Conditions of migrant workers

IN THESE times of tight labour markets and skills shortages, employers have to look to migrant workers to fill essential positions. Agriculture and fishing businesses in particular may well not have survived in recent years without the influx of labour.

Indeed, some firms have been able to expand based on the availability of workers.

Much effort has gone into ensuring that these immigrants receive the same pay and conditions as indigenous workers.

But there are still claims that unscrupulous gangmaster figures are exploiting workers willing to travel. There is little the industry in Britain can do to curb their activities, but they should be willing to question new workers about how they secured the position and if they have built up debt trying to get work in the UK.

For many workers who come from the poorest countries in the world, as little as one or two pounds a day is still a considerable wage.

But businesses cannot afford to be complacent about how their immigrant workers might be being exploited by middlemen intent on getting a sizeable chunk of every wage packet.