Invisible people

Here is a story from a very affluent, pretty market town within our Diocese. The fact that I cannot tell you which town is a mark of the vulnerability of the ‘invisible people’ featured. A clergyperson serving in that community writes: ‘..I became aware of various groups of people moving in the darkness of the early hours of the morning or at the fall of the evening. I saw them waiting at the bus stop, walking in a hurry towards or from the rail station, carrying bags into the shops and restaurants. These were people that I never saw during the day or in the sociable hours of the evening…One day I met N, a Colombian manager of a local café. Over the months, as we got to know one another and I gained his trust, he told me his own story, and the stories of others less fortunate than him.

He told me about a group of illegal workers who are currently being hired by one of the local private clubs to work for less than the legal national minimum wage whilst having to live in substandard, near Dickensian, conditions. I have heard many similar stories and each time I am deeply moved, disturbed, and concerned at how we allow migrant workers to be treated.’ The death of 18 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay has brought many more such stories to national prominence: in Norfolk, for example, gang workers are paid just three pounds to cut a thousand daffodils; in Cambridgeshire workers were forced to live in partitioned containers with no water supply – and were deducted £80 a week rent from their meagre earnings. The size of the migrant worker economy is unknown, but during 2002/3 the Inland Revenue recouped more than £4 million in unpaid tax and national insurance contributions from gangmasters in the Thames Valley area alone.

Reflecting on his experiences, the clergyperson featured above says this: ‘In my own parish I am still struggling with what to do: should I keep quiet in order to protect their jobs, bearing in mind that many of them undoubtedly support their own families in their country of origin by sending money home? Or should I confront the injustice and be vocal about it? I honestly do not know what to do for the best.

I do, however, believe that this is not just a personal dilemma. It is an issue for the entire church.’

The Board for Social Responsibility is planning to organise a consultation to reflect on these issues. In particular, to consider what might be an appropriate strategy of ‘pastoral care and hospitality’ to migrant workers, including those with illegal status, in our communities.

If you have experiences to share or questions you’d like help with, and would like to take part, please contact me.

Alison Webster is the Diocesan Social Responsibility Adviser.
Contact her on 01865 208213