Migrant workers should be protected, says councillor

Published on 12th July 2007 in News

A Goole Town councillor has led the call for new legislation to protect the rights of migrant and agency workers.

Cllr Keith Moore, who is also the East Riding ward councillor for Goole North, recently tabled a motion calling for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) to write to the Secretary of State and urge him to adopt the Agency Workers Directive as soon as possible.

The directive would see all agency workers, from Britain and abroad, entitled to the same terms and conditions of employment as those employed on a permanent basis.

Cllr Moore said there were "too many abuses" happening, which were not conducive to social integration or community cohesion.

Asked if he knew of a local example, he quoted the incident of a female Polish worker who had had to pay a £200 'sweetener' to an agency in order to be introduced to a prospective employer.

"She got a job and was housed with six to eight males," said Cllr Moore.

"When she complained, her next week's wages went missing.

"There are reports about how good migrant workers are and yet they're paid substantially less.

"If this directive is adopted it would put a billion pounds into the economy because they'd have more money to spend."

Cllr Moore stressed that the motion had the support of all the East Riding councillors, regardless of political allegiance.

Conservative councillor Jane Evison proposed an amendment that the appropriate Overview and Scrutiny Committee should look into all the issues surrounding migrant workers and report back to the East Riding cabinet. This was agreed.

Cllr Moore added: "How ironic that, in 1909, Winston Churchill saw the need for wage regulation to bring about an end to the same sweated labour and threats to undercut pay that we are witnessing today.

"At a time when we are marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, this presents an opportunity for us as one of the largest employers in Yorkshire and Humberside to use our influence to bring about this change."

Peter Moran, chairman of the support group in Goole for migrant workers, Helping Hands, said he believed the directive would be a positive thing.

Nearly 1,500 foreign workers registered for new National Insurance numbers in the East Riding between 2005 and 2006 but the number is thought to be considerably higher.

Many workers come and go and Adil Kahn, racial diversity officer with Humberside Police, has estimated the number in Goole fluctuates between 500 and 2,000, according to the season.