Threats of deportation and unlawful visa fees are used to exploit migrant care workers. After polling more than 3,000 foreign care workers, trade union UNISON demands an immediate revamp of the visa sponsoring system.
Many migrant care workers in the UK are exploited, according to a brief new analysis released today by the trade union UNISON. The seven-page study is available for download here.
Threats of deportation and unlawful visa fees are used to exploit migrant care workers
According to the report, dishonest companies are sending care workers to the UK with little consideration for their well-being. Racism, financial exploitation, and subpar pay and working conditions are all faced by migrant care workers. The report quotes a care worker who said, “They treat (us) like modern-day slaves.”
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According to the report, which is based on a survey of more than 3,000 foreign care workers, many of them paid sizable fees to employers or middlemen before to coming to the UK.
Before travelling to the UK, dozens of people had to pay employers and agencies fees totalling at least £20,000, only to find out there were either no care shifts available or not as many as promised. According to the article, several have had funds taken out of their pay cheques for training, uniforms, and airport pickups.
According to a poll by UNISON, over a quarter (24%) of foreign care workers paid fees to recruiters or care employers before coming to the UK. In return for promised job possibilities, payments were provided. Fifty respondents said they had paid more than £10,000. More than 100 respondents reported fees ranging from £5,000 to £20,000.
Recruitment fees accounted for 70% of the fees, and visa fees for 67%. However, employees also reported paying for flights (51%), administrative procedures (51%), lodging (40%), and training (25%).
It is concerning that some employees were charged between £10,000 and £20,000 for things like sponsorship certificates that the Home Office expressly prohibits firms from giving away. “I paid £13,500 to obtain a certificate of sponsorship from an agency,” a Nigerian care worker informed UNISON. They said they would find me a care job in the UK, but I haven’t received any employment from them in a year.”
UNISON also draws attention to the way dishonest companies threaten care workers who report abuse and exploitation by using visa sponsorship.
According to the research, 36% of migrant workers reported that they or their coworkers had been threatened with termination or redundancy for voicing concerns about their treatment. Foreign care providers risk deportation if they lose their employment or sponsorship certificate. One employee who complained about receiving less work than what was specified in their contract was threatened with termination. Others said that their employers threatened to remove them from the roster or revoke their sponsorship. Some claimed to have received texts warning them that if they requested days off, they would be sent back to their country of origin.
UNISON cautions that migrant care workers are coerced into putting up with subpar working conditions by threats of layoffs or deportation. Many workers are quite vulnerable financially since they have given up everything to come to the UK. Frequent threats of deportation underscore how vulnerable they are.
Almost 50% of the carers who participated in the poll said they had encountered racism, including being called derogatory names. Some employees claimed to have been hit and spat at, as well as the target of disgusting verbal racist abuse. “I have been called a lot of names and had jugs of water thrown at me,” a Zimbabwean care worker in Northern Ireland claimed.
The startling results of the report, according to UNISON General Secretary Christina McAnea, demonstrated the need for immediate reform and provided proof of pervasive exploitation of migrant care workers.
“Care workers who come here from overseas are shoring up a crumbling sector,” McAnea said. These employees ought to be respected and not exploited or mistreated. Nobody should have to endure such heinous treatment. In reality, some employees are being used as indentured labour. This is against the law in addition to being immoral. Many of them are compelled to live on the breadline despite having came to the UK with the hope of finding employment and training. It is imperative that the government restructure the sponsorship program. This would raise standards throughout the care industry and help stop exploitation.