese workers wouldroutinely take some wine with lunch,something seen as unacceptable bymembers of the host community. In onecase we were told of a Portugueseworker dismissed for having alcoholwith his lunch. For him this wasinexplicable, as it would have beenroutinely accepted in a Portugueseworkplace. An interview with anotherkey respondent, suggested that the factthat Portuguese cafés had tablesoutside encouraged young peoplegathering on the streets, somethingthat was viewed negatively by the hostcommunity.

Discrimination prejudices and bullyingare complex issues. Abuse by fellowcitizens is as possible as abuse fromstrangers and the recent arrest ofSolomka, a gangmaster in King’s Lynnconfirmed that exploitation alsohappens from within migrantcommunities171. While we would notwish to suggest that this is a majorarea of concern, our research did revealsome evidence of such tensions, forexample between old establishedcommunities and newcomers orbetween migrants from similar but notidentical cultures, for example thePortuguese in their relationships withBrazilians. One of the workers weinterviewed highlighted thesedifferences:

“When I had a lot of difficulties withmy brother and sister in law, I wassurprised with the solidarity I hadfrom the Brazilians whom I met here.This didn’t happen on the part ofPortuguese. We can perceive a lot ofrivalries even amongst themselves.They do not to help each other.”

Others expressed themselves more atease with communities, other thantheir own as the following examplesuggests:

“As far as Portuguese people, apartfrom my family, I rarely speak to any.

171 The Guardian Gangmaster convicted over ‘slave’ workers, p4, February 4, 2005



Probably it would be like that until Ileave the country. I think it is betterthis way. I like the Brazilian people. I have a special relationship with them.I think they are calm, that they don’tcreate problems for anybody. I have norelationships with other foreigners.”

A Polish woman whom we interviewedsimilarly felt that she was treatedbetter by workers from other areas ofEastern Europe, like Lithuania andLatvia, than she was treated by fellowPolish workers. We also found someevidence of tensions between othergroups of migrant workers, for examplebetween Russians and Ukrainians. Thiswas particularly the case whenethnicity correlated with job hierarchy,for example where Ukrainianssupervised Russians. The fact thatsome migrant groups appeared toagree to work for lower rates thanother groups also created tensionsbetween these groups.

Migrant workers’ experiences ofsuccessful integration were related to:

• having family members already in the UK

• the pre-existence of community organisations within the migrant workers’ ethnic group

• having children and becoming involved in local school communities

• friendly work colleagues• a shared passion with the host

community.

Perceived barriers to successfulintegration included:

• being without family members, creating a sense of isolation, a loss of roots and close friendships

• host community perceived as ‘cold’• the unfamiliarity or lack of

acceptance of host and migrant community customs.

In our interviews with key respondentsseveral made reference to theimportance of community organisationsas a way of integrating new migrants.However, other than for the long-established communities (like, forexample the Asian community,particularly in the West of the region) orfor those whose numbers and intentionto settle has assisted in thedevelopment of communityorganisations or networks (as with thePortuguese community), keyrespondents spoke of the difficulty insetting up such groups to cater for theneeds of new migrant workers, giventhat the workforce is often very mobile,shifting from job to job throughout theregion, or even beyond. Migrantworkers too, often put their successfulintegration down to there havingalready been a community in theregion. As one Portuguese workernoted, of his decision to move to theregion:



“Portuguese people came before that.Especially people from Madeira.Lately, a huge influx of Portugueseimmigrants is happening, because ofthe disposition of England to giveemployment to immigrants. I was inGermany before, but decided to comehere because I couldn’t speakGerman.”

Some of those whom we interviewedmade specific reference to theirinvolvement within the local communitythrough local schools. One woman toldof how her decision to settle and herfeelings of integration were related tothe fact that her children were now atschool. Another was involved involunteer work in her son’s school,even though she made it clear that inthe rest of her life (for example at work)she preferred not to get involved:

“I do however undertake somevoluntary work, such as bookkeepingin my son’s nursery school and mydaughter's dancing school in Ipswich,run by a Chinese association. I think Ishould make some contribution as aparent.”

Other factors assisting integrationincluded involvement in faith groups.One Chinese migrant had becomeinvolved with a Chinese association ofChristians, providing her withfriendship and support. The workplacetoo could be an area of integration, asthe following demonstrates:

“English workers, at least in the linewhere I work, are fantastic; they helpme a lot with the language; they arevery patient. I am the only Portuguesespeaker on my line. They speak veryslowly to me. The line setter as well,all very patient.”

Similarly, another worker whom weinterviewed commented positively:

“People are very friendly. In fact, theEnglish workers are friendlier than thePortuguese ones. In this factory peopleare extraordinary. There is a goodintegration between English andPortuguese.”

But the workplace could also be anarea of hostility and isolation. Whenasked about bullying at work, one of thekey respondents said that he personallyhad no evidence of bullying orharassment within his business. Butthere were established procedures inplace to ensure that this did not occurand also the business was run as afamily enterprise, with high levels ofsupport for the migrant workforce.

Within the NHS a key respondent tradeunion officer told us that his belief wasthat relations between migrant workersand immediate colleagues were goodand that migrant nurses were held inhigh respect. He did recognise howeverthat there was a problem of abuse frompatients, who complained that they didnot wish to be treated by ‘foreign’nurses. One of those interviewed



confirmed that there was significantpatient abuse:

“Not with the younger but with someof the older patients – those over 50 or60 you can get people saying thingslike ‘Bloody foreigners’. Things likethat – you can hear all the expressions– you get used to it, it goes with theterritory. I didn’t come to have a lowerquality of life than the one I had backhome. I came here to work, be likeeverybody else, to pay my taxes, I don’tlive on benefits, I work – if I have towork a 100 hours I will work 100hours, that’s no problem, and berespected. And I think that companydid not respect neither myself and thepeople who came with me.”

In contrast, in our interviews withmigrant nurses, we did receive reportsof bullying by English colleagues. Someinternationally qualified nurses felt thatthey were being treated like ‘servants’,and being called upon to ‘do all thedirty work’, especially where they wereliving on the premises. Within theprivate healthcare sector we were alsotold of harassment and abuse in privatehealth care homes.

In at least one case in the foodprocessing industry the union hasraised with the company the need forits managers to be trained on diversityand harassment issues. Some workersalso commented generally on poortreatment from supervisors. One Polish

worker interviewed believed that he andother workers from Poland and Latviawere not respected, “Englishsupervisors they don’t like some peoplefrom Eastern Europe. … we don’t likeEngland. Me and my friends.” For othergroups of workers, this feeling of beingtreated differently or coming from adifferent culture, caused migrantworkers to withdraw, as one Chinesesupermarket worker noted:

“I usually do not get involved in their[other workers’] activities orgatherings, and would go home assoon as I finish work. Because in thesupermarket, there are lots of women,and many of them smoke, which I don’tlike. Sometimes they ask me to writetheir names in Chinese and I do. But Idon’t like to get too much involved.”

In some cases, even though workerstold us of their experiences of hostilityand discrimination in the region theywere also clear that this did not meanthat they thought things in their countryof origin were much different. Workersrecognised that racism, bullying,harassment and discrimination were asmuch a feature of workplace relationsin their country of origin as they were inthe UK. Workers from Eastern Europeas well as workers from Portugal,frequently made this connection.

But for many migrant workers it wasnot the workplace but sport, andfootball in particular, that provided a



link with the host community (providedof course that they support the sameteam!):

“Yeah, they are friendly (the English).They like football like me. Because Ilove football, I love England because offootball. Manchester United…. I am fanof Manchester United.”

Those migrant workers who themselveshad a negative view of their lives in theUK, often related this to the climate,identifying not just the weather, but thepopulation as a whole as “cold.” OnePortuguese worker said that while heliked living in England, he did not likethe English very much “as they are toocold” and then immediately connectingthis view of the population with theclimate he went on to say:

“I dislike the climate, I prefer to benear a beach, in a hot place. I ammarried to a Brazilian woman andintend to stay here for two to threeyears more and then move to Brazil.”

Another migrant worker echoed this: “Itis not the weather that is cold. Peopleare cold as well.” But not everyone weinterviewed shared this opinion. APortuguese couple suggested thatcoldness was more to do with thenature of relationships in an industrialera. For them:

“The English are more concerned withthe human side of people than thePortuguese. The English are roughonly when they are drunk. (Male) Somepeople say that the English are coldpeople, but I disagree with this.(Female).They don’t interfere in other’speople’s business. Latin people(Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilians) aremore intrusive, judgemental. They onlycare about the weakness of otherpeople; they don’t notice their virtues.This is the problem of the Latinmentality. English people are morerespectful of people regardless of theirsocial class. Portuguese like tocriticize, to gossip about otherpeople.”

This chapter has made clear, based onthe research findings that well-beingand integration are very complexissues. Yet, where migrant workers arenot provided with information andsupport to access services, such aslanguage provision or banking facilitiesthey are disadvantaged right from thestart. Relationships with the hostcommunity and also within differentsections of migrant communities areequally multifaceted. While somemembers of the host community seemto treat migrants based on their limitedunderstanding of other cultures,migrant communities, even if theyshare the same language are far fromhomogenous.



The final chapter of this report summarises the main points, drawing conclusionsand making recommendations for policy and practical implementation.


1 Accessing training and appropriate language classes has posed particular challenges for migrant workers, despite a strong motivation to learn English.

2 Accommodation for some migrant workers was very temporary in nature, with seasonal workers, in particular being housed in caravans and tents. Some workers had accommodation provided by their employers or by the agents who accessed work for them. Whether accommodation was viewed as satisfactory or not was sometimes related to the aspirations and motivations of the migrant worker in coming to the region. Those who did not intend to stay permanently were less likely to find this type of accommodation unsatisfactory.

3 Most migrant workers experienced problems with opening bank accounts. The research suggests that these may often only be overcome with the intervention of their employers. Those accessing employment through agencies were disadvantaged because their ties to the employer for whom they worked were less well defined.

4 As an example of the successful delivery of key services, there were few complaints about medical provision, access or quality of service received, particularly where surgeries had provided translation services.

5 There were examples of poor community cohesion among recent and older migrants in the Polish and Portuguese communities, some disagreements among Brazilian and Portuguese workers and conflicts among British residents and migrants. At the same time there were examples of mutual support.

6 Many migrants missed their family support and felt isolated in a foreign culture.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS


The final chapter draws the findings together, presenting conclusionsand recommendations.

12.1 Conclusions

The evidence collected for this reportpoints to a continued in-flow of migrantworkers to the region. Migrant workerswill be required, to enable producers tocope with seasonal and supply chainpressures and for reasons to do withthe shortage of locally available labour,in a region where the unemploymentrate is just 3.9 per cent and where theclaimant count is just 59,000,contrasted to an estimate of over75,000 vacancies in the labour marketat any time (see chapter two: 2.4.2).There are 2.8 million economicallyactive people within the East ofEngland. It is difficult to ascertain withany degree of certainty the totalnumber of migrant workers in theregion, although their geographicalclustering in certain areas of the regionmay give an impression of inflatednumbers. And, more importantly, as therecent Home Office report shows172,Accession workers continue to gowhere the work is, helping to fill gapsin the local labour market andsupporting the provision of publicservices. The issue therefore cannot bereduced to one of numbers alone butrather has to focus on how to developpolicies that address key issues of

inclusion and integration to the benefitof the regional economy, by utilisingboth the flexibility of the migrant labourforce and by exploiting the skills thatmany migrant workers bring to theregion. There is a need to develop anintegration strategy that supportspeoples’ aspirations for progress whileat the same time ensuring that theregion has access to a pool of labour,willing to undertake work at alldifferent levels of skill.

Chapter five and in particular Table 5.1demonstrates the diversity of themigrant population in the East ofEngland, in terms of nationality, age,gender, skill levels and employmentexperiences. The wide variation in ageranges means that the region hostsboth new, young workers as well asexperienced and knowledgeable olderworkers. Equally the fact that themigrant labour force is made up ofmale and female workers, offersdifferent skills, experiences andattitudes to work. At the same timemigrant workers face similar barriersto UK workers, with widespreadevidence of occupational segregationbetween male and female jobs. Thereport also shows that migrantworkers’ intentions, regarding their

Conclusions andrecommendations

12

172 Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions; HM Revenue & Customs and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2005) Accession Monitoring Report, May 2004 to March 2005

139CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS


length of stay in the region, vary greatly,from those who are here for a shortperiod, doing seasonal work, to thosewho intend to stay in the region for anumber of years. However, thisdiversity also means that regionalpolicies need to take account of thepotentially diverse aspirations of themigrant labour force. Thus someworkers who come to the region haveonly a short-term aim to earn money,learn the language or to experience adifferent society. For others, inparticular older workers or thoseaccompanied by their families, not onlydo their intentions differ – they maydesire to stay in the region for a muchlonger period – but additionally they aremore likely to have experiencedunemployment or other forms of labourmarket rejection and this limits theirown resources for integration.

The research also highlights themobility of some sections of themigrant workforce, including boththose employed predominantly, butover a lengthy period of time, on casualwork and those whose intentions are tostay in the region only for one or twoseasons. But the research alsodemonstrates that these intentions arenot necessarily fixed and that they couldchange, dependent on the migrant’s owncircumstances and on their experiencesof living and working in the UK.

The movement of migrant workers into

the region could also be affected byfuture government policies. There arefew existing reports on migrants’perceptions of the current politicaldebate on immigration and on how itaffects their well-being173. But thedebate on government policies couldcontribute to a sense of unease, withinboth the new and the host communities.Additionally, as the research suggests,there are some tensions between, andindeed within, migrant communitiesthemselves. Some relate to theirposition within existing hierarchies ofdifferent migrant groups, others reflectolder historical differences, whichcontinue to affect relationships betweenthese groups even within a hostcommunity.

As chapter six has highlighted, migrantworkers in the region are highlymotivated, have high aspirations inrelation to their futures and those oftheir families and have dreams andambitions that go beyond their currentcircumstances. However, we have alsodemonstrated (see Table 6.1) that theirformer occupations in their country oforigin often bear little relationship tothe jobs that they currently performwithin the region. Importantly, ourresearch suggests that many of themigrant workers employed in theregion are working below their skilllevel and may indeed carry with themskills that are in short supply within theregion.

173 The Independent, The language of them and us can be lethal, Persaud, January 29, 2005



Chapter seven demonstrates how thereare complex and diverse motivationsbehind decisions to migrate for workand that there is no such thing as a‘typical migrant’. Motivations rangedfrom: a desire for new experiences:unemployment or low wages in thehome country making it impossible toprovide for dependants: a wish toimprove their knowledge of English:and family reunion. The report furtherdemonstrates how the opportunity formigrant workers to come to the regionto work enriches their own experience.Particularly in relation to many of thewomen interviewed, work had been aroute into wider society, which hadbeen welcomed. Women workers makeup large sections of the migrant labourforce within the region, from thoseworking in the caring professions tothose in seasonal work, such asagriculture or in the hospitalityindustry. But women workers do havedifferent priorities to male workers andwhile the research did not uncovermuch evidence of attempts byemployers and service providers toaddress these different priorities, theyclearly must form part of any futurepolicies on migrant working.

Chapter eight shows that there is atendency for particular national groupsto cluster around certain sectors ofemployment and as a result they mayalso be geographically clustered.Nevertheless the majority of migrantworkers in the region are working in a

relatively small number of sectors, withagriculture and food processingemploying the largest numbers,followed by construction. For manymigrant workers the experience ofcoming to the region is a positive one.The report provides many examples ofindividuals who have enjoyed theopportunity to come and work, with onlyvery few complaining about the workthey are required to do or theconditions under which it is performed.But this experience is not universal.The report also offers examples ofworkers who have been disappointed bytheir decision to come to work in theregion. These disappointments reflectaspects of their living and workingconditions, including pooraccommodation, long working hoursand poor pay. The fact that the researchhas evidence of workers, and not solelythe unauthorised or undocumentedones, being paid at below the minimumwage, is a cause of concern.Additionally the report also highlightsother unlawful practices on the part ofemployment and accommodationagencies, including the charging of feesfor work and for accommodation, bothunlawful under UK law. The reportpoints to the need for a workablestrategy at national, regional and sub-regional level, that values thecontribution migrant workers aremaking to the economy and enablesthem to emerge from unregulated,abusive low-skilled, low paidemployment.



Chapter nine deals with access to workand shows that many of the migrantworkers in the region accessedemployment, at least initially, throughemployment agencies. Some werebased in their country of origin butothers have bases in the region. Thereport gives a number of examples ofindividuals being charged fees by theseagencies to find work and in somecases the fees amounted to thousandsof pounds, the equivalent of years ofwages in their country of origin. As thereport demonstrates this puts migrantworkers in debt and in a position ofparticular vulnerability, in relation tothe work they are required to do. Thecharging of fees by employmentagencies is unlawful by virtue of theEmployment Agencies Act 1973, yetmany of the workers interviewed hadbeen asked to pay fees in this country,not just prior to leaving their country oforigin, where a different legal systemmight appertain. The report points tothe need for new measures to controlthe activities of rogue agencies and formeasures to advise and inform migrantworkers of their legal rights in thisregard. What the research was not ableto uncover was the extent to whichagencies and gangmasters alsoprofited directly from the wages thatthe third party supplier paid for work.Most of the migrant workers employedthrough agencies and gangmasterswere, at best, earning just the nationalminimum wage. They had no

knowledge of what the producer hadpaid for their labour and little say overwhat they actually received in payment.Where agencies and gangmasters didnot provide pay slips or other means, toenable workers to know the rate for thejob and the level of deductions, thoseworkers had no way of challengingtheir terms and conditions.

In chapter ten we document instancesof migrant workers being charged byaccommodation agencies to find themhousing. Again, the sums mentionedare quite significant, amounting toseveral hundred pounds. TheAccommodation Agencies Act 1953makes it unlawful for anyaccommodation agency to demand oraccept payment for registering anapplicant for accommodation or forsupplying the address ofaccommodation to let. But not only aresome workers being charged just tofind a place to rent, some also payexorbitant rents yet still obtainaccommodation which is ofteninadequate to their needs. We also notethat many workers had largedeductions made from their pay, notjust for accommodation, but also foruniforms and for transport costs to andfrom work. These were particularlylarge where individuals were employedthrough gangmasters and had to payfor transport to whatever site they hadbeen assigned to work at.



The research suggests that where thereis a trade union presence, migrantworkers are more likely to be workingunder similar terms and conditions tothose enjoyed by UK workers. They arealso more likely to have equal access tolearning and training at work. Casualand agency staff, who work in unionorganised workplaces, are also more likelyto experience better treatment at work.

At the same time the report stressesthan when looking at issues concerningworking conditions andaccommodation, it is also relevant totake account of the motivations of theworkers in coming to the region, theirage and their long-term intentions.Thus those intending to stay for arelatively short period of time havedifferent accommodation needs thanthose who intend to stay morepermanently. Again those with familiesor intending to bring their families tothe UK have altogether differentrequirements from those who are in theregion for just a season. The same, tosome extent is true in relation toworking conditions. Those who are inthe region for a short period of timemay be more open to working longerhours, if it results in higher earnings.

An important issue within the reportrelates to English language acquisition.This issue is dealt with in chapter 11,where the report notes that while adesire to learn English is an importantmotivator for some migrants, inparticular for younger workers,

available language teaching is ofteninappropriate to their needs. Migrantworkers find it difficult to access theclasses that do exist, due to theirtiming and also due to the nature of theprovision, which does not necessarilymeet their requirements, which may beto acquire a basic vocabulary orimprove an existing understanding ofEnglish, within a relatively short spaceof time. The report further notes thatthere is little employer assistance withEnglish language acquisition and thatthe supply chain demands, from thesupermarkets for example, have notbeen interpreted as an encouragementto make such provision available.

The report paints a relatively positivepicture of some social provision,particularly of medical provision in theregion; in those surgeries where thereare interpretation facilities there was ahigh respect for the service on offerand in general migrant workers whowished to do so had been able toregister with local doctors. A servicethat was subject to a lot of criticismwas banking and finance, with too manyexamples of banks refusing to openaccounts or giving long-establishedmigrant workers restricted bankaccounts which made them feel as ifthey were indeed ‘second class’ andtreated with disrespect. This failure tooffer appropriate banking facilitiesimpacts in a significant way on migrantworkers’ lives. Without a bank accountworkers ended up being paid cash inhand, a state more likely to be



associated with low paid employment.Without a bank account workers werealso unable to send remittances backhome in a secure and relativelyinexpensive way and instead wereforced to rely on the services of go-betweens, who charged large sums toundertake this service.

The report demonstrates that theregion hosts a truly internationalmigrant labour force. This couldpresent some businesses in the regionwith opportunities to foster economicand trading links, particularly in thenewly developing tiger economies ofthe Far East and in the emergingeconomies of Eastern Europe. Somemigrants currently working in theregion will return to their country oforigin to take up key positions withinthose economies as skilled workers,entrepreneurs, professional workersand managers. While those who haveexperienced rejection by hostcommunities, exploitation at work orpoor treatment will take with them anegative view of the region, thosewhose experiences have been positiveare more likely to encourage ongoingrelationships with the region.

12.2 Recommendations

The report makes a number of keyrecommendations for public sectororganisations. Whilst some of these areaimed at the East of EnglandDevelopment Agency (EEDA) themajority require action to be taken

forward by more than one organisation,and for these partnership working willbe the key. In making theserecommendations we are aware thatsome of the issues we have identified,as for example those related tochildcare or suitable accommodation,raise concerns that go further than justin relation to the migrant population.Good childcare provision is a quest forall parents, not just migrant workerparents. But, while we would wish toencourage good standards of serviceand accessibility for all, we believe, inrelation to these issues, that there arespecific matters that impact moreheavily on migrant workers. Theseinclude for example the fact that theyare more likely to work unsocial hoursand cannot rely on family and friends tohelp out and therefore need childcareprovision, other than the standard.Other issues, like orientation, cultureand language, need to be taken intoaccount for migrant workers.

The recommendations overleaf identifythe key organisations that most likelyneed to be involved in taking eachaction forward. Over the comingmonths EEDA will deal with it’s ownactions and will raise the profile of thisresearch with the organisationsidentified. EEDA will look to conveneand facilitate meetings with keypartners and stakeholders in order toidentify how the actions will be takenforward by the respective organisationsand partnerships.



Issue highlighted in the research Recommendation for action

Likely organisation(s)involved in taking

action forward

1.1 A lack of basic information on rights, sources of advice and general information

• General information material covering a range of topics to be made available to migrant workers when entering the UK, could be in the form of a welcome pack

• anyone coming into contact with migrant workers should have access to the general information material.

• UK Government• Government

Agencies• TUC

1.3 Insufficient training to local staff over entitlement to services

• Staff from a range of service providers such as JobCentre Plus, education and health care providers should be made aware of the countries whose citizens are entitled to access their services

• Information about, and the provision of services should be made available in languages spoken by migrant workers in locations where there are large numbers of migrant workers

• Consider implications of research in relationto the provision of JobCentre Plus services.

• JobCentre Plus • education providers• health care

providers

• JobCentre Plus

1.2 A lack of information regarding rights to written contracts and to the law in relationto the charging of fees for findingwork and accommodation

• Feasibility study, including review of best practice into how information about employment rights can be best communicated to migrant workers - especially in key sectors where large numbers of migrants are found

• feasibility study to additionally consider the development of a website covering all of the major elements related to migrant working to support both migrant workers and employers to secure quality outcomes.

• TUC• SERTUC• Employers

JobCentre Plus• EEDA

1 Access to information





action forward

1.4 Difficulties in accessing mainstream financial services, for example, setting up bank accounts, getting loans

• Influence mainstream finance providers to make access to financial services (including setting up current accounts, loans, transfer of money to home country) easier for migrant workers. Look at providing interim arrangements to provide facilities for secure money transfer for migrant workers

• encourage employers to support and assist migrant workers in setting up bank or building society accounts

• further research on individual financial inclusion is already being developed with regional Housing Associations and Credit Unions exploring pathways between different forms of finance and financial literacy training. The needs of migrant workers must be considered within this research.

• Home Office• Finance

Institutions• CAB• TUC Employers• Credit Unions• Housing

Associations• EEDA • Employers’

organisations and EEDA

1.5 Acceptance of new migrants from some sections of the host community

• Project should deliver clear key messages emphasising contribution migrant workers make to the regional and local economies

• that Community Cohesion Strategies promote positive links between migrant workers and their families, migrant worker communities, local residents, Black and Minority Ethnic communities and faith communities.

• EEDA and project partners

• UK Government and CRE

2.1 Difficulty in obtaining access to local services

• Services provision in all areas (for example, housing, health, education and childcare) should be delivered in such a way as to meet the needs of migrant workers.

• East of England Regional Assembly

• Local Authorities• Government Office

for the East of Englandand Regional Public health Forum

2 Access to Services





action forward

2.2 Compliance with public sector duty

• All public sector organisations have a duty to promote good race relations. The needs ofmigrant workers should be clearly incorporated and addressed within policy statements.

• All public sector bodies in the region

2.4 A lack of suitable childcare provision

• Needs of migrant workers must be considered when discussing, planning and delivering childcare provision.

• Local Authorities• Early Years & Childcare

Development Partnerships

• Learning and Skills Council

2.3 Access to contributory benefits

• Awareness of benefit eligibility of migrant workers needs to be increased, for example, Working Families’ Tax Credit

• given that some migrant workers only stay in the UK for a relatively short period, consideration should be given to how best to ensure that their National Insurance contributions deliver future benefits, for example in relation to retirement.

• UK Government

• EU and UK Government

3.1 A lack of availability of suitable and secure accommodation

• A survey of migrant worker housing needs to be undertaken

• needs of migrant workers to be considered and reflected in local/sub-regional housing strategies

• that assessments and inspections of housing strategies, strategic housing services and Supporting People authorities by the Government Office for the East of England and the Audit Commission should take into account responses to migrant worker housing needs

• recommendations from this research in the area of housing should be included within the action planning process for the Regional Housing Strategy.

• EERA

• Local Housing Authorities

• Government Office for the East of England and Audit Commission

• EERA and Regional Housing Board

3 Housing





action forward

3.2 Charges for accommodation and unlawful actions by employment agencies

• Penalties for unlawfully charging fees for accommodation should be reviewed

• review whether further restrictions should be placed on agencies supplying migrant labour. This could include a strengthening of penalties and/ or the increased enforcement of penalties on agencies unlawfully charging fees.

• UK Government

• UK Government

4.1 A lack of suitable English as a second language (ESOL) provision

• Needs of employers and migrant workers must be considered when discussing and planning ESOL provision

• ESOL provision should be tailored to meet the needs of migrant workers, especially in relation to the timing of classes and for the provision of short courses that may not necessarily lead to a formal qualification

• encouraging increased employer commitment to work-based education/ learning opportunities for migrant workers.

• Learning and Skills Council

• local authorities• FE Colleges• Regional Skills

and Competitiveness Partnership

• Employers’ organisations and employers in the relevant sectors

• TUC and EEDA

4 Skills and their under-utilisation

4.2 Difficulties in gaining re-qualification

• National academic system and the relevant bodies responsible for vocational training to review accreditation by prior learning and transferability of qualifications

• reduce the complexity and amount of time taken needed for medical staff to re-qualify in the UK

• UK Government• Qualifications &

Curriculum Authority (QCA)

• Regional Skills and Competitiveness Partnership





action forward

5.1 Insufficient information about migrant workers in particular sectors of employment

• work with key sectors across countries to explore how qualifications and training sectors across countries can be more closely aligned.

• UK Government • EU and UK

Government

• work with key sectors across countries to explore how qualifications and training sectors across countries can be more closely aligned.

• UK Government • EU and UK

Government

• Consider further in-depth research into key employment sectors where migrant labour is clustered - for example the hotels, tourism and catering sectors.

• EEDA• Sector Skills

Councils• Regional Skills and

Competitiveness Partnership

5.2 Dissemination of the research to other Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)

• Need to make other RDAs aware of the research and to encourage similar research in other regions, to allow for a more complete assessment of migrant working in the UK.

• EEDA

5 Regional Research

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BBC Inside Out “A New Life.” Oct 11, 2004 BBC News “Arrests made after England exit.” 25 June, 2004 BBC News Chinatown shootout link to Norfolk, June 6, 2003 BBC News “The Deadly Journey”, April 5, 2001BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4285431.stm, 22. Feb. 2005Cambridge Evening News

“Scam Fears at Asylum Centre, 17 Jan, 2002 Cambridge Evening News

“Chinese Sex Trade Claims at Oakington.” 10 Feb, 2001Der Spiegel, “Nivellierung nach unten.” 17 Feb, 2005Eastern Daily Press “Portuguese homeless living in barns.” 4 October, 2004 Eastern Daily Press “People Smugglers Get Five Years.” 14 October, 2004 Eastern Daily Press “Welcome Newcomer, what you should know.” 23 Sept, 2004 Eastern Daily Press “Fields of Dream”, August 23, 2003The Guardian “Café cleaner died in basement.” 28 April, 2004 The Guardian “Fear Drives Chinese into cockle beds,” May 3, 2004 The Guardian “Inside the grim world of gangmasters.” 27 March 2004 The Guardian ”Foreign workers in field and fen”, 24 July 2003 The Guardian “The gunpowder plot”, November 3, 2004 The Guardian “Polish workers lost in a strange land find work in UK does

not pay”, pp10-11, January 11, 2005 The Guardian “Gangmaster convicted over ‘slave’ workers”, p4, February 4, 2005 The Guardian “Labour’s migration squeeze targets unskilled”, p1, February 8, 2005The Independent Race and Refugee News Network

“Are Chinese Lives Cheaper?”, July 8, 2004 The Independent “On the trail of the Chinese snakeheads”, 10 May, 2004 The Independent “Migrant workers boost economy by £120m”, p15, November 11, 2005 The Independent “The Dentist’s Tale”, p 1-2, 5 March, 2005 The Independent “The language of them and us can be lethal”, Persaud, January 29, 2005The Times “Dole? We’re here to do a job of work”, p8, February 27, 2005The Independent “They’ve curbed inflation. They’ve curbed rates.

So why should we curb immigrants?”, p14, March 6, 2005 The Independent “Great Britons?”, p1, January 25, 2005 The Independent “Refugees could cut skills shortages and pay £100m tax”,

pp 1, 4 & 5, 14 March 2005

News reports

BIBLIOGRAPHY


Census 2001:http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=767&Pos=&ColRank=2&Rank=1000

Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, June 30, 2004http://www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/docs/eastchapter/east13/employment.htm#sectors

GO-East: http://www.go-east.gov.uk/Regional_Information/East_of_England/Population/

Government News Network: Easthttp://www.gnn.gov.uk/regions/default.asp?NewsAreaID=2&ReleaseID=-3&LocaleID=8

LIVES: information on Economy, Population, Government and Militaryhttp://worldinfo.amillionlives.com/Description-Portugal-3.html

Office for National Statistics (ONS);http://www.statistics.gov.uk/onlineproducts/default.asp

Min Quan: http://www.monitoring-group.co.uk/TMG%20services/minquan/min_quan_history.html

National Statistics for the Eastern region;http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/region_in_figures_summer04/East.pdf

Regulatory Impact Assessment of Gangmasters Licensing Bill.http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/ria/2004/gangmaster.pdf

id21 society & economy “remittances and development: providing funds for the poorhttp://www.id21.org/society/s5ajw2g1.html

Other websites sources

139MAP OF THE EAST OF ENGLAND


In order to place the sample and other findings within the geographicalcontext the following map of the region contains many of the locationswhere migrants were working at the time of the research:

Map of the East of England

Data Source:© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. EEDA 100031105 2005.© ESRI (UK) Ltd, © Bartholomew.

APPENDICES


Migrant Workers in the East of England - Key Informants Topic Guide

Issues to be covered in key respondentinterviews:

Can you describe your role in theorganisation?

Can you describe in what capacity youwork with or know about migrantworkers?

Based on your experiences, can yougive me an idea/ overview of migrantworkers you knowledge of? And if youhave the information, maybeproportions?

Demographics

• Where are they from? • How long have they been here

(years/ months/ weeks/ days since migration)?

• Is the migration temporary, i.e. are they staying only for a short time and then returning?

• Place of Work • Age • Gender • In which geographical areas (towns/

villages) do they mainly live? • Is this different for different

occupational/ ethnic groups?

Level of Education and skills

• Levels of education/ qualification, if known?

• Where qualifications were obtained (Country)

• Any skills training- e.g. woodworking, plumbing, apprenticeships, etc.?

• Where any skills training was conducted (Country)?

• Do they work according to their skills and qualifications levels?

• Are there any complaints/ problems with having qualifications officially recognised or recognised by employers? Can you describe who is most affected by these difficulties?

Work Related Issues

• Do you know which sectors/ jobs/ migrant workers are concentrated in?

• Do you know which (ethnic/ gender/ age) groups are concentrated in which sectors?

• How do they find employment - e.g. through agency (if so, UK or home country based?), gangmaster, Job Centre, through family/friend contacts, asked on site, word of mouth, other?

• Do you know if anything about any previous employment in UK and home/ other countries?

Appendix A

139APPENDICES


• To your knowledge did they have to pay a fee for finding employment? If yes, to whom?

• Have they come here through the Work Permit route or through SAWS or by other means?

• How easy/ difficult is it for them to switch employers?

• What are the obstacles? • How easy/ difficult is it for them to

switch occupations? • What are the obstacles?

Issues of Payment

• Do you have an idea about hourly/ weekly rates of pay in the sector/ workplace?

• Do you think, migrant workers are aware that there is a minimum wage in the UK and how much it is?

• Are you aware of migrant workers facing any of the following problems

• Irregular payment of wages? • Deductions from pay? (If so, what

for?) • Non-payment of wages? • Fines by employer (if so, what for?)

Shift Work and Working Hours

• Are you aware of issues of working time per day/ week that migrant workers in the sector face?

• Are you aware of issues of shift work that migrant workers in the sector face?

Language Issues

• What are the main language groups of migrant workers (in the sector/ city/workplace/region) ?

• How do you rate the levels of English?

• How do you rate migrant workers access to English classes?

• What do you think is the role of English language in

• Preventing migrant workers from working according to their skills and qualifications?

• Preventing migrant workers from accessing information about working rights/social services?

• Preventing migrant workers from getting their rights?

• Organising amongst themselves in the workplace/in the locality?

Hostility/Bullying/Harassment

• Are you aware of issues of harassment/ bullying/ that migrant workers face

• in the workplace? (from colleagues/ from employer)

• in the locality? • Are you aware of racism migrant

workers face? • Are you aware of sexism migrant

workers face? • Can you give examples of these?• Are you aware of any support

migrant workers receive to counter harassment/racism/sexism?

APPENDICES


• Are you aware of any responses to harassment/racism/sexism that migrant workers themselves have developed?

Other Issues

• Do you know if they have any established networks in the UK, for example community organisations?

• Do you have any details of how we could get in touch with such organisations?

• Are you aware of any other issues/ problems migrant workers face in?

• Accessing services? (social services, health, education)?

• Accommodation? • Any other issues we have not

thought to include? • Do you know if they have

experienced any problems through lack of documentation?

Are you able to supply us with thecontact details of any migrant workerswhom we should interview for thisresearch project?

139APPENDICES


Migrant Workers in the East of England - their skills and contributions

A survey of employers in the East of England

Dear Respondent December 2004

The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has commissioned the first piece ofcomprehensive research to identify the skills of migrant workers in the East ofEngland. The study by the Working Lives Institute at London Metropolitan Universityaims to find out the scale, geography and the characteristics of the current migrantworkers in the region. The research is believed to be the first of its kind as it aims todetail the skill base of migrant workers within the region.

Judith Barker, Head of Environment and Community Development at EEDA, said:“For years there has been no clear picture of the skills and the number of migrantworkers in the East of England. We intend this study to discover how these workerscan and do assist with the development of the regional economy. The research willlead to a better and more coherent understanding of where and how migrantworkers can make a positive contribution to the local economy. This is why a numberof organisations have been invited to join the steering group overseeing this researchto fully understand and build upon the results of the survey. These outcomes will beshared with employers to help them to target individuals with the skills they need inorder to ensure continued economic growth in the East of England.”

The steering group consists of representatives from: EEDA, EERA, Home Office,SERTUC, employers, community and voluntary organisations working with migrantworkers.

We have undertaken a literature review of migrant workers in East England and arenow conducting interviews and this survey of employers in the region. We aretherefore approaching you as an employer in the East of England and hope that youwill be able to contribute to the project by completing this survey.

The survey is designed to be very straightforward and it should not take you morethan 20 minutes to complete it. If you were sent an electronic copy, please return itby E-mail or print off copies to return it by post. If you were sent a hard copy, please

Employer survey

Appendix B

APPENDICES


post the completed survey back to us. Please feel free to forward the survey to otheremployers of migrant workers in the East of England.

We would be grateful if you could please return completed surveys by no later thanthe 10th of January 2005. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Dr Andrea Winkelmann-Gleed, Research Fellow Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University [email protected], www.workinglives.org

139APPENDICES


A SURVEY OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND

A YOUR ORGANISATION/BUSINESSPlease use the provided space for your answer and be as specific as possible.

Name of your organisation/business:

Your name:

Position:

Postal address:

Post Code:

Phone number:

E-mail address:

1 Which sector does your business belong to? (Please tick most appropriate)

Agriculture Construction Health Care, please specify: _______________________________________________NHS Hospital Private Hospital Care Home Food Processing Hotel and Tourism Catering Cleaning Manufacturing Other, please specify: ____________________________________________________

APPENDICES


2 How many people do you employ?

under 55-2020-5050-100100-200200-500500-1000over 1000, please specify:

_________________________________

3 Are you aware of employing any refugees? If so, how many?

__________________________________________________________________________

4 Is your business seasonal, ie do you need more workers at peak times?

Yes No

How many of these are migrant workers?

None1-55-1010-2020-5050-100100-200200-500 more, please specify:

_________________________________

If yes, how many additional people do you employ during the busiest season?


_________________________________


None1-55-1010-2020-5050-100100-200200-500 more, please specify

_________________________________

139APPENDICES


5 Do you regularly experience short-term changes or fluctuations in customer needs?

Yes No

6 About the skills required in your business, would you describe most posts as…

highly skilled, degree or professional training required skilled, formal/vocational training required semi-skilled, some on the job training unskilled other, please specify: _______________________________________________________

If your business does not employ any migrant workers, please skip questions 7-24 andgo directly to question 25.

B YOUR EXPERIENCE OF RECRUITING AND WORKING WITH MIGRANT WORKERS

7 Where do the migrant workers you employ come from? (please tick as many as apply)

Portugal other EU15, please specify ____________________________________________________Poland new EU states in 2004, please specify __________________________________________other Eastern Europe/Balkans, please specify __________________________________PhilippinesIndia China Africa, please specify _______________________________________________________other, please specify _______________________________________________________

9 Trends in the length of migrant workers stay in England – based on your experience, could you please tell us what the current trend of length of stay is? (please tick most appropriate)

Seasonal 2-4 weeks4-8 weeks8-12 weeks12-24 weeks 6 months-1 year 1-2 years 2-5 years Indefinitely Don’t know

APPENDICES


8 How do you recruit migrant workers? (please tick most common recruitment method)

directly from their home country through an agency based in Britain through an agency based in their home country through gangmasters other, please specify ______________________________________________________

10 What are the working times of migrant workers you employ?

Full-time Part-time, if Part-time, do the migrant workers you employ also work in other jobs?

Yes No Don’t know

How many hours do the migrant workers work per week?

Please specify: __________________________________________________________

Do the same workers return?

YesNoDon’t know

139APPENDICES


11 Do the migrant workers you employ work shifts?

Yes No

If yes, what kind?

mix of early, Late & Nightsdays only (9 to 5 or equivalent) mix of Early & Late nights onlyother, please specify: _______________________________________________________

12 About the skills that the migrant workers you employ have, would you describe most as

over-qualified for the job they are doing in England skilled, but not over-qualified semi-skilled, some on the job training unskilledother, please specify _______________________________________________________

13 Do you have a procedure for recognising the qualifications migrant workers hold from their home country?

Yes. If yes, what are these qualifications?

Please specify: __________________________________________________________

No. If not, why not?

Please specify: __________________________________________________________

APPENDICES


14 Do you offer any job related training to the migrant workers you employ?

Yes No

If yes, what kind of training do you offer? (please tick as many as apply)

language training, if yes, do you pay for this? Yes No skills training, please specify: _______________________________________________health & safety trainingother, please specify: _______________________________________________________

16 How do you pay the migrant workers you employ?

payment goes to the agency or gangmaster payment does to the workerinto their bank account weekly monthlyworker gets paid in cash weekly monthlyother payment arrangements, please specify:

___________________________________________________________________________

15 From your experience why do migrant workers come to work in England?(based on your experience, could you please rank these)

improve English work experience economic reasons refugee, asylum seekerother, please specify: _______________________________________________________

Do you have experience of existing migrant workers’ employment schemes? If so, please give details of the scheme and your assessment of it:

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

139APPENDICES


17 Where do most of the migrant workers you employ live? (please tick most appropriate)

with their family in locally available accommodation in shared, locally available accommodationin owned, locally bought accommodationaccommodation comes with the job, if so please specify:

temporary accommodation, ie Caravans single occupancy rooms shared 1-2 2-6 more: _______housessingle occupancy rooms shared 1-2 2-6 more: _______

social housinghomeless housed under the dispersal schemeother, please specify _______________________________________________________

18 Do you offer any assistance to the migrant workers’ integration into life in England?

Yes No

If yes, what kind of assistance do you offer? (please tick as many as apply)

access to housing help with setting up a bank account transport to get to shops and services information about local support groups, such a faith and community groupstransport to attend local support groups, such as faith and community groups information about unions sport and/or social facilities on site, please specify: ______________________________transport for outings and informal social trips support related to stress that the workers are experiencing support in visiting their home countryother, please specify: _______________________________________________________

APPENDICES


Where do you go to for information/support on the employment of migrant workers?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

19 Have you had any problems with the migrant workers you employ?

Yes No

If yes, what kind?

language access to services, such as GPs, please specify: _________________________________family related problems, please specify: ________________________________________other welfare problems, please specify: ________________________________________not sufficiently skilled for the job, please specify: ________________________________over-skilled for the job not motivated enough not getting along with their employerother, please specify: _______________________________________________________

Are these in reference to any particular nationality? If so, which

_____________________________________________________________________________

Please elaborate

_____________________________________________________________________________

139APPENDICES


22 How would you describe the impact of migrant workers on your business?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

20 From the migrant workers’ perspective, what do you think their problems are?



_____________________________________________________________________________

Please elaborate

_____________________________________________________________________________

21 From your experience of employing migrant workers, what advice of ‘good practice’ can you give other employers related to:

recruitment of migrant workers: ______________________________________________skills’ training related issues: _________________________________________________language related issues: _____________________________________________________payment related issues: _____________________________________________________accommodation related issues: _______________________________________________welfare related issues: _______________________________________________________other, please specify: _______________________________________________________

APPENDICES


23 If you are employing refugees, what recommendations can you offer other employers?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

24 If you were not employing any migrant workers, what would you do instead?

employ locally available workers reduce the size of the business outsource/move parts of the business, if so which functions ________________________ where to _________________________don’t knowother, please specify: _________________________________________________________

25 Within the next 5 years, do you think that the employment of migrant workers in the East of England will…

stay as they are now there will be more migrant workers, if so where from? ____________________________there will be fewer migrant workers don’t know

26 If you are not employing any migrant workers yourself, do you know of any employers who do? If so, could you please provide us with their contact details and an estimate of the number of migrant workers they might employ:

1 Employer: __________________________________________________________________

Estimated number of migrant workers employed: ________________________________

2 Employer: __________________________________________________________________


3 Employer: __________________________________________________________________


139APPENDICES


If you would like to comment further on any of the issues, please use this space

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR COMPLETING THE SURVEY PLEASE RETURN IT NOWEITHER TO THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESS:

[email protected]

OR POST IT TO: Dr Andrea Winkelmann-Gleed Research Fellow Working Lives Research InstituteLondon Metropolitan University 166-220 Holloway Road London N7 8DB

APPENDICES


Migrant Workers in the East of England – their skills and contributions

Unions’ Survey Please could you complete one copy of the survey for the national office. It would behelpful if you could distribute copies of the surveys to your union officials working inthe East of England (Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk,Norfolk). Please feel free to make further copies of the survey if required.

Dear Respondent December 2004

The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has commissioned the first piece ofcomprehensive research to identify the skills of migrant workers in the East ofEngland. The study by the Working Lives Institute at London Metropolitan Universityaims to find out the scale, geography and the characteristics of the current migrantworkers in the region. The research is believed to be the first of its kind as it aims todetail the skill base of migrant workers within the region.

Judith Barker, Head of Environment and Community Development at EEDA, said:“For years there has been no clear picture of the skills and the number of migrantworkers in the East of England. We intend this study to discover how these workerscan and do assist with the development of the regional economy. The research willlead to a better and more coherent understanding of where and how migrantworkers can make a positive contribution to the local economy. This is why a numberof organisations have been invited to join the steering group overseeing this researchto fully understand and build upon the results of the survey. These outcomes will beshared with employers to help them to target individuals with the skills they need inorder to ensure continued economic growth in the East of England.”

The steering group consists of representatives from: EEDA, EERA, Home Office,SERTUC, employers, community and voluntary organisations working with migrantworkers.

We have undertaken a literature review of migrant workers in East England and arenow conducting interviews together with surveys to employers and trade unions inthe region. We hope that you will be able to contribute to the project by completingthe enclosed survey in relation to employment in the East of England.

Trade union survey

Appendix C

139APPENDICES


The survey is designed to be very straightforward and it should not take you morethan 20 minutes to complete it. If you were sent an electronic copy, please return itby E-mail or print off copies to return it by post. If you were sent a hard copy, pleasepost the completed survey back to us.

We would be grateful if you could please return completed surveys by no later thanthe 30th of January 2005. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Dr Andrea Winkelmann-GleedResearch Fellow Working Lives Research InstituteStapleton HouseLondon Metropolitan University 166-220 Holloway RoadLondon N7 8DBDirect: 020 7133 3149

Email: [email protected]

APPENDICES


A SURVEY OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND

A YOUR UNIONPlease use the provided space for your answer and be as specific as possible.

Name of your organisation/business:

Your name:

Position:

Postal address:

Post Code:

Phone number:

E-mail address:

1 Which sectors does your union organise in? (Please tick most appropriate)

AgricultureConstructionHealth CareFood FactoriesHotel and TourismCateringCleaningManufacturingOther, please specify: ____________________________________________________

139APPENDICES


2 What is the size of membership in the region that you have responsibility for?


_________________________________

3 Are you organising any refugees? If so, what has been your experience with refugee workers in the East of England?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

4 About the skills required in the sectors your union represents, would you describe these as…

highly skilled, degree or professional training required skilled, formal/vocational training required semi-skilled, some on the job training unskilled Other, please specify: ____________________________________________________

If your union does not represent any migrant workers, please skip questions 5-21 andgo directly to question 22.


None1-55-1010-2020-5050-100100-200200-500 more, please specify

_________________________________

APPENDICES


B YOUR EXPERIENCE OF RECRUITING AND REPRESENTING MIGRANT WORKERS

5 Where do most migrant workers you organise come from? (please tick as many as apply)

Portugal other EU15, please specify ____________________________________________________Poland new EU states in 2004, please specify __________________________________________other Eastern Europe/Balkans, please specify __________________________________PhilippinesIndia China Africa, please specify _______________________________________________________other, please specify _______________________________________________________

6 Who are the employers of the migrant workers you organise and how many workers do they employ?

1 Employer: ________________________________________________________________

Number of migrant workers employed: _________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________ Post Code: ______________________

2 Employer: ________________________________________________________________


Address: __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________ Post Code: ______________________

3 Employer: ________________________________________________________________


Address: __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________ Post Code: ______________________

139APPENDICES


7 How do you recruit migrant workers? (please tick most common recruitment method)

through employers’ cooperationthrough a recruitment agency’sthrough gangmasters’ cooperation network among migrantshop steward’s initiatives recruitment campaignsother, please specify: ____________________________________________________

8 Trends in the length of migrant workers stay in England – based on your experience, could you please tell us what the current trend of length of stay is?(please tick most appropriate)

Seasonal 2-4 weeks4-8 weeks8-12 weeks12-24 weeks 6 months-1 year 1-2 years 2-5 years Indefinitely Don’t know

Do you have any comments about existing migrant workers employment schemes?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Do the same workers return?

YesNoDon’t know

APPENDICES


9 If you have knowledge of the working times of migrant workers in the sectors you represent, are they working…

Full-time Part-time, if Part-time, do the migrant workers you employ also work in other jobs?

Yes No Don’t know

10 About the skills that the migrant workers you represent have, would you describe most as

over-qualified for the job they are doing in England skilled, but not over-qualified semi-skilled, some on the job training unskilledother, please specify _______________________________________________________

11 To the best of your knowledge, are the qualifications migrant workers hold from their home country recognised at their place of work?

Yes. If yes, what are these qualifications?

Please specify: __________________________________________________________

No. If not, why not?

Please specify: __________________________________________________________

139APPENDICES


12 Is there any job related training offered to the migrant workers you represent?

Yes No

If yes, what kind of training? (please tick as many as apply)

language training, if yes, is this paid for by the employer? Yes No skills training, please specify: _______________________________________________health & safety trainingother, please specify: _______________________________________________________

14 How are the migrant workers you represent paid?

payment goes to the agency or gangmaster payment does to the workerinto their bank account weekly monthlyworker gets paid in cash weekly monthlyother payment arrangements, please specify:

___________________________________________________________________________

Any further comments on pay related issues:

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

13 From your experience why do migrant workers come to work in England?(based on your experience, could you please rank these)

improve English work experience economic reasons other, please specify: _______________________________________________________

APPENDICES


15 Do these arrangements seem satisfactory to the workers?

Yes No

If not, what do you do to address this?

__________________________________________________________________________

16 Where do most of the migrant workers you represent live? (please tick most appropriate)

with their family in locally available accommodation in shared, locally available accommodationin owned, locally bought accommodationaccommodation comes with the job, if so please specify:

temporary accommodation, ie Caravans single occupancy rooms shared 1-2 2-6 more: _______housessingle occupancy rooms shared 1-2 2-6 more: _______

social housinghomeless housed under the dispersal schemeother, please specify _______________________________________________________

17 How commonly are you dealing with complaints about…

a) Long working hours Very often SometimesRarely Never

b) Pay issues, ie large deductions, pay under NMW, irregular payVery often SometimesRarely Never

139APPENDICES


c) Issues related to accommodationVery often SometimesRarely Never

d) Harassment, discrimination, bullyingVery often SometimesRarely Never

e) Welfare issues, i.e. access to health careVery often SometimesRarely Never

From your experience in the East of England, are there any issues specifically related torefugees? If so, please tell us about them:

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

18 Do the employers offer any assistance to the migrant workers’ integration?

Yes No

APPENDICES


If yes, what kind of assistance is offered? (please tick as many as apply)

access to housing help with setting up a bank account transport to get to shops and services information about local support groups, such a faith and community groupstransport to attend local support groups, such as faith and community groups information about unions sport and/or social facilities on site, please specify: ______________________________transport for outings and informal social trips support related to stress that the workers are experiencing support in visiting their home countryother, please specify: _______________________________________________________

19 Where do you go to for information/support on the employment of migrant workers?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

20 Which problems do the migrant workers have whom you represent?



_____________________________________________________________________________

139APPENDICES


How would you describe the impact of migrant workers on businesses in the East ofEngland?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

21 From your experience of working with migrant workers, what advice of ‘good practice’ can you give to employers related to:

recruitment of migrant workers: ______________________________________________skills’ training related issues: _________________________________________________language related issues: _____________________________________________________payment related issues: _____________________________________________________accommodation related issues: _______________________________________________welfare related issues: _______________________________________________________other, please specify: _______________________________________________________

22 Within the next 5 years, do you think that the employment of migrant workers in the East of England will…


23 Within the next 5 years, do you think that the union membership among migrant workers in your sector in the East of England will…


APPENDICES


24 Do you know of any employers of migrant workers in the sectors you cover, if so, could you please provide us with further details:

1 Employer: ________________________________________________________________


Address: __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________ Post Code: ______________________

2 Employer: ________________________________________________________________


Address: __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________ Post Code: ______________________

3 Employer: ________________________________________________________________


Address: __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________ Post Code: ______________________

139APPENDICES


If you would like to comment further on any of the issues, please use this space.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR COMPLETING THE SURVEY. PLEASE RETURN IT NOWEITHER TO THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESS:

[email protected]

OR POST IT TO: Dr Andrea Winkelmann-Gleed Research Fellow Working Lives Research InstituteLondon Metropolitan University 166-220 Holloway Road London N7 8DB

APPENDICES


Migrant worker interview guide

Migrant Workers in the East of England Interviews with MigrantWorkers - Topic Guide

Introduction

I am from the Working Lives ResearchInstitute and together with othercolleagues I am working on a projectfunded by the East of EnglandDevelopment Agency. The project willcarry on until April 2005 andinvestigates the employmentexperiences of migrant workers in theEast of England. We are particularlyinterested in hearing about anydifficulties you may have had in comingto England, accessing employment andany work-related issues that havecaused you problems since coming toEngland. Please tell us about anyexperiences of unfairness or hardshipyou may have encountered throughoutyour employment and where you turn tofor help.

Anything you tell me will be treatedtotally confidentially and you will not beidentified in any reports we write.Please be assured that neither youremployer or anyone else involved inyour work in England will get access toanything you tell me. This interviewshould take approximately one hourand with your agreement I would like tointerview you today and record what youtell me on tape.

I will ask you a number of questionsabout your background and your workexperience in England. If you don’tunderstand any of the questions, pleaselet me know and I will try to rephrase it.If you feel uncomfortable about any ofthe questions and you don’t want toanswer it, please just let me know and Iwill move on to the next question. Thereare no right or wrong answers and Ijust want to hear your personal story.

Is there anything you want to ask me atthis point?

Are you happy with me using the taperecorder?

Switch on tape recorder: state date,time, name of interviewer andinterviewee.

Notes to interviewers:

• If, from the given response you are not sure that a question has been properly understood try rephrasing the answer to check that the response is appropriate to the question.

Appendix D

139APPENDICES


• If, from the given response you are not sure that a question has been properly understood try rephrasing the answer to check that the response is appropriate to the question.

• Try to maintain eye contact with the person you are interviewing, look interested in their responses and treat their responses with respect.

• Try not to lead the respondent to any answer, but be prepared to probe deeper if an interesting story emerges.

• Get the respondent to tell their story, giving examples of how they feel treated by employers, gangmasters etc. They may not use terms such as ‘racism’, ‘discrimination’, etc., but their examples will highlight the underlying issues.

• Please remember that some of the questions may be difficult to the person interviewed. If the interview partner requests so, switch off the tape recorder and offer to take a break. You can assure them by saying: ‘These issues can be very upsetting/difficult, if you like we can change the topic, but if you like, you are welcome to share with me what upsets you.’ It is possible to take a break and talk about different

things, offer them a drink and ask whether it is OK to start again. If the interviewee says no, then obviously you should not pressurise them. It is important though that they don’t feel being upset is inappropriate.

• Your own safety: if you conduct an interview in someone’s house, please call the project managers once you are at the house in the presence of the interviewee and again at the end of the interview. If we haven’t heard from you after 2 hours, we will check up. Make sure that the interview in conducted in a place that you feel comfortable with. Make sure that you carry a mobile phone and that we have your contact details.

APPENDICES


Contact details for the interviewee - complete at the end of the interview

Date of interview:

Interviewer:

Location:

Interview Duration:

CODE:

Address of the interviewee where the postal order will be sent to:

Name:

Address:

Phone number:

E-mail:

I understand that I will be sent a £20 Postal Order as an acknowledgement for my contribution to the project.

Signature Interviewer/field worker:

Signature Interviewee:

139APPENDICES


Any further contact details given by the interviewee:

1 ___________________________________________________________________________

2 ___________________________________________________________________________

3 ___________________________________________________________________________

4 ___________________________________________________________________________

A Background

1 What is your name? _________________________________________________________

male female

your age ___________________________________________________________________

2 Where are you from? ________________________________________________________

3 When did you come to England? ______________________________________________4 Are you

married single living with a partner divorced separated?

5a Do you have any immediate family (husband, wife, children, parents, brother, sister) with you in England?Yesdid you arrive together? Or did they arrive before or after you did?

Noare there plans that they will join you? (Probe: if no, is this linked to working conditions?)

How do you maintain contact with them?

_____________________________________________________________________________

Who and how are they being looked after while you are away?(Probe: pay, family members, etc.)

_____________________________________________________________________________

APPENDICES


5b Is your partner (if the interviewee has one) working? If so, in what capacity?

What are their skills and what did they do before coming to England?

6 What was your main reason for coming to England?(Probe: permission to work, temporary work, seasonal work, other reasons - seeking asylum, family related, etc.)

7 Can you tell me about your journey to England?(Probe: involvement of gangmasters, recruitment agencies, awareness of route taken to England, find out about possible illegal immigration, etc.)

8 Did you have to pay anyone in order to come to England?

Yeswhom and how much?

9 Where are you working at the moment? (Note: this will be explored in detail later)Employer Sector Town

10 How long have you been working there?

11 How long do you plan to stay in England?(Probe: is the migrant coming for repeated short-term work, one off short-term work, intending to settle, etc.)

12 Are you living on your own or with other people?(Probe: shared accommodation, hostels, etc. temporary accommodation, caravans, sheds etc. living with family members)

139APPENDICES


13 Have you had any difficulties with your accommodation?(Probe: is the accommodation tied to the job? Have you had difficulties when changing jobs or would there be difficulties if you changed jobs?)

14 How much do you pay for your accommodation?

B Education and Languages

15 Can you tell me about your education before coming to England?(Probe: minimum schooling, age when left school, secondary schooling, further/higher education, degrees obtained, where obtained etc.)

16 Did you speak English before coming to England?Yes - where did you learn it?

How well did you speak, understand, read, write?(Probe: did you understand an English newspaper, official documents, did you do an IELTS test, etc.)

No - are you doing any classes at the moment? How well did you speak, understand, read, write?(Probe: did you understand an English newspaper, official documents, did you do an IELTS test, etc.)Yes - Where?

Is your employer encouraging you? Paying for you? How useful are the classes?

No - Why not? (Probe: too expensive, too far, no time, etc.)

17 What other languages do you speak? read or write?

APPENDICES


C Working experience

18 What professional qualifications do you have? (Probe: any skills training, apprenticeships, professional certificates, etc. if so in which area? from which country?)

19 Is/are your professional qualification or degree recognised in England?Yes - are you working in your qualification?

Are you undertaking steps to get recognition? How long might this take? And who is supporting you?

No - how does this affect you?

20 Is the job you are doing what you are qualified for? (Probe: is it below your qualifications? If so, why are you doing it?)

21 Were you working before coming to England? (Probe: country, sector)Yes - how long for?

where? (Probe: skilled, unskilled, temporary, permanent, etc.)

No - why not? what were you doing instead?

22 What kind of job were you expecting when coming to England? (Probe: is where you are currently working what you had been promised? What you expected? If not, what is different now?)

23 What kind of job are you doing now?(Probe: details on skills required, sector, etc.)

139APPENDICES


24 Are you working on more than one job?(Probe: if yes, adapt all the following questions accordingly, asking about each job in turn)

25 How did you get this job, (these jobs if more than one)?(Probe: through agency, gangmaster, fried, job centre, etc.)

26 Did you have to pay to get the job? If so, how much? Whom?

27 Is the work temporary or permanent? If temporary, how long for?

28 Do you have a work permit? Or a seasonal agricultural work permit?Yes - how long is that valid for? No - why not, how does it affect you? (Probe: working conditions, access to housing, health care, etc.)

29 Have you registered? (Note: this applies to citizens of the new EU accession countries).

Yes - did you have to pay for registration? If yes, how much? No - why not?

Do you have a National Insurance Number? If yes, how long did it take you to get it?

30 How does your job compare with what you did in your country of origin?

Training

31 Are you doing any skills training at the moment? Yes - what kind? How long for? Where? Who pays? No - why not? Any plans in the future?

APPENDICES


Working hours

32 What are your working hours per day? And per week?(Probe: how many hours without a break? How many hours in a week? How are the working hours being monitored? Shift work?)

33 How do you feel about these arrangements?(Probe: is this what you had expected? Are prepared to do for a short time? If so, why? If not, are you doing anything to change this? If so, what?)

34 Are these arrangements normal for your workplace?(Probe: are there differences in the type/number of hours certain groups of workers work compared to others)

D Payment

35 Are you being paid? If yes, how much are you getting paid?(Probe: hourly, weekly, etc.)

36 Are there any deductions from your pay? If yes, what are these?(Probe: payment for housing, transport, etc.)

37 How do you feel about this level of pay? (Probe: is that what you expected? If not, are you doing anything to change it?)

38 Are you aware of the National Minimum Wage in England? (Probe: how does your pay compare? What do you think about that?)

39 Have you ever had any problems of not getting paid? If yes, please tell me about it

139APPENDICES


40 Are you aware of other benefits? (Probe: family, tax benefits, child support, sick pay, etc.) If so, are you taking any of them up? If yes, which ones?

E Remittances

41 Are you sending any money back home to support family members? Yes - how much?

how are you sending the money?

42 How does the fact that you have responsibilities in your home country influence the way you work in this country?(Probe: accepting bad working conditions, doing overtime, etc.)

43 Have you had problems opening a bank account in England? Yes - how did you solve this?

F Hostility/Bullying/Harassment

44 Were you a member of a trade union in your home country?

45 Is there a trade union at your workplace? (Probe: what do you think about it? have you had contact? If so, what was your experience? Are you a member?)

46 How do you feel treated by your supervisor/boss? (Probe: can you give examples, of bad/good treatment? Are you aware that this is racist, sexist, etc? Have you been threatened, bullied, harassed?)

APPENDICES


47 How do you feel treated by your colleagues? From England? From other countries? (Probe: is there any difference in how different people groups treat you? Can you give examples of bad/good treatment?) Are you aware that this is racist, sexist, etc?)

48 Where do you turn to for support?

49 Which networks do you know of? (Probe: community groups, voluntary organisations, unions, faith groups, etc.)

50 Are you a member of any? Yes - which ones and how do they help you? No - why not?

(Probe: is anyone preventing you from joining?)

G Future plans/ambitions

51 How do you see your prospects in your current job?

52 How easy is it for you to change employers? (Probe: have you done it, tried, planning to try, etc.)

53 How easy is it to work in a different kind of job? (Probe: have you done it, tried, planning to try, etc.)

54 Where do you see yourself 6 months from now?

139APPENDICES


55 Where do you see yourself 2 years from now?

H Life in the East of England

56 Have you had to visit a doctor since coming to England?(Probe: are you taking medication? Have you visited a pharmacy? If so, what was your experience?) Yes - how easy was it to get access to a doctor?

how did you feel treated? who paid for your treatment?

No - were you prevented from seeing a doctor? if so, who prevented you? and why?

57 Have you met new people since coming to England? Yes - are they from your country? England?

Other countries, if so, which? No - what do think is stopping you from making new friends?

(Probe: working hours, distance, language, money, etc.)

58 Would it have helped you to had better information in your home country prior to departure? If so, what information would you have appreciated?

59 If you had not come to England, what would you have done instead? (Probe: gone elsewhere, stayed at home, etc.)

I Mapping - further contacts

60 Do you know of other migrant workers like yourself? Yes - how many do you know of?

how many do you work with?

APPENDICES


61 Do you think that your experience is typical for people from your country? No - what do others experience?

62 Do you know of migrants from other countries? Yes - where are they from? where do they work? how many do you think there are?

63 Would you be able to give us any contact details for other migrant workers? (Note: please write these separately on the contact sheet)

• Check if there are any other issues that were not covered, but are something the interviewee wants to talk about.

• Thank them very much for sharing their experience and for giving up their time to take part in this interview. Say that you hope they didn’t find it too difficult.

• Make sure you have written down the correct contact details, as we would like to thank them later for participating in the interview and send them a £20 postal order.

Location/Region inE. Engl.

OriginPortugal,

China, E. Europe -

where?)

Age Male Female Currentjob/sector ofemployment

Pastqualification

139APPENDICES


Migrant Workers in the East of England - their skills and contributions

A survey of employers in the East of England

Dear Respondent January 2005

Supported by the East of England Development Agency the Working Lives ResearchInstitute (WLRI), based at the London Metropolitan University is currentlyinvestigating the demographics, geography and the characteristics of currentmigrant workers in the region. As part of this research we are very interested inhearing of your experience of employing migrant workers and we had sent you a copyof the migrant worker survey just before Christmas.

Some of you have already responded and returned the completed survey and wewant to thank you for your contribution. As Christmas is quite a busy period you maynot have had a chance to look at the survey, but we would still like to hear from youand have therefore extended our deadline for returning completed questionnaires tothe 31st of January. The survey which can also be accessed at our website:http://www.workinglives.org/eastenglandsurvey.html and it should not take you more than 10 minutes to complete it.

We look forward to hearing from you and thank you very much for your cooperation.

Dr Andrea Winkelmann-Gleed Research Fellow Working Lives Research Institute London Metropolitan UniversityStapleton House 166-220 Holloway Road London N7 8DB

Direct: 020 7133 3149 Email: [email protected]

Reminder employer survey

Appendix E

APPENDICES


Dear Colleague

Migrant workers in the East of England – their skills and contributions

Just before the end of the year we forwarded a copy of a survey questionnaire, whichsought information on migrant workers in the East of England. The aim of the surveywas to assist us in a major research project by identifying the locations wheremigrant workers are employed in the region and the links that your union hadestablished with them.

We have not yet received any completed questionnaires from the union and would bevery keen to have your input into the project, which is funded by the East of EnglandDevelopment Agency and supported by SERTUC.

I have enclosed another copy of the survey form in case it has not reached you andwould really appreciate if you could take the time to complete it and return it in theenclosed addressed envelope. Please pass it on within the union if there are othercolleagues who would have the information it requests.

If you could return the form by 31 January 2005 that would be very helpful.

With best wishes

Yours sincerely

Dr Sonia McKay Senior Research Fellow Working Lives Research Institute London Metropolitan University Stapleton House 166-220 Holloway Road London N7 8DB

January 2005

Reminder union survey

Appendix F

139APPENDICES


Funded by the East of England Development Agency http://www.eeda.org.uk theWorking Lives Research Institute (WLRI), based at the London MetropolitanUniversity is investigating the demographics, geography and the characteristics ofcurrent migrant workers in the region.

For workers:If you have come to the East of England from another country within the last fewyears in order to work here and are currently employed, we would like to hear fromyou. Please contact the project manager on: Email: [email protected]

For employers:If you are employing migrant workers of any nationality or origin, we would like tohear from you by completing a brief questionnaire which can be accessed at:http://www.workinglives.org/eastenglandsurvey.htmlPlease print off a copy of the questionnaire and return it to the address given on thewebsite.

This notice is valid only until the end of February 2005 - please remove after that.

Project flyer

RESEARCH INTO MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND

Appendix G

APPENDICES


Steve GrantJohn Colbert

Keith BennettJabez Lam

Nuno GuerreiroLukie Gooda

Ben RogalyRolf Toolin

Pauline LaneChristina Tarring

Pam WaltonKate McFarlane

Bernard MatthewsSecretary of the Eastern Region, Communication Worker’s UnionCambridge Independent Advice CentreMin QuamPortuguese Workers AssociationBreckland District CouncilSussex UniversityImmigrationWest Norfolk Primary Care TrustRefugee CouncilEERAEEDA

A Advisory group members

Steven GallacherLaurna ComptonLaurie HeseldenMartin Collinson

Mark AllisonMark Deas

Kate McFarlane

Home Office, Go EastEERATUCRegional Rural Affairs Forum, Employer and EEDAKeystone Development TrustRegional Skills Partnership Manager, EEDAEEDA

B Steering group members

Advisory- and Steering group members

Appendix H

139APPENDICES


PROJECT REPORTLondon Metropolitan University, 31 Jewry Street, London EC3N 2EY [email protected] www.workinglives.org

To view a pdf or to request further copies of the project report visit the publications and downloads section of the EEDA website at www.eeda.org.uk or visit www.investingincommunities.org.uk

East of England Development Agency, The Business Centre, Station Road, Histon, Cambridge CB4 9LQ

Telephone: 01223 713900 Fax: 01223 713940 www.eeda.org.ukwww.investingincommunities.org.uk

If you know anyone who needs this documentin another format or language, pleasecontact EEDA telephone: 01223 200822

Se conhecer alguém que precise deste documento emoutro formato ou idioma deve contactar East of EnglandDevelopment Agency (EEDA), tel. 01223 800822

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Jezeli znacie kogokolwiek kto musi mie c ten dokumentw innym formacie lub jezyku, prosze o kontakt z EEDA,tel. 01223 200822

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