The TUC is offering free training for Polish workers employed in cleaning, security and building services across Tower Hamlets and the City of London.
The Vulnerable Workers Project (VWP), led by the TUC and funded by the Department for Business, is organising free training courses on workplace rights, trade union membership, building links with community groups, and providing advice to other workers and community members.
The project has also published an employment rights information booklet in Polish to help workers better understand UK employment law.
Polish migrants represent the vast majority of eastern Europeans that have come to the UK to work, but the TUC claims they are the lowest paid workers in the capital.
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The TUC found that 25% of Polish workers in London had not received any written contract of employment, and more than a quarter had faced problems with getting paid properly.
TUC London regional secretary Megan Dobney said: “Working excessively long hours, with no contract of employment, low pay and not being paid for all the hours they work plus a complete lack of health and safety training are common complaints received by the TUC from Polish workers who sense their British bosses are trying to pull the wool over their eyes when it comes to their jobs and the law.”
