More than 90% of hand carwashes in UK employing workers illegally, study finds
-Only 7% had undertaken right-to-work checks and just 11% handed out payslips, Nottingham Trent University research reveals

研究发现,英国90%以上的人工洗车店非法雇佣工人
——诺丁汉特伦特大学的研究显示,只有7%的人进行了工作权利调查,只有11%的人发放了工资单


(Surprise inspections of 36 carwashes found only 7% could prove legal employment rights were being upheld.)

(对36家洗车店的突击检查发现,只有7%的洗车店能够证明他们维护了合法的就业权利。)
新闻:

More than 90% of hand carwashes are likely to be employing workers illegally, without proper pay, records and first aid measures, three years after the government backed a voluntary scheme to tackle abuse in the sector.

三年前,政府支持了一项解决该行业虐待问题的自愿计划,超过90%的人工洗车店可能非法雇佣工人,没有适当的工资、记录和急救措施。

Surprise inspections of carwashes in Leicester, Suffolk and Norfolk found only 7% had undertaken right-to-work checks, a legal obligation, or could prove that legal employment rights were being upheld.

在莱斯特、萨福克和诺福克对洗车场的突击检查中发现,只有7%的洗车店通过了工作权利检查——这是一项法律义务,或者可以证明合法的就业权利得到了维护。

The research was carried out by Nottingham Trent University in partnership with the government-backed Responsible Car Wash Scheme (RCWS) and the Home Office’s modern slavery prevention fund.

这项研究由诺丁汉特伦特大学与政府支持的“负责任洗车项目”和内政部的现代奴隶制预防基金合作开展。

Only 6% of the carwashes had written contracts with workers while just 11% handed out payslips so that they could prove they were paying the legal minimum wage, holiday pay or sick pay. Less than half (41%) were registered companies, indicating most are not registered with the tax authorities.

只有6%的洗车店与工人签订了用工合同,只有11%的人发放了工资单,以证明他们支付了法定的最低工资、假期工资或病假工资。不到一半(41%)是注册公司,这表明大多数洗车店没有在税务机关注册。

The 36 businesses visited for the study this year were not warned about the inspections and were identified partly using a tool to locate neighbourhoods likely to host non-compliant businesses developed by the Nottingham Trent team as well as through police intelligence.

今年的研究走访的36家洗车店没有收到有关检查的警告,部分是通过诺丁汉特伦特团队开发的一种定位可能存在违规企业的社区的工具以及警方情报确定的。

Teresa Sayers, the managing director of the RCWS, said she had visited more than 150 carwashes over the last few years and the study was “representative of the picture” across the UK. “This is endemic,” she said.

“负责任洗车项目”的主管特蕾莎·塞耶斯说,在过去几年里,她走访了150多家洗车店,这项研究在英国“具有代表性”。“这是地方病,”她说。

“It is quite shocking. Even though I have seen so many carwashes I was taken aback by how upfront these operators [in the study] were [about illegal practices] as they were so confident they were not going to be challenged.”

“这很令人震惊。尽管我看过很多洗车场,但我还是被这些(研究包含的)经营者(对非法行为)如此坦率的态度吓了一跳,因为他们如此自信他们不会受到挑战。”

Sayers called on the government to implement local or regional licensing schemes for carwashes based on the RCWS’s code of practice, enforced by better sharing of data and obxtives between oversight agencies which include HMRC, which is responsible for monitoring payment of the national minimum wage, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, which acts to protect vulnerable workers.

塞耶斯呼吁政府根据“负责任洗车项目”的行为准则实施本地或区域洗车许可计划,并在监管机构之间更好地共享数据和目标,其中包括负责监督国家最低工资支付的英国税务局和负责保护弱势工人的工头和劳工滥用管理局。

Sayers said only a “very, very small percentage” of the estimated 5,000 hand carwashes in the UK, which are thought to employ at least 15,000 people, had signed up to the voluntary good practice scheme she oversees, which was set up in 2018 in an effort to improve conditions in the sector.

塞耶斯说,在英国估计有5000家人工洗车店中,只有“非常非常小的比例”签署了她监督的自愿良好实践计划,该计划于2018年设立,旨在改善该行业的条件。这些人工洗车店被认为至少雇用了1.5万人。

She said: “Good operators say they want to operate fairly, but they can’t afford to do so as [they are] going to be undercut by the business across the road or around the corner.”

她表示:“好的经营者表示,他们也希望公平经营,但他们承担不起这样做的代价,因为(他们)将被马路对面或街角的同行抢走生意。”

Sayers said oversight was fragmented and operators realised they were rarely at risk of inspection, with any action likely to be over quickly allowing them to return to poor practice.

塞耶斯说,监管是分散的,运营商意识到他们很少有被检查的风险,且任何行动都可能很快结束,让他们回到糟糕的做法。

Margaret Beels, the director of labour market enforcement, a government role created in 2017 to help coordinate oversight of treatment of workers in the UK, said the range of issues found within carwashes required “a joined up approach – including engagement with local authorities, since there can be environmental issues as well as employment concerns associated with hand carwashes”.

英国劳动力市场执法局局长(2017年设立的一个政府职位,旨在帮助协调对英国工人待遇的监管)玛格丽特·比尔斯表示,洗车业发现的一系列问题需要“采取联合措施——包括与地方当局合作,因为人工洗车业可能存在环境问题和就业问题”。

She said: “Evidence suggests that a broad range of noncompliance is prent in the hand carwash sector, mostly lower levels of labour market noncompliance and exploitation, though instances of modern slavery and human trafficking have been found. Underpayment of the minimum wage is a recurrent issue.”

她说:“有证据表明,洗车行业普遍存在广泛的不合规行为,其中大多数是劳动力市场较低水平的不合规和剥削行为,但也发现了现代奴隶制和人口贩卖的情况。支付低于最低工资是一个经常性的问题。”

The latest findings on continuing poor treatment of workers in carwashes come after the government in early 2019 rejected the idea of a national licensing scheme for the sector.

在2019年初政府否决了对该行业实施全国许可计划的想法之后,有关洗车工人待遇持续恶劣的最新调查结果出炉了。

A parliamentary report by the environmental audit committee had called for a licensing scheme after it held an inquiry that heard evidence on exploitation of workers and environmental concerns, but the government rejected the idea in favour of more support for the then regional, voluntary RCWS.

环境审计委员会的一份议会报告在举行了一项调查,听取了关于剥削工人和环境问题的证据后,呼吁制定许可证计划,但政府拒绝了这一赞成更多地支持当时的区域性自愿“负责任洗车项目”的想法。

A government spokesperson said: “Illegal working undercuts honest employers, puts vulnerable migrants at risk of exploitation, cheats legitimate job seekers out of employment and defrauds the public purse. Tackling this damaging crime is a key government priority, which is why we continue to work with law enforcement agencies to tackle illegal migration in all its forms.

一位政府发言人说:“非法工作损害了诚实的雇主的利益,使脆弱的移民面临被剥削的风险,欺骗合法求职者的就业机会,骗取公共资金。打击这种破坏性犯罪是政府的首要任务,这就是为什么我们继续与执法机构合作,打击各种形式的非法移民。

“Our Nationality and Borders Act will ensure the system is fair to those in genuine need and firm on those who seek to abuse it.”

“我们的《国籍与边境法案》将确保移民制度对真正需要的人公平,并坚决打击那些试图滥用移民制度的人。”