Female migrant workers 'underpaid'
Updated on 11 August 2008
Female migrant workers were more likely than any other group to be paid less than the national minimum wage, according to a new study.
Research for the TUC revealed a number of "worrying" trends of increasing problems faced by migrant workers in general, including long working hours, insecure jobs and poor pay.
An estimated 35,000 women who migrated to the UK to work faced a disproportionate risk of being illegally underpaid, said the report, written by the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society at Oxford University.
Around one in seven recent migrants were found to be working more than 48 hours a week and were more likely than other groups not to have a written contract.
Recent migrants were more than twice as likely as other workers to be paid less than the minimum wage.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "The rogue employers who underpay the minimum wage deserve zero tolerance.
The minimum wage is making a real difference to the lives of many low-paid migrant workers, and we must continue to crack down on those mean bosses not paying their staff the legal wage to which they are entitled.
"The TUC's Commission on Vulnerable Employment heard many complaints from migrant workers, including excessively long hours, no contract and a complete lack of health and safety training.
"Unions are stepping up their efforts to organise migrant workers to stop employers from using a poor grasp of English or ignorance of UK employment law as an excuse to treat people badly."
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