This International Workers Day, our director of grants Klara Skrivankova outlines the harsh employment conditions faced by some of the UK's least protected workers. Workers propping up many of our essential services like health and social care. With a new Employments Rights Bill and Fair Work Agency under development, is hope for a better reality on the horizon?
A few years ago, I spent a night shift with workers in a large warehouse of a well-known brand just before Christmas. It was peak season and at 1am the workers were incredibly busy. I spoke with men and women from four different countries, all picking and packing goods through the night. When asked how the work was, they made no effort to hide the reality – no guaranteed hours (known as the zero hours contract), no sick pay and supervisors known for dismissing people on a whim. For many, I was the first person who had ever asked them about their working conditions.
The hourly pay was decent enough. That, and the promise of overtime, kept them going, even if the job came with deep insecurity. They were willing to put up with it, because they felt they had no right to complain.
I still hear stories like that today. What’s changed is that now there’s a real opportunity to do something about. A draft of the Employment Rights Bill is making its way through the Parliament. If done right, it could rebalance our labour market and protect some of the most vulnerable workers in the UK, particularly migrant workers, who are too often trapped in appalling and exploitative conditions. All the while propping up some of our essential services, like health and social care.
A draft of the Employment Rights Bill is making its way through the Parliament. If done right, it could rebalance our labour market and protect some of the most vulnerable workers in the UK, particularly migrant workers, who are too often trapped in appalling and exploitative conditions.
The equation is simple: raise the floor for those with the least protection, and the baseline improves for everyone. But to get there, we need two things:
- a strong law that recognises the realities faced by workers at the sharpest end of the economy
- a properly resourced enforcement body with the power and expertise to act.
The proposed Employment Rights Bill could do just that. It’s intended to strengthen protections and promote fair treatment. But legislation only works if it reflects lived experience. And that means listening to the workers who most often go unheard.
Our partners at the Work Rights Centre have warned that migrant workers face specific vulnerabilities that the Bill must take seriously. Many are on visas tied to their employers, leaving them exposed to threats, withheld wages and overwork. In the worst cases, workers report sexual harassment and abuse – and feel unable to speak out. Fear is a major barrier. For a long time migrant workers have avoided reporting exploitation because they feared the immigration authorities. Past instances of data sharing between labour enforcement and immigration authorities led to a chilling effect. It means that rogue employers are able to operate with impunity while those being exploited stay silent. This in turn undercuts all the employers who follow the law.
To fix this, secure reporting pathways must be a priority. Migrant workers must be encouraged to report without fear. And labour law needs to be enforced independently of immigration control.
Migrant workers face vulnerabilities that the Bill must take seriously. Many are on visas tied to their employers, leaving them exposed to threats, withheld wages and overwork. In the worst cases, workers report sexual harassment and abuse – and feel unable to speak out.
Focus on Labour Exploitation points out that other countries have shown that this can be done. In Belgium for example, labour inspectors are legally prohibited from sharing information about undocumented workers with immigration authorities. This firewall allows workers to report abuses safely. And as a result more are brought to light. Similar protections exist in Brazil and the USA.
In London, a pilot is underway to test what a secure reporting model could look like in practice.
But protection is only half of the story. Enforcement is the other. That’s where the long awaited Fair Work Agency comes in. A single, properly resourced body could help enforce those rights that the Employment Rights Bill seeks to enshrine. But resourcing is key – and so is its design.
Protection is only half of the story. Enforcement is the other. That’s where the long awaited Fair Work Agency comes in. A single, properly resourced body could help enforce those rights that the Employment Rights Bill seeks to enshrine.
The agency must have a clear focus on those most at risk of exploitation, including migrant workers. Its advisory body should include migrant rights organisations, alongside trade unions. It should also build partnership with community organisations that have expertise on the ground. One way to embed this would be through secondment programmes similar to the model developed by the Citizenship and Integration Initiative.
Since 2016, the initiative has embedded 14 civil society leaders into the Greater London Authority, tackling issues from migrant integration to voter registration.
Ultimately, the success of the new employment law, and the agency that will enforce it, won’t be measured by the pages the legislation is written on. It will be judged by how different life becomes for workers like those I met in that warehouse. If they can stand up for their rights without fear, if they no longer have to choose between dignity and deportation, and if they finally feel that someone in a position of authority is in their corner – they’ll tell a story of a fairer labour market in the UK.
