Launch of Migrant Worker Rights Guide - 8 January 2007 by David Hanson

I am delighted to be here today at the George Best Belfast City Airport to launch these Migrant Worker Rights Guides.

The Guides are for workers from EU/EEA Member States, from the so called Accession States (A8) and for those outside the EU who arrive under work permit and sector based scheme arrangements. They provide comprehensive information on social security, housing, employment, health, immigration and other rights.

And the need for this information is clear:-

The face of Northern Ireland is changing and changing rapidly. A demonstration of how things have changed is quite easy.  Simply walk down any main street in any city or town (or even village) in Northern Ireland and you will see and hear for yourself the rich diversity of the people who now live among us and work with us. More and more people want to visit, to work, to live and often settle in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland’s growing stability and increasing prosperity are attracting migrant workers in increasing numbers, particularly from Eastern Europe. They come here to provide necessary skills that are currently in short supply in Northern Ireland or to take less skilled jobs where there is limited local interest in them.

They are providing the skills and labour that we need.  Private and public sector health care providers and the agri food industry in particular now depend on staff from other countries.

And they are very welcome.

Let me make this perfectly clear:  these workers are not “taking our jobs”.  Many of the migrant workers are working in jobs where the employers cannot find people locally to do the jobs.

And if these employers cannot find the workers that they need to carry on their business in Northern Ireland – whether they are from Belfast or Bratislava, sooner or later they will be pushed by competition to consider whether they remain located here or elsewhere.

Without migrant workers many companies would have to relocate to other countries to make them viable.  The simple message from business is that you either “on-shore” the labour or you “off-shore” the capital.

So rather than taking our jobs, migrant workers are, in fact, safeguarding our jobs and the benefits to the local economy that come from companies that they work for. And they pay taxes and national insurance.  They pay rent and rates.  And they buy food and clothing locally.  

In short, these new arrivals are enriching the local community and providing a boost to the local economy.  Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research for the UK as a whole shows that “immigrants make an important fiscal contribution to the UK and pay more than their share. They are not a drain on the UK’s resources."

Of course, migrant workers are not a new phenomenon to Northern Ireland. It is unusual to find a family anywhere in Northern Ireland which does not have near or extended relatives who are or have been a “migrant worker” to Great Britain, the US, or elsewhere. Many of these people had bad experiences and had to overcome many barriers and hurdles, including discrimination and unfortunately, in some cases, violence.

Now we are in a position of needing people to come here – and thankfully forced outward migration for economic reasons is not a necessity for most people – we must ensure that we apply the lessons of our experience in other countries. We must make minority ethnic people and migrant workers truly welcomed into our communities, appreciated for the skills and experience they bring and valued for the contribution they make to every aspect of life in Northern Ireland.

And we must ensure that migrant workers are not exploited: that they do not become “cheap labour”. There are unscrupulous employers and greedy landlords who would try to take advantage of recent arrivals.  And the best way of preventing this is to tell new arrivals about their rights. These guides do precisely that.

It is not simply a matter of law – although legislation on both the minimum wage and equal opportunities makes it unlawful for lower wages to be paid for the same work.  And it is not simply a matter of morality, or common humanity. Government is committed to protecting the rights of all workers. It is in no-one’s interest that these new arrivals should be paid less than the going rate or that they should have to put up with over-crowded, sub-standard and unsafe accommodation. It’s clearly not in the interest of the migrant workers themselves. And it’s not in the interests of the vast majority of the Northern Ireland population.

We want to ensure that these newcomers to Northern Ireland can exercise their rights. And these guides should help them to do just that.

The Law Centre (NI), Animate and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission are to be congratulated on their work in producing these booklets.

OFMDFM, along with the Human Rights Commission, is pleased to have provided the funding to produce the booklets. And we are pleased to have facilitated the extensive consultation between the authors and other government departments to ensure the accuracy of the information.

Of course, there is much more to do than just provide information as important as this is. We need to understand that “racism” is not just about the fist, the boot, the offensive graffiti and the hurtful name-calling. It's every bit as much about the failure to accommodate diversity and respect the rights of minority ethnic people and migrant workers. And we need to ensure that we work to accommodate this diversity.  Government is committed to playing its part in this, alongside, and in partnership with, the community and voluntary sector.

Under the leadership of the Department for Employment and Learning, Government has drawn up a strategy and action plan to tackle the issues posed by the flow of newcomers to these shores. All those involved – the community and voluntary sector, Trade Unions and others – are to be congratulated for their whole hearted participation in this process. We will look forward to continuing to work with them as we implement the strategy.

These Guides are a positive example of government working in partnership with the voluntary and statutory sectors. It is my hope that they will become an essential reference tool, not just for migrant workers or but also for staff in Departments and Agencies. They will be available in 9 languages (including English) through a number of outlets, libraries, Citizen Advice Bureaus and Community and Voluntary Groups as well as electronically at Online NI.  They will prove, I am sure, a valuable resource in the delivery of services.

Thank you