UK: Report explores labour exploitation as a "continuum" between decent work, forced labour & human trafficking
The Labour Exploitation Advisory Group (LEAG) has released a reported exploring the "continuum" of exploitation. The report looks at exploitation along a spectrum ranging from decent work to breaches of employment rights and, at most egregious, conditions of forced labour and human trafficking. The full report and executive summary are included below in full.
Through 12 interviews conducted with migrant workers by case workers from a number of NGOs, researchers identified 11 themes with the potential to impact workers' experiences of work negatively, including leading to abuse and exploitation: pay, immigration status, language barriers, knowledge of rights, oversight and labour market enforcement, community and unionisation, treatment and violence at work, gender, contracts and terms of employment, racism, and, welfare. Importantly, the report also highlights how business models develop to keep workers in precarious employment, for example, through employing temporary agency staff or the use of zero-hour contracts.