Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Latest NewsEmployment lawMigrant workersRecruitment & retentionImmigration

Report reveals Polish and Lithuanian staff are being exploited at work in the UK

by Mike Berry 4 Sep 2007
by Mike Berry 4 Sep 2007

Thousands of Polish and Lithuanian workers are being exploited at work in the UK, a new report commissioned by the TUC reveals.

The study Migrant Workers’ Challenges and Opportunities to Trade Unions, by the Centre of Migration, Policy and Society, a research unit based at Oxford University, found that most had insecure and poorly paid employment, with more than half of the 508 workers surveyed encountering problems at work.

A quarter of the employees in the study reported having no written contract, with the same number having had problems with salary payment – including not being paid for hours worked, discrepancies between pay and payslips, unauthorised deductions, and errors in pay calculation.

The study also revealed that migration had re-introduced the ‘tied cottage’ – where employers provide accommodation to staff at a cost.

Nearly a third of the workers in the report were living in accommodation provided by their employer, and experienced excessive hours (due to their employment being linked to where they lived) and poor living conditions as a result.

Since 2004, when 10 new states joined the EU, more than 475,000 Poles and Lithuanians have come to work in the UK.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Everyone should be treated fairly and with dignity and respect at work, wherever they come from. Unions are working hard to recruit migrant workers to protect them from rogue employers who seek to deny their workers a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.”

The TUC is also publishing Living and Working in the UK: Your Rights, a guide that provides advice and tips for new arrivals on living in the UK, and issues that might cause problems at work.

Avatar
Mike Berry

previous post
Talks begin over 72-hour Metronet strike over job security and pensions
next post
Pension law firm Sacker & Partners recruits new HR director

You may also like

How to keep up with conflicting voices in...

9 Jun 2023

Prominent hedge fund boss faces sexual harassment probe

9 Jun 2023

Teaching profession losing staff in record numbers

9 Jun 2023

GMB withdraws Amazon union recognition bid

9 Jun 2023

CIPD Festival of Work 2023: HR has major...

9 Jun 2023

Police Federation discriminated against officers bringing pension claim

8 Jun 2023

CIPD’s Peter Cheese: ‘HR shouldn’t be afraid to...

8 Jun 2023

HCM trends and pain points – time to...

8 Jun 2023

AI could boost headcount and skills, recruiter predicts

8 Jun 2023

Employers hit by payroll cyberattack receive ultimatum

7 Jun 2023

  • The HR Bundle: Your one-stop guide to building a successful global HR Department PROMOTED | Get your hands on Deel’s free HR bundle...Read more
  • The Benefits of an Employee Assistance Programme PROMOTED | EAPs support employees in a range of ways...Read more
  • Intergenerational working and how to manage up and down the generations PROMOTED | The benefits and challenges of intergenerational workplaces...Read more
  • Bereavement in the workplace: How training can help HR get it right PROMOTED | HR professionals play an essential role...Read more
  • UK workforce mental wellbeing needs PROMOTED | The mental wellbeing support employers are providing misses the mark...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+