{"id":4677,"date":"2008-09-29T14:58:21","date_gmt":"2008-09-29T13:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=4677"},"modified":"2008-09-29T14:58:21","modified_gmt":"2008-09-29T13:58:21","slug":"migrants-exploited-for-cheap-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/contributions\/migrants-exploited-for-cheap-labour\/","title":{"rendered":"Migrants exploited for cheap labour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corporate Watch<\/a>\u00a0| Detainees at the Campsfield House immigration prison in Oxfordshire are being \u201cexploited for cheap labour\u201d due to staff cuts, the Oxford and District Trades Union Council has revealed. The rejected asylum seekers, who are locked up for lengthy periods pending their deportation, are being paid \u00a35 for six-hour shifts of cleaning and kitchen work.<\/p>\n

A statement by the Oxford and District TUC<\/span> said: \u201cWe maintain our position that Campsfield is a shameful operation and should be closed. As long as it is open, jobs should be properly paid and be done by trained staff. For detainees there should be adequate recreational, educational and other provision\u2026 Detainees should receive an adequate financial allowance and not be obliged to act as slave labour for a multinational that makes big profits out of an operation that causes detainees enormous stress, uncertainty, general misery and often mental illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracy Ellicott from the Campaign to Close Campsfield told Corporate Watch that detainees are not forced by GEO<\/span>, the company that runs the prison, to work as such. They are, however, \u201cforced in the sense that they are locked up for 24 hours a day, uncertain of their future and with no money to purchase any essentials they may need.\u201d She added detainees can apply to do certain \u2018jobs\u2019 in the centre, such as cleaning, kitchen work and in the library. But none of those she has been visiting was prepared to speak out about this as they are \u201ctoo scared of retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shifts are 6 hours long and detainees are paid \u00a35 per shift, or 83p an hour. A GEO<\/span> guard has reportedly said that, according to Home Office rules, they could only pay detainees a maximum of \u00a324 a week. Radio Oxford quoted a statement from the Home Office two weeks ago to the effect that this was all above board and had been agreed with the Home Secretary. A Border and Immigration Agency (BIA<\/span>) spokesperson said: \u201cAll detained persons are provided with an opportunity and encouraged to participate in activities to meet their recreational and intellectual needs. Individuals are entitled to undertake paid activities at rates approved by the Secretary of State.\u201d As usual, GEO<\/span> declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Since taking over the running of Campsfield in June 2006, Global Expertise in Outsourcing (GEO<\/span>) has cut back on both staffing levels and educational, recreational and other provisions at the centre. Over the past year, GEO<\/span> has sacked education workers, nursing staff have departed, staff turnover has increased, the welfare officer has left and in September, the chaplain was suspended. GEO\u2019s main business is immigration detention centres and mental health centres throughout the world, especially in USA<\/span>, UK, South Africa and Australia. It also runs a part of Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo Bay base in Cuba.<\/p>\n

Private companies like GEO<\/span> that run immigration detention centres make huge profits. Seven of the UK\u2019s ten detention centres are run by private companies. The average cost for detaining someone in 2007\/08 was \u00a3119 per day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unbelievable that people who have done nothing wrong are not only locked up in prison like criminals, but are also being treated like slaves,\u201d Ms Ellicott said. \u201cGEO<\/span> is obviously saving money by using their \u2018captives\u2019 to perform menial tasks for slave wages.\u201d She added, \u201cof course, they could save a lot more if these centres were closed altogether!\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Home Office admitted migrants imprisoned in detention centres are \u201cexempt from the minimum wage\u201d but claimed they are \u201cnot forced to work.\u201d A BIA<\/span> spokesperson insisted: \u201cThis is voluntary and we are constantly looking for new opportunities to meet demand for this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, according to the immigration law, all asylum seekers are prohibited from work and live on state support, which is fixed at 70% of what is deemed to be the bare minimum to live on. The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 states that \u201cit is contrary to this section to employ an adult subject to immigration control if\u2026 he has not been granted leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom.\u201d The majority of those held in immigration detention centres are rejected asylum seekers (have not been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK) who are waiting to be deported back home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corporate Watch\u00a0| Detainees at the Campsfield House immigration prison in Oxfordshire are being \u201cexploited for cheap labour\u201d due to staff cuts, the Oxford and District Trades Union Council has revealed. The rejected asylum seekers, who are locked up for lengthy periods pending their deportation, are being paid \u00a35 for six-hour shifts of cleaning and kitchen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1615],"tags":[55],"class_list":{"0":"post-4677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-contributions","7":"category-uk-news","8":"tag-uk-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}