Short-term migrant workers coming to UK ‘at risk of exploitation’ through temporary visa scheme

Migrant workers could become victims of worsening exploitation under the government’s temporary visa scheme, according to leading labour rights activists.

The programme aims to bring 10,500 temporary poultry workers and HGVdrivers to the UK for six months to ease labour shortages.

But Barbara Drozdowicz, chief executive of the East European Resource Centre – an organisation that works to keep Central and Eastern European migrants out of poverty –labelled the scheme “plainly dangerous”.

“This is where spirals of abuse start,” she said.

“There is already a tradition of exploitation and limited access to justice for short-term migrant workers. If we tie visas to this type of extremely short employment, it only opens the field up for more exploitation.

“With the short-term visas, you cannot change your job; you don’t even have time to complain because it’s already Christmas.”

The Home Office acknowledged these pitfalls in a statement, where they stressed that the programme was devised under intense time pressure.

“We took immediate action to increase the supply of HGV drivers and poultry workers, streamlining the testing process and introducing short term visas,” a spokesperson said.

A lack of housing provision and services

The scheme, as it stands, also fails to account for adequate housing and welfare arrangements and access to healthcare and essential services.

“There will have to be some sort of housing set-up because they won’t be able to get private leases for under three months,” said Ms Drozdowicz.

Inadequate services could also see an expansion of grey markets in host communities.

She said: “People have to find a way to finance themselves. If they’re not allowed bank accounts or loans or housing, something will have to replace that.”

She predicts that “loan sharks and other unsavoury financial practices” will become more popular if people cannot access the NHS or borrow money, which will see a rise in crime and debt.

The solution, she said, is “longer visas that include protections. At least one year, where it makes sense for people to leave their jobs at home to take jobs here. Anything less than that, who is going to drop everything at home?”

She also recommends improving labour inspectorates and removing the firewall between immigration and employment.

“Migrant workers need to be able to go to the state without fear of punishment. Currently, if something goes wrong, the first thing they check is your immigration status, even if this has nothing to do with the crime you are reporting. This is even more common with any sort of labour exploitation issues and hate crimes.”

The Home Office argued that worker exploitation is “a global problem and we have been working closely with industry for months to understand how we can boost recruitment but we also want to see long-term solutions delivered by employers through improved testing and hiring, with better pay and working conditions.”

Changing the narrative on immigration

But Ms Drozdowicz called for a systemic overhaul of migrant attitudes in the UK.

“The first step is changing the migration narrative. Britain has a very bad reputation, and this reputation has been earned in the last ten years.”

Neil Clarke, the regional political officer of Unite North West, argues that these traditions of abuse precede Brexit.

“Years ago, in the meat processing industry, I witnessed migrant workers being housed in overcrowded terraced houses in appalling conditions,” recalled Mr Clarke.

“Some had no option but to sleep on the lounge floor with their belongings at their side. Service charges were deducted by an agency directly from their wages, but the services that they were paying for were not being provided and many were too frightened to even speak to us about their plight. It was horrendous.”

What the government is saying

A government spokesperson said that “ensuring seasonal workers receive suitable accommodation is one of the core responsibilities placed on the scheme operators as part of their licence.

“We place strict reporting requirements on all operators to safeguard migrant welfare. They are all fully regulated by the Gangmasters Labour Abuse Authority, and are required to comply with all relevant UK legislation.”

But statutory protections and formal rights to organise are not enough, Mr Clarke argued.

“Without support, the means and facilities to assert one’s legal rights, those rights are rendered meaningless,” he said.

“What provisions have been put in place to ensure that these temporary workers have  suitable accommodation, safety, security, reasonable working hours, and a decent wage?

“The temporary workers are drawn into long-hour, low-pay, high-fatigue, insecure environments, and their only crime is desperately seeking work to escape poor economic circumstances. Their exploitation often starts long before they step foot in the UK, it begins when they are misled about what awaits them here.”

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