Employment rights of migrant workers
The Labour Relations Agency’s unique statutory role and set of responsibilities means that it is critical for the Agency to have a multi-layered strategy to meet the employment rights needs of migrant workers and their employers.
Context
It has been widely recognised that the phenomenon of inward migration for employment purposes has been of enormous benefit to the local economy and has provided genuine community enhancement through cultural diversity. The central government response to this migration in Northern Ireland has been more focused since the accession of the A8 nations in 2004 and led to the creation of the Migrant Workers Thematic Sub-Group which brings together the entire range of public service providers and all the key voluntary bodies with the objective of devising a broad support strategy on all facets of public/statutory and voluntary provision and support. The Thematic Sub-Group then additionally oversees the strategy, monitoring development and progression while ensuring that bodies liaise to avoid duplication of publication and provision.
The Agency’s strategy has been developed in this context while seeking to meet the needs of migrant workers and their employers within the unique nature of the Agency’s services.
The Labour Relations Agency Strategy
The Agency strategy was developed after substantial consultation with voluntary and representational bodies and other service providers. The strategy has 4 main components:
- The provision of employment rights information sheets translated into 8 languages (Polish, Portuguese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Chinese, Slovak and Tetum) and accessible from this website.
- The provision of a regularly scheduled seminar entitled “Employment Rights of Migrant Workers” which is mostly targeted to those employing or seeking to employ migrant workers. Details of the seminar can be accessed from this website.
- The ongoing commitment of the Agency to ensure that its Enquiry Point service is accessible to migrant workers by providing translation services as necessary and ensuring that Enquiry Point staff maintain up to date awareness of employment and workplace issues likely to effect migrant workers and their employers.
- A standing arrangement with the Equality Commission (N.I.) for ongoing liaison to avoid duplication in the content of publications while developing joint working for seminars/events hosted by either body or others.
Other Important Information Sites
It is recommended to consider access to two other websites;
www.delni.gov.uk to access the publication “Your Rights at Work – A Guide” (for employment rights information only)
English
http://www.delni.gov.uk/5315_english.pdf 234.59KB
Cantonese
http://www.delni.gov.uk/cantonese.pdf 7.93MB
Lithuanian
http://www.delni.gov.uk/5315_lithuanian.pdf 2.18MB
Polish
http://www.delni.gov.uk/5315_polish.pdf 322.66KB
Portuguese
http://www.delni.gov.uk/portuguese.pdf 1.12MB
and www.lawcentreni.org to access the publication “Your Rights in Northern Ireland” for a guide to all forms of statutory rights and entitlements.