As with most communities in the UK, charities and help centres have formed to cope with demand. One example for Polish migrants is the East European Advice Centre which “aims to help socially and economically disadvantaged people of East European origin in their efforts to settle in the UK.”

It deals with the common problems such as whether a person is entitled to housing benefit, how they can claim tax credits, whether they can receive child benefit, employment rights and other issues such as opening a bank account and where to go for other information.

Existing charities and organisations are also adapting to aid those of Polish origin who need their help. The Citizen’s Advice Bureau has Polish translation on its website and Polish speakers in many of its centres whilst the TUC are also giving help to migrant workers. It has produced a leaflet for people coming to work in the UK, giving help about their legal rights to work here which is translated into Polish. It has also published a booklet entitled ‘Living and Working in the UK’ which is for nationals of the ‘A8’ countries, including Poland.

The TUC has also worked with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau and Solidarnosc, the Polish trade union to launch a website aimed at Polish workers in the UK. Again it aims to explain employment law in this country and gives advice to workers on their minimum wage, holiday and sick pay entitlements. The TUC has also set up the Commission on Vulnerable Employment which looks into the extent of workplace exploitation in the UK, which is a great problem especially for migrant workers.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said of the website: “It is clear Polish workers need help both to understand and also secure their rights. By using this website and working with unions, advice agencies and other similar organisations, migrant workers can all get the support and protection from crooked employers they are entitled to”.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-13869-f0.cfm

Worker exploitation is a problem for immigrant workers as it is for the indigenous population, but perhaps a greater problem and there have been cases involving Polish workers which have gone through the courts.

Recently two Polish workers were awarded a total of £25,000 in a tribunal case against a fruit picking company in Perthshire. The tribunal found against David Leslie Fruits on the grounds of race discrimination against the Polish workers, with the caseworker for the workers saying: “Mr Leslie would not have dared treat Scottish people the way he treated my clients. He thought he could get away with it because they were Polish and didn’t know their rights. That was the reason the Tribunal found his actions to constitute race discrimination.”

In another case a poultry farmer had to pay over £5,000 in compensation to a Polish worker who also won a case of racial discrimination. The worker, who had not been paid the same as his British co-workers, was unreasonably criticised over his work, was forced to cancel holidays at short notice and was not allowed to attend English classes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/17/eastern-european-uk-migrants