Kevin Rowan

Apr 3 2006 By Kevin Rowan, The Journal

The increasing presence of migrant workers in the region is more and more a key topic of conversation around the North-East.

There are, according to the latest available data, around 1.4 million foreign nationals working in the UK.

However, since the expansion of the EU in 2004, an additional 330,000 migrant workers have arrived from the accession countries, around 31,000 of these coming to the North-East.

The first point to make is that this is hardly swamping our labour market, this total represents less than 0.3% of the region's labour market.

The second point to make is that this influx of labour is vital to the regional economy. Our population is shrinking year on year, and it is the younger, more able individuals that are more likely to leave, so this inward migration of workers is welcome.

But our treatment of migrant workers is very mixed. There are examples of very good practice, especially Arriva and the way in which they have employed and integrated a large contingent of Polish bus drivers. Arriva have provided practical support in accommodation and English language training as part of the package to help these workers feel welcome in the region.

However, a report published this week by the Northern TUC exposes some less positive treatment of Polish workers in the construction sector.

Working with UCATT and the University of Northumbria the report shows that the experiences of some workers, particularly at the hands of some sub-contract recruitment and employment agencies, was occasionally brutal, often illegal and in many cases wholly unacceptable.In many cases workers were accommodated in houses owned by the agent, in overcrowded conditions with poor facilities, with no rent book, but rent deducted at source by the employer.

Far from the `promised land' these workers were told about in Poland, their experience has on occasion, been a sad and disappointing catalogue of abuse and sheer exploitation.

What is clear from this report is that much more needs to be done to support migrant workers.

For most, when they come here, their only point of contact is the recruitment agency, the evidence above shows the need for greater regulation here, but also exposes a real lack of support for workers who end up facing real exploitation.