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1 The practice
2 Hints for an evaluation
2.1 Strenghts
The information is short and so fairly easy to digest for those who are new to the working practices in the UK. It also makes it clear that the project should only be seen as a guide and not comprehensive. It does however serve as a useful reference point which a labour migrant, often with small amounts of luggage can carry with them.
The diversity of languages allows people to realise their rights even if they grasp of English is poor, as is often the case with workers in the manual sphere. Though the focus is on workers in the EU, Russian is still included as it is spoken by many at the margins of Europe.
It has useful telephone numbers for further questions; this means that migrant workers have a useful place to corroborate the information given to them by their employees. It can also mean that labour migrants do not feel completely alone when faced with an unscrupulous employer.
The publication has immediate practical implications for the day-to-day lives of migrants working in the UK. Because of the "TUC"’s position of being present in a wide variety of work places, they have the ability to produce a document which reflects the different needs of workers in different sectors. This may explain why the document is very general and so can be used by different workers no matter what. It does however focus on spheres where many migrants find themselves, such as those on temporary contracts through employment agencies (as for instance there are peculiar rules concerning holiday pay).
2.2 Critical Points
Not all of the languages of European countries are covered. Though this should not be a huge problem as most are and within migrant communities there would usually be one person who could help with translation or understanding.
There is no tangible way of knowing how useful the publication was “on the ground”. It is also hard to know how many copies of the publication reached the people who were the most vulnerable. Often those who are exploited are those who are the least resourceful and so they would not be the type of person who would actively seek out employment information. This might especially be the case if they came to Britain through a work agency and so were transferred directly to their place of work (such as a construction site or somewhere deep in the countryside) as they would have no access to union material. However it must be remembered that the "TUC" has nearly 7 million members, many of whom actively participate in the labour movement and so would be willing to spread information to labour migrants as they come into contact with them.
Also in some sector there is not a big union presence, however the unions are aware of this and making attempts to solve the problem, as Sean Bamford explains, “In the private sector there is an issue that we are sometimes thinly distributed on the ground. So there is an issue for British workers as well as migrant workers, on top of that there is often the problem regarding language, so we are looking at ways to solve that (such as by the production of this information booklet) but also some of our members are recruiting new members from these communities so that they can communicate better with them.”
2.3 Lessons Learnt
That workers of countries are willing to help one another to overcome whatever problems they might face. It might be possible to argue that some links are much stronger than national ties, such as the ties of one group of workers links to another. It is beneficial for both parties to have improved conditions for migrants, as any removal of hard fought for rights undermines the position of union solidarity. Intercultural cooperation, it might be concluded, works well when there is a common bond uniting the individuals or groups.
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