'Balance to be struck' on migrant labour

Tuesday, 20 September 2005 12:00 AM

Many migrant workers are living in the "21st century version of slave labour", Mark Oaten said today.

The Lib Dems home affairs spokesman said the fate of some workers from eastern Europe and beyond was "absolutely horrendous" due to the lack of regulation of the immigrant labour market.

He welcomed the newly established Gangmaster Licensing Authority, which will from April 2006 require anyone who supplies labour to apply for a license, as a means of dealing with this problem.

But Mr Oaten insisted that the negative public perception of migrant labour would only be solved by ensuring the number of migrant workers coming into Britain was itself better regulated.

While he welcomed migrants as integral to Britain's economy, he believes their entry into the EU should be government by a quota system, drawn up by business on the basis of how many workers are needed in each sector.

"We have a policy to take the decision away from politicians, and hand it to people like the CBI and the TUC," he told a fringe meeting at the Lib Dem conference in Blackpool.

Supporters of the scheme argue that it would also allow local authorities to prepare for the influx of migrant workers in their area, which in turn could lead to less local concern about stretched resources as well as a better deal for the workers themselves.

But Nigel Stanley, head of communications at the TUC, warned that such efforts "smacked too much of socialist planning" and insisted they would be hard to implement.

He stressed the trade union movement's commitment to tackling exploitation of migrant labour, but warned that Mr Oaten's plans would make workers too dependent on their employers.

If businesses were allowed to decide when migrant workers were needed and when they were not, Mr Stanley said, employees could have their contracts ended and their work permits terminated at the whim of the employer.

The new Gangmaster Licensing Authority was set up in April this year charged with improving standards of work for migrant workers.

Reporting on their progress today, vice chairwoman Jane Betts warned that dealing with the problem of migrant labour was a balancing act between addressing the needs of business and employees themselves.

"We are making progress. But the challenges are to balance having the moral authority given to us by law to regulate, with the government's talk about lighter regulation," she said.

However, Ms Betts insisted that at the heart of the authority's work would be the experiences of the workers themselves.

For a list of Opinion Former fringe events click here.

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