UK help for Portuguese workers

Many Portuguese work on UK farms

The tricking of Portuguese immigrants into signing away their employment rights is to be targeted by ministers.

Leaflets setting out labour rights are to be distributed in East Anglia and in Portugal, in a scheme launched by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

More than 200,000 Portuguese nationals work in the UK but the DTI says many are being underpaid because they are misled about labour laws.

The Citizens Advice Bureaux supports the project but wants it expanded.

Unemployment

It says more countries will need to be included as the European Union expands.

The Employment Relations Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, announced the new initiative on Tuesday.

He said unscrupulous UK employers were telling Portuguese workers they had to sign away their employment rights or they would be operating illegally.

Much of the labour, arranged by agencies in Portugal, is in the agriculture and the service industries.

East Anglia is a particular attraction because it has a demand for farm labour and Portugal's unemployment rate is 11%.

The Catholic Church in Portugal is helping to distribute the leaflets to people in remote areas.