Two million workers in the UK are at risk of being mistreated or exploited due to their vulnerable work status, a report by the TUC has suggested.
Its research discovered a number of home workers were being paid as little as £1 an hour, while some employees of fast food outlets were working up to 70 hours a week. The report also claimed that domestic staff regularly faced physical and sexual violence from employers.
The Commission on Vulnerable Employment, which was set up by the TUC last year, said that that ‘employment practices attacked as exploitative in the 19th century are still common today’.
The TUC described the situation as a “national scandal” and implored the government to take urgent action. The report called for a campaign to raise people’s awareness of workers’ rights, as well as increased funding for bodies such as the Health and Safety Executive and the setting up of a special Fair Employment Commission to police rogue employers and enforce workers’ rights.
Commission member and SERCO chairman Kevin Beeston said “it’s time society stopped turning a blind eye to these workplace abuses that are shaming the world of work and tarnishing the reputations of good employers.”
TUC general secretary and chair of the new commission Brendan Barber urged businesses not to panic. “Good employers have nothing to fear – and much to gain – from policies that stop them from being undercut by bad employers who break the law or use loopholes to get around it.”
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