The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has published a new study suggesting that European migration since EU expansion in 2004 has had no negative impact on either UK employment levels or wages – in fact there may have been a small positive impact.
The Economic Impacts of Migration on the UK Labour Market study is based largely on data from the Labour Force Survey and Department for Work and Pensions figures on national insurance numbers from 2001 to 2007, as well as a review of the existing literature and economic theory. read more…
The Migrants Rights Network is working for a rights-based approach to migration, with migrants as full partners in developing the policies and procedures which affect life in the UK. Migrants Rights News aims to inform our members and other groups working on migration issues about regional and national policy developments, campaign news, recent research and upcoming events.
At the Heart of Migrants Rights News are the campaigns and strategies being developed by migrants to consolidate their position in British society. We focus on activities that extend the scope of the human, economic and social rights which apply to migrants’ circumstances.
February 2009 MRN newsletter: read more…
Workers Rights are Migrant Rights!
Scottish Migrants Network Hosts Conference at STUC
As the recession begins to bite across Scotland it is vital that all workers, including migrants, are aware of their rights at work. The Scottish Migrants Network (SMN) sponsored a half-day conference for migrant workers and support organisations in Scotland to share policy and practice five years after accession. The conference saw the launch of a new poster campaign to raise awareness of basic employment rights for migrant workers. read more…
From EUobserver: Swiss voters on Sunday (8 February) overwhelmingly approved the extension of the free movement of workers to Bulgarian and Romanian citizens.
According to official figures, 59.6 percent of voters were in favour, despite a strongly anti-immigrant No campaign run by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), depicting foreigners as black crows picking at the country’s flag.
The white working class; Britain’s forgotten race victims?
The Runnymede Trust has published a new study on the white working class and ethnic diversity in Britain.
The report, Who Cares about the White Working Class?, disputes the claim that white working class communities have been directly losing out to migrants and minority ethnic groups, and concludes that the white working class are discriminated against on a range of different fronts, but they are not discriminated against because they are white.
It says that after a decade of politicians and commentators ignoring the issue of class, with Labour preferring to talk about “hard-working families” and “social exclusion”, class inequality is making an overdue comeback onto the political agenda. read more…
New European Union rules aim to crackdown on employers who expolit undocumented migrant workers, but migrant rights groups are worried that the imminent legislation retains the focus on the status of the migrant, rather than the exploitation by the employer.
Under the Employers Sanctions Directive, employers hiring undeclared workers would face sanctions, including fines and paying back wages to their workers amounting to “at least the wage provided for by the applicable laws on minimum wages, collective agreements or practices in the relevant occupational branches.” read more…
Every day, across the UK, aggressive raids are being carried out at workplaces to root out those without papers.
Britain’s ethnic restaurant sector is under attack from government officials who, in their single-minded drive to meet ever higher targets for deportation, have no interest in the impact of their policies on small family businesses or the effect on Britain’s high streets. Workplace immigration raids, and raids on the homes of low-paid care workers and cleaners, carried out in unprecedented numbers and resulting in unprecedented rates of removal of people for transgressing immigration laws, see family assets wiped out, families criminalised, and skilled and hard working men and women jailed or deported.
Every day, somewhere in the UK, immigration officers, often with police, frequently wearing stab-proof vests, surround High Street restaurants, takeaways and convenience stores, seal exits and storm in…
Read full article: By Frances Webber, published by IRR
http://www.irr.org.uk/2009/february/ha000011.html
The New Year has brought with it the lifting of restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian workers in Greece, Spain and Denmark, but a number of EU states will be keeping barriers to their labour markets for three more years.
Greece on Wednesday (31 December) became the latest “old” EU member to lift restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian workers, following Spain and Denmark which set the example earlier in December. read more…
On 4 December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed 18 December International Migrants Day (resolution 55/93). On that day, in 1990, the Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (resolution 45/158).
As the 9th International Migrants Day is marked this Thursday, the head of the International Labor Organization (ILO) cautioned rich economies against taking hasty action on migrant workers as part of measures taken to mitigate the financial crisis.
In a statement, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia warned:
The current global financial and economic crises have serious implications for migrant workers worldwide. Past experience makes us painfully aware that migrant workers, especially women workers and those in irregular status, are among the hardest hit and most vulnerable during crisis situations.
Director-General Juan Somavia added:
“It is important that migrant workers do not become scapegoats for the current financial and economic crisis”
more info and full statement at: www.ilo.org
also see: www.december18.net
EU member states’ implementation of rules on free movement and residence has been “rather disappointing,” the European Commission said on Wednesday (10 December).
Directive 2004/38 provides a single legal instrument on free movement of EU citizens and their family members.
A new EC report reveals persistent violation of the core rights of EU citizens, mostly related to:
- the right of entry and residence of third country family members (problems with entry visas or when crossing the border, conditions attached to the right of residence not foreseen in the Directive and delayed issue of residence cards),
- the requirement for EU citizens to submit with the applications for residence additional documents not foreseen in the Directive.
