• On Friday 8th August 2008 in London the Federation of Poles in Great Britain lodged a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission against "The Times" newspaper, following large scale protests in the Polish media and Polish parliament over the Giles Coren column in "The Times" (which was published on July 26th).

  Our member organisations (Polish Professionals and Poland Street) back up petition addressed to the editor – in chief of The Times.

  1. Press Release
  2. Complaint against "The times"
  3. "The Times" article 1
  4. "The Times" article 2
  5. Petition
  
  
• FESTIVAL OF CULTURE in Yoevil 27 July 08  - information attached at the bottom of this page

• Unions act to challenge the exploitation of Polish workers - London 12 July 2008

Polish workers who are employed in London as cleaners, security guards or receptionists are being offered free training and advice on their rights at work and how to secure them. The TUC/BERR Vulnerable Workers Project is running a one-day course that will cover issues that Polish workers often experience, such as:

Training materials will be available in Polish and English and a Polish interpreter will be available to support participants in the sessions. The event is also being supported by Primus Personnel and Andrzej Garus, from Primus, will be attending.

The Vulnerable Workers Project has found that Polish workers often lose out because they do not know all the employment rights that they are entitled to or how to raise a complaint if they are not getting their rights. As a result Polish workers sometimes suffer exploitation from employers who take advantage of their lack of awareness.

Polish workers form by far the biggest group of workers from A8 countries. Government figures show that 67 percent of all applications to the Workers Registration Scheme, between May 2004 and March 2008, were Polish, and these totalled more than 540,000. Yet, despite contributing hugely to the success of the UK economy, Polish workers often endure poor terms and conditions of employment at work.

Research shows that 70 percent of workers who applied to the Workers Registration Scheme, between April 2007 and March 2008, had earnings between £4.50 and £5.99 an hour. The average worker in UK earns £10.22 an hour.

The Vulnerable Workers project is targeting the ‘Building Service Sector', (cleaners, security and other workers who provide services in buildings), as this sector has consistently been one of the lowest paid. 58 percent of workers in the cleaning industry in London are migrant workers. Of these, Polish workers are the biggest group making up 26 percent of migrant workers in the cleaning industry.

The TUC/BERR Vulnerable Workers Project is a pilot that will report to Government in March 2009 on good practice and innovative ways of improving the working lives of low paid and vulnerable workers by helping them to understand and secure their full entitlement to employment rights.

The training for Polish workers will be held on Saturday 12 July 10.00am to 4.00pm in the Trade Union and Workplace Training Centre, 70 Clifton Street, EC2A 4HB (near Liverpool St Station).

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Contacts:
Media enquiries:
Bob Blyth (Project Manager) T: 020 7467 1248 E: bblyth@tuc.org.uk
Laurie Heselden (Press Officer) T: 020 7467 1292 E: lheselden@tuc.org.uk