MIGRANT WORKERS BUILDING THE ENGLISH ECONOMY

"workers are still frightened to come forward to report poor treatment from employers, as they are afraid of losing their jobs."

"We lived six to eight people in one caravan, with not much space - about half a metre at the end of the bed"

"People would walk through our room to get to the shower, so my friend and I had to push the wardrobe up to the bed to get some privacy,"

"Some even have to hotbed - this is where one worker gets up for a shift and the bed is then occupied by a co-worker who has finished a shift."

"I was known by a number and not my name, as we all were.
"We had to put a sticker with our number on all the trays we packed and that is what the supervisors would call us ... I was known as 137."

"We weren't allowed to talk to each other either. Eating was also a problem, there was no refrigerator and we only had one or two toilets for 100 workers."
Reports the BBC

PORTUGUESE WORKERS IN ENGLAND

270 workers laid off
-32 return
-22 leave
=
216 in lay off, reports the BBC

Bernard Matthews goes organic.

EUROPEAN MOBILITY

Working and Learning within the EU

LIVING IN ENGLAND

Individual Stories from the Project supported by

Birmingham City Archives (BCA)
Black Cultural Archives (BCA)
Bradford Heritage Unit (BHU)
British Library (BL)
Croydon Museum & Heritage Service (CMHS)
Hackney Museum (HM)
Haringey Museum and Archive Service, Bruce Castle Museum (HMA)
Hull City Archives (HCA)
Imperial War Museum (IWM)
Jewish Museum, London (JML)
Lancashire Record Office (LARO)
Leeds Museums & Galleries (LMG)
Liverpool Record Office (LRO)
London Metropolitan Archiv

WORKING IN ENGLAND

A year in the life of a migrant worker

PORTUGUESE IN ENGLAND

Historical database

BENEFITS FOR THE UK ECONOMY

"Migrant workers contribute about £360m a year in tax revenue in the East of England alone". DEFRA

CHILD LABOUR

In Portugal

CHILD LABOUR

In the Guardian

Between a rock and a hard place - how UK patios rely on child labour

WORKING IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND

What is the East of England?

MIGRANT WORKERS CONFERENCE

In Lincoln April 2007

See the presentations
Sean Banford TUC and others

WORKING CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND

"Alex took me to see Mario, who’s 59. He came to Britain with his partner, Yokina, five years ago and has worked for a number of agencies since. Showing me a typical payslip Mario said he
was baffled by a £20 deduction under the heading “advance” and another unexplained debit of £44.75. They helped cut his pay from £400 to little more than £160. But Mario’s problems really began when both he and Yokina fell ill and couldn’t work, so they couldn’t pay their
rent and their agency wasn’t pleased.

He contacted the agency and we explained what was going on, and they said, “well if you’re both sick you have to leave, there’s no more work for you and you have to leave your
accommodation tomorrow.” A few days later three men came, a van driver which we know from the agency because he used to drive us to work and two more men that we’ve never seen them before, they were very big and very threatening and they told me you have to leave this
house immediately.
BBC

WORKING CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND

"It’s difficult work. You have to keep up with machinery, although you’re just human, because there’s a certain target the factory wants to achieve and they don’t care if you’re tired, or if you’ve been working too much. They just want to achieve that target in production. You go home, you’re tired, there’s a lot of people in the house, you don’t have a lot of comfort. So you sleep, you get out of bed at 4 o’clock in the morning you go back to work

In return Alex was paid around £4.70 an hour, only just above the minimum wage, but that was before a host of deductions made by his agency. They sometimes left him with as little as £30 a week in his pocket. Deductions like the cost of transport to and from work, despite Alex says being told in Portugal this was already paid for. The agency also took £50 a week for accommodation, a small room which Alex had to share with two others. But when he found somewhere better to live, Alex says his agency refused to give him any more work". BBC

EN FRANCE

Les Portugais en France par Vitor Pereira

TEA4US

Sebastião Salgado

WORKING

Sebastião Salgado

INTERNATIONAL

Magnum

PORTUGAL

Arte PhotoGraphica Fernando Lemos Eduardo Gageiro

BERNARD MATTHEWS BUSINESS STRATEGY

"Bernard Matthews plans to overhaul its product and packaging range, adjusting its product portfolio to align itself with the health mega-trend, currently the most important consumer trend. The company hopes the overhaul of its products, to include less salt, and fat and more premium deli style offerings, will counteract the adverse effects of the recent negative publicity surrounding the company." Food Business Review Online

INVESTIGATION INTO BERNARD MATTHEWS

The Food Standards Agency found no evidence. DEFRA will report in the next few weeks. In the Guardian

MIGRANT WORK IN THE UK

"PricewaterhouseCoopers enters a vigorous debate about whether immigration has a positive impact on the UK economy." In the Guardian Read PWC's report

WORKING IN THE UK

The TUC report on Agency workers produced as a response to the Department of Trade and Industry's consultation into agency workers’ rights, (20 February – 31 May 2007)

WORKERS' RIGHTS IN THE MEAT AND POULTRY INDUSTRY

"But workers [in the meat and poultry industry] ... contend with conditions, vulnerabilities, and abuses which violate human rights."

Blood, Sweat, and Fear. The Human Rights Watch Report and recent legislation

CASE STUDIES. Photos available at Human Rights Watch. More cases here and report on working conditions here

"Working conditions in U.S. meat and poultry plants should trouble the conscience of every American who eats beef, pork or chicken." Says the Washington Post

See the submission to Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Committee on Migrant Workers here

I THINK WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW ...

It is not the first time it happens.
I see this as an ongoing argument. Listen to T. Benn

WORKING IN ITALY

"The migrants who work on Europe's fruit and olive harvests live on meagre wages, forced to survive in conditions that would fail to meet the UN's basic standards for refugee camps. Photographs by Christian Sinibaldi.

Read Felicity Lawrence's report from southern Italy on the dark side of the Christmas orange harvest.

EXPRESSO ON WORKERS AT BERNARD MATTHEWS

The translator of the Portuguese workers in layoff in England. See and listen here
"Não tenho dinheiro para regressar a Portugal!" Read here
Working at Bernard Matthews. See images here
Waiting for the future. Listen and see here

EXPRESSO REPORTS ON PORTUGUESE WORKERS IN ENGLAND

Portuguese workers in England

T&G MAKES HARDSHIP PAYMENTS TO WORKERS AT BERNARD MATTHEWS

There remain around 300 workers who have been laid off at Bernard Matthews.

INFORMATION IN PORTUGUESE

Direitos Laborais no Reino Unido

Informação do Departamento de Comércio e Indústria Britânico

Escolas em Herfordshire

Impostos

Ciencia nas Escolas

CONTACT

PORTUGUESE WORKERS’ PROJECT

TELEPHONE
0207 467 1256 (Leave Message)

EMAIL
ctp@tuc.org.uk

ADDRESS
Portuguese Workers Project
Trades Union Congress
Congress House
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3LS

UNION'S £200 TURKEY WORKER LIFELINE

Lattest financial measure to help workers laid off at Bernard Matthews

BERNARD MATTHEWS ESCAPES PROSECUTION

Bernard Matthews escapes legal action. Financial Times
BM will not face prosecution despite highly critical reports by inspectors on food safety lapses at the plant. The Telegraph

What is the situation with workers' health?

"... if the media said anything it would be in English and many people would not understrand." "Vêm cá todos porque a comunicação social inglesa não diz nada sobre os portugueses e mesmo que dissesse era em inglês e muita gente não entende. Por isso temos de ver a televisão portuguesa para entender melhor "

DEBATE ON COMPENSATION FOR THE FOOD INDUSTRY

What is being debated?
Follow the debate here, in Parliament, with government and here and in a farmer's blog
There was a call for compensation of workers at Bernard Matthews. Is it being discussed?

BERNARD MATTHEWS REVEALS NEW BBQ DINING RANGE

Bernard Matthews Food Service has revealed a host of ideas for barbecues, including new turkey breast steaks, turkey medallions and, for kebabs, diced turkey breast from the company’s ingredients range. In meatinfo.co.uk

WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE WORKERS AT BERNARD MATTHEWS?

Staff are entitled to make a claim for redundancy four weeks after being laid off, but few have done so as most have been with the company for less than two years and will receive no redundancy payments. Reports the local paper

BERNARD MATTHEWS LAYS OFF YET MORE WORKERS

A further 35 workers are due to be laid off . Reports the BBC
This brings the total number of staff laid off to 270. In meatinfo.co.uk

TRADE UNION BRITISH-PORTUGUESE COOPERATION

Union organisation and representation is also vital – at a pan-European level. Cross-border co-operation isn’t wholly new (many unions operatein Britain and Ireland, for example) but it is becoming more common. This year, shipping officers’ union Numast began to merge with its Dutch equivalent to form Nautilus. The TUC has a long-standing agreement with the CGTP-IN in Portugal to represent Portuguese workers in Britain, renewed in April this year. Says Owen Tudor International Secretary, TUC

TUC COOPERATION WITH PORTUGUESE WORKER'S ASSOCIATION

Supporting trade union organisation in the underbelly of the British economy, if need be in innovative forms, is an essential weapon in the struggle against trafficking. The TUC's cooperation in Britain with the Portuguese Workers' Association and Federation of Poles in Britain and the bilateral agreements with their respective national trade unions have demonstrated that such approaches can yield real benefits for workers, not just in promoting their organisation in British trade unions while they are working in Britain, but also warning them in their home countries of the recruitment activities of unscrupulous labour suppliers there. Such trade union activity is resource intensive and Government support for the development of similar approaches with trade union organisations in other sending countries would be welcomed. TUC evidence to Parliament

PORTUGUESE WORKERS: STATS UK

More than 20000 Portuguese workers are employed in agriculture, cleaning and the hospitality industry

PORTUGUESE WORKERS IN LINCOLNSHIRE

- very long hours
- pay below minimum wage
- dangerous working conditions
BBC

PORTUGUESE WORKING IN SHEFFIELD

It is a well known fact that workers from many parts of Europe, particularly Portugal, and we have had many Portuguese workers over here who are exploited right to the hilt. Many of them are not prepared to tell us of the terms and conditions that have been imposed upon them until they have fallen foul of their employers over here. And then in a moment of pique they reveal everything that has been happening, the kind of earnings that they have been getting, and the fact that in terms of what they were paid to work in this Country they were seriously undermining our terms and conditions. This is the point that we have got to take on board. Sheffield Trades Union Council Delegate Meeting

THE PORTUGUESE WORKERS PROJECT - TRABALHADORES PORTUGUESES EM INGLATERRA

As a result of the protocol between the TUC - the British Trade Union Congress - and CGTP - the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers - the Portuguese Workers project is a source of immediate support for working people in the UK

TUC-CGTP PORTUGUESE WORKERS’ PROJECT

For Portuguese Speakers TUC - (Portuguese Workers’ Project) Tel: 0207 467 1256 (to leave a message) E-mail: ctp@tuc.org.uk
TUC Portuguese Workers’ Project, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B3LS

THE MOVEMENT IN BRISTOL TO ABOLISH SLAVE TRADE

"The absence of conflict is not evidence of the presence of peace." The report of Marvin Rees from Bristol

FEMINIZATION OF WORKING POVERTY

More women then ever before are in work, but a persistent gap in status, job security, wages and education between women and men is contributing to the "feminization of working poverty", according to a new report by the International Labour Office (ILO): Global Employment Trends for Women Brief - 2007

THE REPORT OF THE WORLD COMMISSION

There is an urgent need to rethink current institutions of global economic governance, whose rules and policies it says are largely shaped by powerful countries and powerful players. The unfairness of key rules of trade and finance reflect a serious "democratic deficit" at the heart of the system. The failure of policies, it argues, is due to the fact that market-opening measures and financial and economic considerations have consistently predominated over social ones, including measures compatible with the prerogatives of international human rights law and the principles of international solidarity. Says the Report of the World Commission on the Social dimension of Globalization

FORCED LABOUR: DECEPTION OR FALSE PROMISES ABOUT TYPES AND TERMS OF WORK

The International Labour Organization - ILO- defines deception or false promises about types and terms of work as being forced labour

FORCED LABOUR IN EUROPE

EuropeTrafficking appears to be the main route into forced labour in Europe. While much of the attention has been focused on victims of sexual exploitation, there is growing evidence that many are being trafficked for forced labour in agriculture, domestic service, construction work and sweatshops. Victims of forced labour in Europe come mainly from Asia, former Soviet republics, Eastern Europe and Africa.

Go to the European Industrial Relations Observatory

THE WORLD OF MODERN CHILD SLAVERY

When it is mentioned we tend to think of people, almost always black people; degraded, abused and bound in chains, and we tend to think of such images, and the word slavery itself, as belonging to another era.

We do not see slavery as belonging to our world, not as something which is still happening today.
Reports Rageh Omar

TOMATO PICKING IN NORTH AMERICA

Guadalupe Gonzalez, 37, is one of the thousands of mainly-Hispanic migrants who work as tomato-pickers in the fields of Immokalee, southern Florida.