pk's blog

On the eve of its expansion from 15 to 25 countries, the European Union is
tightening up immigration policies for fear of an uncontrollable influx of
migrant workers. But with its aging and dwindling workforce, western
Europe needs more outsiders to fill available jobs, and the marketplace is
finding ways to do that, albeit not legally.

In the heart of Brussels, the Canal de Charleroi runs through blocks of
dismal factories and abandoned warehouses. It's still cold out, but that
doesn't deter the illegal immigrants who come here in search of work. With
hands in pockets and shoulders hunched, they wait for a car to pull over
and offer them a day's work. There are Ukrainians here, Russians and
Romanians. On one corner where the Africans gather a car pulls over and
the men flock around it. Did the driver offer anyone a job?

Fatal 24-hour shift at microwave plant highlights plight of migrants working long hours, under false names, for low pay. When Zhang Guo Hua dropped dead in Hartlepool, after stamping the word Samsung on microwave ovens for 24 hours on end, it turned out to be in no one's interests to make too much of a fuss - not his employer, nor his workmates, nor the gangmaster who brought him there, nor even his widow back home.
News was anyway unlikely to spread fast, as Mr Zhang's friends spoke no English. The bereaved Mrs Zhang did not understand the death certificate when it was eventually sent to her back in China. The body was soon cremated, without the benefit of an inquest.

Workers packing produce for supermarkets suffered series of abuses and shocking conditions
An employment agency involved in a government-backed initiative to clean up the gangmaster industry has been supplying debt-bonded labour to pack fresh produce for British supermarkets, the Guardian has learned. The South African workers supplied by Staffmasters Ltd to pack fruit and vegetables at a packhouse for Tesco and other leading retailers held legitimate work permits but were subject to a series of abuses and breaches of employment legislation.