Agency workers 'exploited'

Examples of abuse included: a Witney company which hired receptionists for a month at a time and then dismissed them without pay, ignoring their telephone pleas; and a Bicester pub food manufacturer who refused leave to a Polish worker after he severely injured a finger on the production line — and finally dumped him outside the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, without pay or compensation, when the finger severed completely.

And the report, which interviewed migrant agency staff confidentially, also found numerous cases of fraud in which tax and National Insurance were deducted from wages but not submitted — with migrants unable to report employers for fear of instant dismissal or accusations of wrongdoing themselves.

“Fear is the problem,” said Barbara Shaw, manager of the Witney Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB). “We commissioned the report because we knew there were lots of foreign workers out there who needed advice and help. And we needed more information about what was going on and, in particular, exactly why they were not coming to our door.

“The answer to that question, we learned after lots of confidential interviews, is that the workers are frightened of losing their jobs.

“But I want them to know that they can come here and speak out without fear. We are engaging staff who can speak to them in their own languages. It is tragic that some people are really suffering — when they fall ill, for instance — because they simply don’t know they could be eligible for sickness benefit.”

Agency workers in the UK, as was highlighted last week when BMW sacked 850 from its Cowley Mini factory, normally have no right to redundancy.

The CAB report was compiled by Jolanta Babiuch, who works as a project manager at the Oxfordshire Racial Equality Council and lectures at Oxford Brookes University. I asked her whether these agency jobs were not better than no jobs. Surely, employers might not take them on if had to give them the same kind of protection as permanent workers?

Ms Babiuch said: “They didn’t expect to be treated like commodities. There is a human rights question here. They came here because of this system in UK. They didn’t go to other countries so much because agency workers are more regulated there. More numbers here, but fewer rights. Also, because they come from former Communist regimes, they are frightened of officialdom and authority.”

Ms Babiuch stressed that it is the lack of regulation of agency workers of any nationality (including British) which is the problem, but said that within that lightly regulated system, migrant workers bear a particular burden: they need to register their presence here or risk losing state benefits to which they are entitled. And about 40 per cent do not do so, and then receive no help from anyone.

The whole issue of agency workers and migrants is fast turning into a major campaign point for Polish-born Ms Babiuch and her husband, Jonathan Luxmoore, a journalist who worked in Poland between 1988 and 2001. He wrote in this week’s issue of Roman Catholic magazine The Tablet: “Evidence suggests exploitation and illegality are now widespread. A recent survey for the Citizens Advice Bureau network in the genteel middle-class surroundings of Oxfordshire revealed practices tantamount to bonded labour, by which incoming East European migrants were forced to pay hefty deposits, which they forfeited if they quit their jobs and assigned accommodation.”

He told The Oxford Times that many employers knew of migrants’ hardships, but also knew they were powerless. He added that there were about 25,000 migrant workers from Eastern Europe in Oxfordshire, of whom a quarter do not even receive the minimum wage.

And he warned that reports that many East Europeans are now returning home should also be treated with caution since migrants keep a low profile and no firm figures have been kept.

In an ironical twist, most Oxfordshire employers questioned for the survey said they preferred East Europeans to British workers. One Witney factory director told the survey: “Though they are often over-qualified, they show no sign of frustration, as English people would.”

He added: “I’m worried that if the Poles go home, there’ll be no capacity among people here for for the kind of work I need.”

The situation has led to Oxfordshire Councty Council creating a new community worker position, jointly funded with the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust.

Anne Honeyball, head of Oxfordshire County Council’s community development team, said: "The role of the community worker will be to strengthen links and open up communication channels between public services and groups of EU migrants, to help people get access to services and the right advice on a wide range of issues."

Ms Shaw said the situation in West Oxfordshire was no different to that in other parts of the country, but Ms Babiuch pointed out that in apparently affluent, rural areas such as this, some migrant workers can feel particularly isolated.

With the help of Ms Babiuch, the Witney CAB has proved a pioneer in this field. It brought the issue before the CAB AGM in 2008 in York, and also ran a workshop at the CAB south east regional social policy conference on how to help migrants.

Ms Babiuich said: “East Europeans need to know that they can find help — and the CAB is doing an excellent job. On the social policy level, Britain needs to regulate agencies far more than they do. Agency workers are in a grey area: not employed, but hired.”

She added: “Now, in the recession, when the economic situation is changing, is the time for the Government to change its policy.”

Francis Davis, of Oxford University’s Las Casas Institute (operating from the Catholic Blackfriars Hall) agrees. Co-author of a 2007 report into migrant workers, he points out that their misfortunes are not just the fault of unscrupulous agencies but also a consequence of the UK’s deliberate policy to expand its low-wage sector. Many East Europeans are Catholics, and seek help from priests.

Mr Davis said: “We do need better regulation of agencies. The worst of them go to East European countries and promise prospective workers the earth — and then exploit them when they get here.

“We found that although Britain has more agency workers than any other EU country, it was the only nation not to insist on a Care and Support of Migrants initiative in its Anti-Poverty Action Plan.”

He added: “Once they are here, they need signposting to places where they can get the right advice in the right language.”