Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant is expected to make speech attacking practices of 'unscrupulous employers'
Labour has clashed with supermarket giant Tesco over claims made by a senior MP about recruiting foreign workers.
Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant will highlight the activities of Tesco in a speech attacking "unscrupulous employers" who recruit cheap labour from eastern Europe.
In a speech on Monday he will claim the supermarket moved its distribution centre to Kent where a "large percentage" of the staff are from the eastern bloc, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
But the supermarket denied having a distribution centre in the county and it is understood the firm will write to Labour to complain about the "unfair" attack.
According to extracts of the speech reported in the Sunday Telegraph, Bryant will acknowledge that immigration can have a negative effect on labour markets.
He will say: "The biggest complaint I have heard, from migrants and settled communities alike, is about the negative effects migration can have on the UK labour market. And I agree.
"It is unfair that unscrupulous employers whose only interest seems to be finding labour as cheaply as possible will recruit workers in large numbers in low-wage countries in the EU, bring them to the UK, charge the costs of their travel and their substandard accommodation against their wages and still not even meet the national minimum wage.
"That is unfair. It exploits migrant workers and it makes it impossible for settled workers with mortgages and a family to support at British prices to compete."
In his speech, which also contains criticism of high street chain Next, Bryant will make it clear that neither firm has broken the law.
Bryant plans to say: "Take the case of Tesco, who recently decided to move their distribution centre in Kent.
"The new centre is larger and employs more people, but the staff at original site, most of them British, were told that they could only move to the new centre if they took a cut in pay. The result? A large percentage of the staff at the new centre are from [the] eastern bloc."
Tesco said it had recruited 350 local people to work in its distribution centre in Dagenham, which is in the east London borough of Barking and Dagenham and was formerly in Essex, not Kent.
A spokesman said: "It is wrong to accuse Tesco of this. We work incredibly hard to recruit from the local area, and have just recruited 350 local people to work in our Dagenham site."
Bryant will accuse Next of printing leaflets in Polish to attract workers from the country.
Extracts from his speech say: "Look at Next Plc, who last year brought 500 Polish workers to work in their South Elmsall [West Yorkshire] warehouse for their summer sale and another 300 this summer.
"They were recruited in Poland and charged £50 to find them accommodation. The advantage to Next? They get to avoid agency workers regulations, which apply after a candidate has been employed for over 12 weeks, so Polish temps end up considerably cheaper than the local workforce, which includes many former Next employees."
A spokesman for the retailer told the Sunday Telegraph: "Without access to the facts, it is difficult to comment on what Bryant is claiming. On the face of it, his allegations seem unlikely." Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.
Labour has clashed with supermarket giant Tesco over claims made by a senior MP about recruiting foreign workers.
Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant will highlight the activities of Tesco in a speech attacking "unscrupulous employers" who recruit cheap labour from eastern Europe.
In a speech on Monday he will claim the supermarket moved its distribution centre to Kent where a "large percentage" of the staff are from the eastern bloc, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
But the supermarket denied having a distribution centre in the county and it is understood the firm will write to Labour to complain about the "unfair" attack.
According to extracts of the speech reported in the Sunday Telegraph, Bryant will acknowledge that immigration can have a negative effect on labour markets.
He will say: "The biggest complaint I have heard, from migrants and settled communities alike, is about the negative effects migration can have on the UK labour market. And I agree.
"It is unfair that unscrupulous employers whose only interest seems to be finding labour as cheaply as possible will recruit workers in large numbers in low-wage countries in the EU, bring them to the UK, charge the costs of their travel and their substandard accommodation against their wages and still not even meet the national minimum wage.
"That is unfair. It exploits migrant workers and it makes it impossible for settled workers with mortgages and a family to support at British prices to compete."
In his speech, which also contains criticism of high street chain Next, Bryant will make it clear that neither firm has broken the law.
Bryant plans to say: "Take the case of Tesco, who recently decided to move their distribution centre in Kent.
"The new centre is larger and employs more people, but the staff at original site, most of them British, were told that they could only move to the new centre if they took a cut in pay. The result? A large percentage of the staff at the new centre are from [the] eastern bloc."
Tesco said it had recruited 350 local people to work in its distribution centre in Dagenham, which is in the east London borough of Barking and Dagenham and was formerly in Essex, not Kent.
A spokesman said: "It is wrong to accuse Tesco of this. We work incredibly hard to recruit from the local area, and have just recruited 350 local people to work in our Dagenham site."
Bryant will accuse Next of printing leaflets in Polish to attract workers from the country.
Extracts from his speech say: "Look at Next Plc, who last year brought 500 Polish workers to work in their South Elmsall [West Yorkshire] warehouse for their summer sale and another 300 this summer.
"They were recruited in Poland and charged £50 to find them accommodation. The advantage to Next? They get to avoid agency workers regulations, which apply after a candidate has been employed for over 12 weeks, so Polish temps end up considerably cheaper than the local workforce, which includes many former Next employees."
A spokesman for the retailer told the Sunday Telegraph: "Without access to the facts, it is difficult to comment on what Bryant is claiming. On the face of it, his allegations seem unlikely." Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.