Migrants 'deceived and exploited'

Migrant workers are being lured to Britain by deception and are forming a new exploited underclass, a BBC investigation has discovered.

Undercover Lithuanian journalist Audrius Lelkaitis discovered a new form of people trafficking, systematic underpayment and exploitation. Human trafficking experts said the conditions suffered by some migrant workers was "modern-day slavery". All companies targeted by the investigation deny exploiting workers.

Mr Lelkaitis, working as part of the BBC News investigation, posed as a migrant worker seeking a job in the UK. He paid hundreds of pounds to agencies in Lithuania and London in return for the promise of a job in Hull which did not exist.

After being offered work with licensed gangmasters Focus Staff Limited in Hull he was paid below the minimum wage two weeks in arrears. After three weeks, he received £97 for 20 hours' work in his first week, although £50 was deducted for accommodation costs. He also had money deducted for accommodation without it being shown on his payslip, which is illegal, and was forced to live in overcrowded accommodation.

Mike Wilson, chief executive of the Gangmasters' Licensing Authority said the withholding of wages when workers were already in debt sounded "suspiciously like a bonded labour situation which certainly we would not agree to at all".

Mike Dickenson, director of Focus Staff Limited, denied any illegal practices. "I don't underpay my workers," he said. "Everything I do is legal and above board," he said.

'Bonded labour'

Deputy Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell, programme director of the UK Human Trafficking Centre, said the opening of Europe's borders had brought with it a new kind of people trafficking. He said: "This quite clearly is labour exploitation. Certain elements are there; there's a deception and there's a movement of people with an expectation of being paid a reasonable and appropriate wage. This is a kind of forced or bonded labour. This is modern day slavery."

Aidan McQuade, director of campaign group Anti-Slavery International, said trafficking to exploit labour involved a number of factors.

These included the use of deception, intimidation, the removal of documents, excessive charges for accommodation and transport, the exploitation of someone's irregular immigration status or the fact they are in debt, in order to force them to work in conditions they do not agree to, he said. He added: "Some of these mechanisms are reported in this BBC News investigation."

You can watch the report here.

BBC

Cameron calls on churches to fight racism and exploitation

The leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, has commended churches for leading the commemorations of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade and called on Christians to fight its lasting legacy - racism.

The leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, has commended churches for leading the commemorations of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade and called on Christians to fight its lasting legacy - racism.

He joined leading African and Caribbean Christian leaders at the Conservative Christian Fellowship’s Wilberforce Address on Tuesday night, dedicated this year to the slave trade abolition.

Speakers at last night’s event spoke extensively on racism as the lasting legacy of the slave trade. In his Wilberforce Address, Mr Cameron praised key abolitionist William Wilberforce for his role in securing the abolition of the slave trade but pointed to the victims of modern day slavery – human trafficking.

Addressing the scourge of racism, Mr Cameron appealed to young black people to “find role models in the history of the abolition movement”.

Rev Katei Kirby, General Manager of the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance, said, meanwhile, that problems in today’s society, including disrespect for human life, disregard for authority, and a “disdain” of belief and faith were modern legacies of the slave trade.

She said that moral and political leadership was needed to overcome the slave trade’s legacy of racism and to ensure that every ethnic group in Britain is embraced. She called for better understanding and government investment “in the present and the future of those disenfranchised by the negative legacies of the slave trade”.

But when asked if an apology for the slave trade was needed, Mr Cameron said, “I don’t actually think that one generation can meaningfully apologise for something that a previous generation did.”

Instead, he said that “true reparation” was actually “to make sure that Africa has a chance for peace, prosperity, stability and all the advantages we have in the West”.

“It is to Britain’s eternal shame that we supported the slave trade but it is to Britain’s eternal pride that we helped to stamp it out,” he said.

Pastor Agu Irukwu of Jesus House, a leading Pentecostal church in London, echoed Mr Cameron’s sentiments, saying that an apology would always be regarded as “hollow” unless African, Caribbean and Caucasian communities were to “come out of their comfort zones and engage with each other”.

Mr Cameron said the way forward lay in helping African nations to develop. “We should be doing all we can to promote indigenous economic development,” he said. “This means producing trade tariffs and helping African nations develop the institutions for economic growth.”

He also committed his party to bringing about the “proper” representation of black men and women in parliamentary life, acknowledging that the Conservative Party had failed to do this effectively in the past.

Mr Cameron called for members of the African and Caribbean community to use the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade to make a change by getting more involved in politics.

Other key speakers and panel members at the event included the Rt Rev Dr James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, and Bishop Wayne Malcolm of Christian Life City.

Christian Today