The inner world of migrant workers was revealed at a special Question Time session at the SOLACE conference.

The migrants from Lebanon, Poland and China, were outspoken at the unique session in Cardiff which brought the managerial leaders of UK local authorities face to face with issues that have shocked many in the past three years.

Ai Qin Lin, the lead actress on Nick Broomfield’s docudrama, Ghosts about the death of Morecambe Bay cockle pickers, Richard Kosinski an economics master degree holder who packs phones in Nuneaton, Krystian Radgowski and Michal Kosmider who run a Polish website in Lincolnshire and Zahra Charaffdeen a 6th former from Newport, Essex, answered but also asked questions at the session entitled – Welcome to the UK?

The panel’s question and answer session can be viewed at:

Migrant workers  
Just click on: SOLACE Annual Conference 2007 - Wednesday 10 October - pm session    Welcome to the UK? Migrant Workers Speak for Themselves

The panel were quizzed on:

• The best and worst things about the UK
• Education
• Their treatment by employers
• Learning English
• How they were treated by the community where they live
• Discrimination
• Faith and religion
• Staying in the UK

They then turned the tables on the audience and asked their own questions about:

• Being well qualified and finding work
• Getting into the housing market
• Discrimination laws

Darra Singh, chief executive of Ealing,  who chaired the Government’s Commission on Integration and Cohesion was at the session asked a question about language and praised the migrants and SOLACE for staging the discussion.