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The Day the immigrants Stayed
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'Migrant Workers Abused And Exploited'
10:26am UK, Saturday March 13, 2010
Jo Couzens, Sky News Online
Agency and migrant workers employed by meat and poultry firms are suffering "mistreatment and exploitation", an official inquiry has revealed.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it has uncovered "widespread evidence" of physical and verbal abuse and lack of proper health and safety protection.
Furthermore, workers often have little knowledge of their rights said the commission.
Migrant workers are most affected, but British agency employees face similar mistreatment, with many people afraid to raise concerns because they fear they will be sacked.
The EHRC said its inquiry, launched in 2008, uncovered frequent breaches of the law and licensing standards in meat processing factories, some of which supplied the UK's biggest supermarkets, as well as at employment agencies.
The commission made a series of recommendations aimed at improving recruitment practices and working conditions, as well as helping employees raise concerns.
A third of permanent workers and two-thirds of agency workers in the industry are migrants while at one in six meat processing sites involved in the study, every agency worker hired in the past year was a migrant worker.
The commission said this is partly due to difficulties in recruiting British workers for physically-demanding, low-paid work.
One in five workers who gave evidence to the commission said they had been pushed, kicked or had things thrown at them by line managers.
Meanwhile, a third revealed they had experienced or witnessed verbal abuse, often on a daily basis.
Workers also claimed they had been refused permission to go to the toilet, and one in four told the commission that pregnant workers had been mistreated, including the instant dismissal of agency workers who announced they were having a baby.
POOR BASTARDS
dont feel too sorry for them though because it wont be long before we ALL have to work very long gruelling hours , and we ALL cant take a piss break , and we ALL have to work without safety equiptment , and we ALL dont get any holiday pay
its not rocket science that if a person joins the team where YOU work and works twice as fast , you YOU will have to pick up the pace or YOUR OUT
no sector of employment is safe because the immigrants have bundles of A levels and quallifications etc
get ready to set your alarm clock 3 hours earlier
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Your rights are established and protected by law, every employee is covered by the Health and Safety Act of 1974 and the Employment Act.
Working hour directives, minimum wage rights, Health & Safety, etc. etc. have been fought over for years by trade unions and can't just be ignored by employers.....So you are misleading people by suggesting they can. |
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"Your rights are established and protected by law, every employee is covered by the Health and Safety Act of 1974 and the Employment Act.
Working hour directives, minimum wage rights, Health & Safety, etc. etc. have been fought over for years by trade unions and can't just be ignored by employers.....So you are misleading people by suggesting they can."
Yep. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Your rights are established and protected by law, every employee is covered by the Health and Safety Act of 1974 and the Employment Act.
Working hour directives, minimum wage rights, Health & Safety, etc. etc. have been fought over for years by trade unions and can't just be ignored by employers.....So you are misleading people by suggesting they can."
I was just about to post a similar reply as I've been involved in trade union negotiations for nearly 15 years, fighting to ensure workers rights are protected.
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"Your rights are established and protected by law, every employee is covered by the Health and Safety Act of 1974 and the Employment Act.
Working hour directives, minimum wage rights, Health & Safety, etc. etc. have been fought over for years by trade unions and can't just be ignored by employers.....So you are misleading people by suggesting they can."
The Equality and Human Rights Commission
have found that the employers ARE ignoring the health and safety act
it is not me that is trying to mislead people , i am only repeating what the investigations by The Equality and Human Rights Commission have found out to be the FACTS
i was one of the idiots that fought all my working life for a 40 hour week
a fat lot of good that has done for the poor bastards doing 12 hour shifts 6 days or more a week that work packing potatoes
and that before you say it IS NOT seasonal work
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You are clearly saying that we will ALL be losing our lunchbreaks, toilet breaks, holidays in your original post.
You are misleading people as these rights are established in law, no government..even the Tories....would ever attempt to reverse these laws as it would make the Poll tax riots seem like a day at the beach in comparison.
Scaremongering |
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"dont feel too sorry for them though because it wont be long before we ALL have to work very long gruelling hours , and we ALL cant take a piss break , and we ALL have to work without safety equiptment , and we ALL dont get any holiday pay"
Is what your original post suggested, and it's a load of old rubbish. |
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Sadly people who don't understand their rights sign the working time opt out form before they realise what they are doing. However, many choose to work the shifts because they want to earn more money than a 48hr week will provide them with.
Ignoring H&S is a different ball park to emplyment law. The HSE will and do prosicute and in extreme cases employers face doing some time prison. |
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"You are clearly saying that we will ALL be losing our lunchbreaks, toilet breaks, holidays in your original post.
You are misleading people as these rights are established in law, no government..even the Tories....would ever attempt to reverse these laws as it would make the Poll tax riots seem like a day at the beach in comparison.
Scaremongering"
The Equality and Human Rights Commission have found that empoyers have been flouting this law
these employers dont seem to be worried about poll tax type riots
just because you have a law doesnt mean people or employers are going to abide by it
and in this report by The Equality and Human Rights Commission the employers obviously could not give a fiddlers fuck about the law
i am not scaremongering , i am just commenting on what is actually taking place
and in my original post i am not saying we will lose our lunch breaks , holidays etc straight away , BUT
they will be eroded away , and our rights diluted over time
it is happening now , all you need do is open your eyes
remember the guys working in the potatoe packing factory
full time work , not seasonal
i was a district representative for the TGWU , ( 30 years ago ) and if i had come accros working conditions like that i would have been shocked to the core
12 hours a day working full belt , and they had no holiday pay , sick pay , or bugger all
so it is not scaremongering to talk about what is happening right now
just open your eyes and you will see |
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i was a district representative for the TGWU , ( 30 years ago ) and if i had come accros working conditions like that i would have been shocked to the core
"
Then you'll know what sort of hours bus drivers where working back at the start of your working life and how they could finish a shift at midnight and be back in the driving seat again at 5am... but that seems to have changed for the better now and they are not allowed to have a pint in the pub at the terminals anymore.
There will always be some employer somewhere who takes the piss. The difference today is there are laws and rights in place. The fact these places have been investigated shows that people are checking laws are upheld.
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I'll say one last thing on the subject and leave it at that, just because a few farmers and vegetable processors exploit a few immigrants it doesn't mean that the laws regarding Health and Safety and Employment rights for the VAST MAJORITY of British workers are under threat.
There is always someone trying to buck the system, they are breaking the law and like the farmer from Cornwall who did exactly the same thing last summer with immigrant field workers they end up being prosecuted....because we ARE ALL covered by these laws.
No different from people who break all sorts of laws every day of the year in the UK...all accountable in our legal system |
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"
i was a district representative for the TGWU , ( 30 years ago ) and if i had come accros working conditions like that i would have been shocked to the core
Then you'll know what sort of hours bus drivers where working back at the start of your working life and how they could finish a shift at midnight and be back in the driving seat again at 5am... but that seems to have changed for the better now and they are not allowed to have a pint in the pub at the terminals anymore.
There will always be some employer somewhere who takes the piss. The difference today is there are laws and rights in place. The fact these places have been investigated shows that people are checking laws are upheld.
"
i do not want to get into a battle of wills but i can only comment on what i see with my own 2 eyes
mayby bus drivers are easy to regulate and have a trade union looking out for them
what about the fact lorry drivers come over to the UK and run from one end of the country and back again untill the wheels nearly drop off
they have been on TV documentarys where the drivers say that they must drive for 20 hours a day , and if the tyres are bald dare not complain or they are sacked
this has allready had its effect on the haulage industry based in the UK
where to compete a driver spends his first 2 hours geting out of london , and then throws his tachometer out of the window and puts a fresh one in giving him a fresh start to the day and another 8 hours driving
if not his company cannot compete with the rates offered by the foreign haulage companys that do what is called ( roaming ) - wandering round looking for return loads
i am not a know it all , or god almighty , i am just an ordinary joe bloggs
but these things about driving hours i know to be a fact , as i have friends that have to do it and they have told me with there own lips |
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