Miliband proposes law to stop rogue employers undermining pay and conditions
Employers who exploit migrant workers by paying lower wage rates, and offering worse working conditions than British residents, could face prison if Labour were to win the next general election.
Speaking to constituents in Great Yarmouth today, Ed Miliband is expected to confirm Labour’s commitment to dealing with rogue employers, by making it a criminal offence to undercut pay or conditions.
The party has already pledged to increase fines for firms paying below the national minimum wage, close loopholes allowing employment agencies to undercut wages of permanent staff, and ban recruitment agencies from hiring only from abroad.
"The next Labour government will go further still,” Miliband will say, “making it a criminal offence to undercut pay or conditions by exploiting migrant workers”.
"We are serving notice on employers who bring workers here under duress or on false terms and pay them significantly lower wages, with worse terms and conditions.
"This new criminal offence will provide protection to everyone. It will help ensure that, when immigrants work here, they do not face exploitation themselves and rogue employers are stopped from undercutting the terms and conditions of everyone else.”
Labour said that widespread exploitation of migrants had undermined the wages for local workers, and was adding to people’s concerns about the impact of immigration on the UK economy.
"People want there to be control of immigration. That means being tough on illegal immigration, with proper entry and exit checks. But control doesn’t stop at the border, it is also about fair rules when people get here,” Miliband will say.
"We know that so many workplaces are so far from being fair. And that is especially true in many workplaces with a large number of employees who have come from overseas.”
Under the proposed law, evidence would be required that some abuse of power had occurred and that migrants were employed on significantly different terms to local workers
Undercutting wages and working conditions would not constitute a criminal offence in itself but could be used as a piece of evidence to show exploitation.
Labour has previously been accused of not tackling the subject of immigration head on after a leaked party document revealed by The Daily Telegraph this weekend advised MPs and activists to avoid talking about immigration when they are campaigning.
The document entitled ‘Campaigning Against UKIP’, said immigration is the issue "people most often cite" when explaining why they support Nigel Farage's party, but sending out leaflets about immigration to voters could prove to be "unhelpful”, and Labour could lose votes the more "salient" immigration becomes as an election issue.
A spokesman for the party said the few lines that were cited by the newspaper were “taken out of context”, and that Labour was committed to tackling people’s concerns about the effect of immigration on the economy, the social security system and communities.