Workforce from Poland in the UK
1) Changes in Poland after EU formation from employee's perspective.
a. The Euro effect on Zloty
b. Current economic situation/employment situation in Poland
c. Who is willing to go to England to work in hospitality and why?
d. Potential employees' qualifications and goals
e. Travel, employment and immigration laws for Polish citizens in England
2) Changes in England after EU formation from employer's perspective.
a. The Euro effect on British Pound
b. Current economic and employment situation in England
c. What is the demand for hospitality workers?
3) Challenges of managing Polish workforce in England.
a) Hofestede's cultural analysis
b) Is Polish labor force adapting to UK culture in hospitality?
Poland Migrant Hospitality Workers in the UK
Management Challenges
Abstract
This paper explores the effects of the expansion of European Union, and its effects on Polish workers, their migrations to England and the UK, and their experiences there. It includes supportive information about the Polish economy, job market, and the relationship of the euro and the zloty. This project also contains supportive information on the economy and business practices of England, both generally and in hospitality specifically. This paper includes both empirical and anecdotal evidence about the experiences of Polish workers in England since Poland joined the EU.
1. Background.
Poland joined the European Union in May 2004, nearly five and a half years after the euro was first introduced as the unifying currency of much of Western Europe. When Poland joined in 2004, so did several other Central European countries. Polanski (2004) and many others have pointed out that while joining the EU was a significant step, it is best understood as a part of what had been, to that point, a fifteen year transition from a what is commonly called a planned economy to a market economy. Now, twenty-four years into that transition, there are visible trends and developments regarding Polish workers, and industries in Poland and England.
After Poland joined the EU, many Poles emigrated to and settled in the UK. In 2001, there were just under 61,000 Polish-born residents of the UK, but by 2010 that number was over half a million people, making Poles the second most populous ethnic minority in Britain. (Polish migration to the United Kingdom, 2013.) This has made the Polish language the second most spoken language in England. Among the biggest reasons why Poles come to the UK, are job opportunities and improved options for social mobility (Rainey, 2013.) From the same article, "In 2011, 45,000 Poles settled here, marking the biggest rise in migrants since the financial crash." (It should be noted that while England's social mobility is greater than Poland's, it is by no means an open society and many of the comments on Rainey's article in The Telegraph are hostile to immigrants in general, Poles specifically, and contain many blatantly false stereotypes. Many of the comments praising Polish emigration to the UK explicitly state that they prefer Poles simply because they are white.)
In 2011, Poland's GDP $514.5 billion (Poland, 2013) was considerably lower than the UK's $2.45 trillion (United Kingdom, 2013.) There is high unemployment in Poland, averaging 13.5%, and the minimum hourly wage is less than one third that paid in England (List of minimum wages, 2013.) According to Janta, Ladkin, Brown, and Lugosi (2011), in 2008 Poles were the largest group of international workers in the UK with 109,205 employed by the hospitality and catering sectors. The hospitality sector has its positive and negative sides. While it offers opportunities to learn a new language and culture, earn money and benefits, and flexibility in hours, it also has the ugly side of long hard working hours, low pay, discrimination, and low status jobs. This paper will discuss aspects of the current economic and employment situation in Poland and the UK, reasons why Polish migrant workers are entering the hospitality sector in the UK, their positive and negative work experiences, and improvements management can make to retain their workers.
2. Literature Review.
a. The Euro effect on Zloty and British Pound
Initially, many assumed that Poland would adopt the euro almost immediately, however the zloty remains the official currency, though members of government have expressed an interest in seeing full conversion to the euro within three or four years and many individuals and businesses will accept euros as payment. Part of what has slowed Poland's shift to the euro is that from 2001 until at least 2004, fiscal deficits were above 3% of GDP (Polanski, 2004) and there is a requirement that they be below that to enter the euro zone. Another issue was the exchange rate stability requirement. Polanski stated that the existing system in Poland in 2004 was successful, but not compatible with the requirements for entrance to the euro zone. Ultimately, this kind of disconnect has featured strongly in Poland's slowed movement toward the euro. The need to keep the country as stable as possible in often difficult time has been that the risks associated with a more aggressive movement into a full market economy had to be managed differently than it did in nations with a more secure infrastructure on the one hand, or a more desperate need for growth on the other. The 2008 global economic slowdown had its effect on Poland and its move to the euro as well.
b. Basics of Labor Law in Poland and UK
The basic employment laws in both England and Poland are similar in terms of worker protections, including minimal wage laws and the benefits that are offered. The biggest difference is in enforcement of the laws. We will review the two countries by categories in hiring, employment contracts, discrimination protection, minimum wage and health insurance benefits. The biggest difference that the research revealed was wages, which is one of the biggest factors encouraging the Polish workforce to move to England.
i. Hiring
England - In England, the individuals may be either "employees (who work under a contract of employment) or workers (usually independent contractors who work and are paid as and when needed). It is important to distinguish the two categories of worker as many of the statutory employment rights relate only to employees and not to workers," (Employment Law Alliance, 2013). That is, within the working classes, it is important to understand that there are fundamental legal structures that make the treatment of different sets of workers very different in basic legal terms. Not surprisingly, the worker and employee distinctions tend to fall along race, sex, and class lines, as well as ethnicity and nationality, all of which effect Polish workers in the UK. In the hospitality industry, the big hotel corporations usually sub-contract hospitality workers through employment agencies. Therefore, the relevant laws regarding Polish hospitality workers are the laws for workers not employees. Pre-employment screening includes checking a candidate's credentials such as degree results, driving license, employment history, previous salary information, immigration status, etc. are usually performed by the pre-employment screening agency but apparently are not very common in the UK outside of that circumstance.
The Polish Labor Code states that "the individual employment contract is the primary form of employment relationship regulated by the major act of Polish Labor Law, i.e., the Labor Code," (Employment Law Alliance, 2013.) An employment contract is to be in writing and must specify the nature and essential elements of the contract, such as the kind of work, the place where it is to be performed, wages, and working time, according to article 29 of the Polish Labor Code. Employment may also be based on an oral agreement, but the employer is under a duty to confirm the conditions of the contract with the employee, in writing once the employment commences.
Thus, England has two legal classes of employment, while Poland has only one. While all types of employment are carefully legally defined in England, the allowance for oral agreements to be specified in writing later creates hazards for workers in Poland who may find that the writing looks very different from the agreement. There is both a lack of transparency in Poland and less powerful unionization, making the situation of high unemployment even more fraught as Polish workers are acutely aware that an employer can easily replace them.
ii. Employment Contracts
In England, the worker is usually "an independent contractor with a contract for services in place that may be oral or written or a mixture of both and may include both express and implied terms," (Employment Law Alliance, 2013.) It is important to note that an independent contractor is taxed differently than employee and is responsible for making tax payments on their own, where an employer usually arranges those deductions on behalf of the employee, meaning that there are more responsibilities undertaken by the independent contractor than by the employee. Job offers are frequently made "subject to satisfactory references." Employers have a duty to provide employees with a written statement of specified terms of their employment no later than two months after they start work. This is required by section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Therefore, effectively the main terms of the contract are in writing for all employees. A job offer may be for an indefinite period of for a fixed term. According to Employment Law Alliance (2013,) part-time employment has become more common and those workers are protected by the Part-time Workers Regulations 2000.
In Poland, the Labor Code distinguishes several types of employment contracts. For example, article 25 of the Labor Code describes how the term of employment may be, first, for an indefinite period of time, second, for a specified period of time, third, for the duration of performing a specified task, or, fourth, for a trial period. The parties are can choose the type of employment contract that will govern their relationship, those the employee is usually negotiating alone against the business or employer. Importantly, certain employer responsibilities and obligations, as well as the procedures for terminating an employee's employment, depend on the type of employment contract in effect between the employer and the employee.
iii. Discrimination.
The workers in England have legal protection against several types of discrimination. It is unlawful in the UK to discriminate against applicants or workers based on sex, race, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, or age. Naturally, these laws exist precisely because those types of discrimination are rampant. Proving such discrimination is difficult, so the protections are not complete, nor do they prevent bias. However, the threat of legal ramifications does improve circumstances for workers over what the work place would be like without them. Special legislation exists to ensure that selection and recruitment procedures observe at least the appearance of equal opportunities and that applicants are fairly selected on merit and suitability for the job in question.
For workers in Poland, the issue of discrimination based on specific characteristics such as race, gender, age, or disability, is a constitutional matter. Chapter II of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, sets forth a citizen's rights and duties, which include the right to equal treatment by public authorities. As a fundamental rule, no one may be discriminated against for any reason in political, social, or economic life according to the Constitution's article 32. Article 33 of the Constitution also provides for the right to equal remuneration for work of the same value, the right to social security, the right to hold the same positions and functions, and the right to receive public honors irrespective of one's gender. Article 113 of the Polish Labor Code follows the Constitutional framework by specifically prohibiting any discrimination in employment relations based on age, sex, disability, race, nationality, political or religious beliefs, trade union membership, ethnic background, sexual orientation, or employment for a definite or an indefinite period, full-time or part-time.
iv. Minimum Wage
According to Employment Law Alliance (2013,) "the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 provides that all workers are entitled to be paid a national minimum wage provided they have reached school-leaving age and ordinarily work in the UK." As of 1 October 2012, the standard rate, for those aged 21 or over, is £6.19 per hour. Converting that into US dollars, it is $19,518 per year with an hourly wage of $9.83 per hour.
In Poland, "the minimum wage is currently regulated in the Minimum Wage Act, which was enacted in 2002. The minimum wage is determined each year by means of negotiations within the so-called Trilateral Committee for Socio-Economic Affairs, a body comprised of representatives of the government and employee and employer organizations, based on various economic indices from the previous year," (Employment Law Alliance, 2013.) As of January 1, 2013, the minimum wage is 4.91PLN per hour. Converting that into US dollars, it is $5,980 per year with an hourly wage of $2.83 per hour.
v. Health Insurance
The National Health Service in England provides access to doctors and necessary hospital treatment to everyone at no additional cost regardless of their financial means. It is funded through taxes paid by all citizens and businesses. Some larger employees also offer the option of private health insurance that covers the fees for private doctors and hospitals. Private doctors and hospitals are common only among the more wealthy. In Poland, by virtue of the Act on Healthcare Financed from Public Funds 2004, all employees are obligatorily covered for health insurance by the National Health Fund. The contributions are paid from the employee's income, but the employer is required to calculate and deduct them from the employee's pay and forward them to Social Insurance Office, which then passes them onto the National Health Fund.
3. Current employment situation in Poland and UK.
As Haiss and Rainer (2012) point out, it is more common in Poland than in most other European nations for families to have a member or members who are working and living abroad. Often, the currency of the nation where that family member is living and working is a factor in guaranteeing personal loans from banks or is simply a part of that family's daily economy. As the euro zone has enlarged, it has become more and more likely that the currency in question would be the euro. It is also true that since 2008 especially, foreign currency loans have become a larger portion of Poland's GDP.
One effect of these political and economic changes has been that, from the perspective of the Polish worker or employer, there is a familiarity with foreign markets and work processes among Poles that exceeds that of most Europeans. From a practical perspective, it has been necessary for two and a half generations of Polish people, and probably longer in black markets, to be well acquainted with the economic and labor practices of the rest of the world, including England. For Poles, the idea of emigrating is somewhat familiar as most everyone has both family members and friends/ acquaintances living and working abroad. In that way, emigrating is not easy, but there exists a degree of familiarity that makes it more possible.
In the UK, the need for workers has grown. At the same time, the power of the labor movement in the UK has been significantly diminished. Even with that diminished power, the pay and benefits expectations of native-born workers remain greater than those of many foreign born workers. Polish workers also suit some of England's less savory racial biases against people of color and even native-born workers of African, South Asian, or Middle Eastern descent may find themselves at a disadvantage against foreign-born white workers, as comments on the Rainey article show and the article by Batnitzky, et al examine. Further, the Polish cultural approach to work is somewhat compartmentalized, contentment and happiness are seen as the province of one's private life and expectations about work life satisfaction are distinctly different from those of English workers, many of whom see work as a part of their personal identity.
Baum (2012) called Poland "the main generating country" (p. 35) of migrant workers in the euro zone, and the migration to England is one aspect of that. He describes how Polish workers migration destination is shaped by their demographic. Polish migrant workers who go to Norway, for example, are on average older, less well educated, more likely to be married, and with fewer language skills that Polish migrants to England (Baum, 2012, p. 34.) For this reason, they are often kept away from positions that involve work directly with customers. This means that they occupy the most poorly paid positions in hospitality in Norway, making England a more promising option for many. The demand for hospitality workers in London is high (Baum, 2012, p.35) as is the turnover rate. To put a fine point on how migrant workers feature in London's hospitality industry, 10% of hospitality workers are migrant while only 3% are UK-born Londoners. Even more significant, 60% of London workers in hotels and restaurants are migrants, whereas less than 38% of London, total, is foreign born. For Polish migrant workers in hospitality, this makes London an incredible draw. The turnover rate creates 'new' openings on a regular basis, and if they are younger, single, and speak English, there are opportunities to advance into positions that deal with direct contact with international clientele. Further, given that London is a bustling international city, they are socially isolated. As single young people in an international industry working in an international industry, their ability to develop roots and a home in London and other major cities is significant. The draw to England is, for many Polish hospitality workers, not just an improved income, which can they can achieve in many places, but that they will not always be seen first as foreign workers though that will always be part of how they seen. Again, it is important to remember that while there peculiarities in England and Poland, the fact is that the vast majority of migration occurs due primarily to a search for work.
Though migrants to London experience a host of issues related to sexism, racism, and ethnic biases, migrant worker in rural England face a related but notably different set of issues. The Yorkshire Dales see more than 9 million tourists a year, and working for the park system has low status among native-born people. For that reason, the Dales relies heavily on migrant labor in their hospitality industry (Baum, 2012, p. 36.) Unfortunately, migrant workers here face greater degrees of isolation due to the rural location and the comparative lack of public transportation. Migrant workers here account for 40 to 60% of the full time work force, and are largely from Central and Eastern Europe. Summer staff used to be sought through traditional job postings, but employers were routinely coming up with little to no response. A dependence on migrant workers developed and the established communications systems of those workers exceeded the ability of Dales' employers to find their own staff. Eventually, a recruitment agency took over the workload at a cost of 600 pounds per worker, paid by the worker (Baum, 2012, p. 37.)
4. Supply and demand for hospitality workers in EU.
While there are peculiarly Polish and English qualities to specific processes, it is nonetheless important to understand that the single European market necessarily limits national regulatory practices (Jakopovich, 2011) and therefore specifically national economic practices. That is, whatever their marginally peculiar influences England and Poland and their peoples, this is an essentially trans-European labor and economic processes. Political and economic gains made at the national level on behalf of working class people have been reversed by economic and capital changes at the European level (Jakopovich, 2011,) making workforces in England, and other nations, more interchangeable than they had previously been.
Transnational businesses have necessarily begun organizing their business function in ways that best suit euro zone and European practices (Jakopovich, 2011,) rather than national currencies and practices. Further, hotels, and hospitality in general, have economic and practical reasons for creating a pan-European feel for guests and a pan-European reality for business practices. In the past, travelers often wanted a peculiarly native experience. One of the social repercussions of pan-Europeanization has been that increasingly foreign travelers expect that their experiences will be fairly standardized from location to location and the peculiarities of nativity will be minimized outside of cultural experiences in museums and the like. Because of this, international staffing in hospitality is increasingly the norm as it is not perceived negatively by guests and provides hotels with a linguistically diverse staff that supports better services for international guests.
Hospitality and tourism are among the world's biggest job creators (Baum, 2012, p. 8) and that makes them excellent areas for yo¬unger workers and women, as well as migrants. Globally, it accounts for 8% jobs, with 235 million direct or indirect employment opportunities. In the EU, it is even higher at 12%, meaning one in every 8.3 jobs in the EU is a job in hospitality. While turnover rates in London create new openings, they are created by low wages and long hours in a city with a very high cost of living (Baum, 2012, p. 35.) There is little incentive for lower wage hospitality workers to remain in a given position that becomes too intolerable as another is easily found. Vacations are sometimes procured simply by quitting one job and then searching for another. While the migrant division of labor for Polish workers in London may not be as acute as it is for them in Norway, it no doubt remains that there is a distinct division of labor (Baum, 2012, p. 35.) Baum also reiterates the significance of race for Polish migrant worker in London (2012, p. 36) and goes on to report that segregation in London appears to be more specific and multi variant than in other international cities in Europe and North America. On balance, England is an excellent option for Polish migrant workers.
According to Janta, Ladkin, Brown, and Lugosi, (2011) the hospitality industry in the UK has always relied on migrant workers. Specifically this labor sector is associated with women, students, ethnic minorities, and young people. The study points out the one distinct group of migrants who are employed in hospitality sector are students who take overseas working holidays. They mostly come from Eastern Europe to earn extra money to support their studies, and the jobs they take are usually temporary, like those in the Dales. They point out that "for most employees, the hospitality sector is not a career option, but rather a preparation for a career in another section of the economy." They also surveyed 315 individuals who were working within the hospitality industry. They were aged 18-55 years old and nearly 50% of respondents had a bachelor's or master's degree. Their results suggested that the top reasons for entering hospitality field were to study foreign language, to start working as soon as possible, to gain work experience, to receive benefits, and to easily obtain job. The study suggests that reasons for entering hospitality sector vary by age and gender. Workers aged 20 or younger who want to return to Poland take temporary jobs to improve their English and make extra money; those who were 29 or older, wanted to stay in the UK long-term took the job because they could start immediately and gain benefits. The researchers also found that the migrant workers' goals would change depending on their experiences working and living in the UK. They may come with the goal of obtaining a temporary job and returning to their native country after a short period, but if their work and life experiences are good, they are more likely to stay longer. For hospitality workers in Poland, the labor market is thriving but not growing. The market in England continues to grow, especially as cities in the north grow and become increasingly popular destinations, whereas in the past few foreign travelers ventured beyond London and few key coastal areas. Jakopovich's work (2011) hints at something else. In some ways, London and other similar cities prefer that hospitality mimic an us versus them framing. This means that staffing should mimic culture perceptions of class, race, and ethnicity. That is, people have come to prefer a service class that is not English in order to maintain the perception that the English are not "servants" and that other ethnic stereotype are true (Polish women are hard workers, being one example.)
5. What's working and what's not working for Polish migrant workers.
Hospitality work is the mostly likely to be a first job for Polish workers in the UK. Janta, Ladkin, Brown, and Lugosi, (2011) found that the respondents from their study were positive about their first job typically for one or more of the following five reasons: it provided time for adjustment to a new language and culture; it did not require high education or skills; it provided an opportunity to meet with other international people; it offered a flexible working schedule so they could pursue other goals; it paid for living expenses.
Because hospitality sector also has its challenges, respondents from the same study (ibid.) pointed out some negative aspects as well:
a. Very long and hard hours of work - It is a well-known factor that the jobs in hospitality sector can be physically exhausting with long working hours, especially on the weekends. Because of unpredictability in customer demand and extensions in working schedules, the job can become very stressful to coordinate with other responsibilities.
b. Health and safety concerns - The jobs in hospitality sector are mostly physical ones that are repetitive. Repetitive physical labor can cause health and safety concerns, it is not "good exercise" like yoga or jogging.
c. Low pay - One the biggest complaints and criticisms of the hospitality employment is a minimal and irregular wage rates. Numerous respondents complained about unfair, irregular wages paid based on how busy the hotels were at the time of their employment.
d. Discrimination - Many respondents felt that they were mistreated, underpaid, and discriminated against because of their nationality. They felt that they were given additional work responsibilities and were expected to work harder than their British co-workers did.
e. Management attitude and behavior - The respondents felt that the management was often abusing their power positions by breaking the rules, mistreating the workers, and drinking on the job. The biggest disappointment for workers for the fact that the managers themselves had no formal education or qualifications to be in management positions while their staff were often highly educated.
Baum and others note throughout their works that migrant workers are needed, deeply, by the hospitality industry in England. Yet, their presence within industry is often part of a process that marginalizes the workers and their needs, often driving pay and working conditions even lower. Polish workers in London are, in the aggregate, better situated than migrant workers from other nations or from workers or color, whether they are migrant or native born. In some cases, the circumstances that benefit Polish workers are born of ethnic prejudices that enable them to get certain jobs, but that also interfere with advancement or expansion into other areas of work. One study of Bellman International (Batnitzky, Dyer, and McDowell, 2007) found that because Polish women were seen as hardworking, they were readily hired to fill positions on the cleaning staff. Those whose skill sets and training prepared them for management positions were not so lucky, as one of the elements often attached to being a "hard worker" is that one is also unintelligent. As Janta, et. al. noted, for Polish workers in England, being better trained and educated than most of their bosses was of little benefit.
6. Hofstede's cultural analysis comparing England and Poland in management styles.
Geert Hofstede's cultural analysis proves unhelpful in examining differences between English and Polish management cultures, because it relies heavily on ethnic stereotypes that more complex analyses reject. For example, the Hofstede Centre claims that there is a belief that anyone can be anything in England (2013.) However, the ethos/mythos is better understood as a cultural belief that what you have is what you deserve. That is, if you are poor and ill, then you must have done something to merit poverty or illness, despite the fact that research shows that the greatest predictor of wealth and health in England is class (Office for National Statistics, 2013.) The Hofstede Centre's analysis provides more insight into how people see themselves and others according to ethnic biases than it provides for how people actually behave and how hospitality functions in the UK.
Polish women workers somewhat perfunctory relationship to work was perceived as docility (Batnitzky, Dyer, and McDowell, 2007,) another detriment to their advancement either within their department or outside it. Further, when a group of workers also share an ethnicity, there is a tendency among management to, even more than before, see them as an indistinguishable unit, with some managers claim that until there were Polish employees, Bellman International hotel in London had no employee cliques (Batnitzky, Dyer, and McDowell, 2007.) The claim is ridiculous on its face for anyone who has ever worked in a large organization. Despite Hofstede's claim that Polish people defer to authority more than British people do, managers complained that Polish members of the housekeeping staff too often want to know why a thing is being done (Batnitzky, et al, 2007.) The question would seem to be a natural one, especially from staff who are likely adjusting to new work methods and a new work culture. Something is revealed here not only about ethnic bias in London hospitality, but a difference in how people of different classes function in each country. Working class people in Poland are, generally speaking, not as deferential in work environments as English working class people are expected to be. Further, while many English working classes would not feel or behave in a deferential manner, necessarily, their asking questions about work processes may not be seen as an equal affront. That is, it matters that these are women asking (sex), that they are housekeeping staff (class), and that they are foreign born (ethnicity). Another factor here is that the history of migrant workers in London, and England in general, has been one in which the workers were from colonial subjects of the United Kingdom (ibid.) It was likely that previous waves of immigrants had greater familiarity with British work customs and habits than the Polish born migrants, who were seen as threatening or disrespectful for asking why work was to be done a particular way.
Because many Polish women are working in cleaning jobs, they are also expected to be, and often are, virtually invisible, as is their work (Batnitzky, Dyer, and McDowell, 2007.) Foreign-born women working as cleaners may find themselves more likely to expect consideration from their supervisors, because they do not receive it from hotel or restaurant guests. Supervisors can feel put out that people they hired to clean and to be invisible are not satisfying the second requirement. Batnitzky, Dyer, and McDowell also found that, at times, employees shift their behavior slightly to meet the expectations of their supervisors, and that is especially prominent in cases where biases are shared across culture. For example, sometimes Polish workers share anti-Indian racism with their British supervisors, a situation that confirms to the supervisor that their biases are correct including those they hold about and against Polish workers.
7. Is Polish labor force adapting to UK culture in hospitality?
Part of why Polish workers have succeeded in hospitality is that the industry has traditionally been less well organized than other English industries. At the same time that Polish hospitality workers were succeeding in the English market, Polish construction workers found themselves the target of strikes and walkouts, until they were laid off and replaced with English workers (Gall, 2012.) This highlights a significant limitation of the social valuation of whiteness in Polish migrant workers in England. Their presence in welcomed in jobs that have little social status, which often translates to jobs traditionally held by women. This has meant that though they must endure sexism and have their work devalued as low status, there have been, generally speaking, more opportunities for working class Polish women than there have been for working class Polish men. While many Polish women find themselves taking less prestigious jobs in England than they would have had in Poland, if they were able to secure work, for many they are doing similar work in a working world that is no more sexist than they would have experienced at home.
Conclusion
Whether Polish migrant workers will be able to change their limited access to advancement and secure employment in English hospitality remains to be seen. A second generation of ethnically Polish Britains may be able to do well another ten to twenty years, but significant changes for current workers will likely remain elusive. The supervisor in the Bellman study who complained of cliques among Polish workers went on to say that she put in a request with the staffing agency to send no more Polish women and was seeking employees she perceived as more compliant based entirely on ethnic identity. These difficulties will not disappear; however, there remain valuable opportunities for Polish migrant workers in London and throughout England.
References
Batnitzky, A., Dyer, S., and McDowell, L. Division, segmentation, and interpellation: The embodied labors of migrant workers in a greater London hotel. Economic Geography.
Baum, T. International migration paper no. 12: Migrant workers in the international hotel industry. International Migration Branch and Sectoral Activities Department of the International Labour Organization.
Employment Law Alliance. The global employer handbook.
Gall, G. The engineering construction strikes in Britain, 2009. Capital and Class. 36.3.
Haiss, P.R. and Rainer, W. Credit euroization in Eastern Europe" The 'foreign funds' channel at work. Comparative Economic Studies. 54.3.
Hofstede Centre. Poland.
Jakopovich, D. The construction of a trans-European labour movement. Capital and Class. 35.1.
Janta, H., Ladkin, L., Brown, L. and Lugosi, P. Employment experiences of Polish migrant workers in the UK hospitality sector. Tourism Management, 32.5.
OECD Observer. Poland: Euro debate intensifies. OECD Observer. 270-271, p. 70.
Office for National Statistics.
Polanski, Z. Poland and the euro zone enlargement: Monetary policy, ERM I, and other issues. Atlantic Economic Journal. 32.4.
PolishForums.com - Discussions about Poland and Polish People. Web. https://polishforums.com/uk-ireland/workers-going-back-britain-43585/
Rainey, S. Why Poles love coming to Britain. The Telegraph.
Wikipedia. List of minimum wages by country.
Wikipedia. Poland. Wikipedia.
Wikipedia. Polish migration to the United Kingdom.
Wikipedia. United Kingdom. Wikipedia.