WHEREVER vulnerable people exist, it seems there will be those unscrupulous enough to exploit them.

In Guernsey – as in many cities in the UK – immigrant workers are those most at risk of ill treatment.

Arriving in a strange island with work and housing laws which even the locals find hard to understand, many guest workers speak little English and rely wholly on their employer for guidance, employment and, often, accommodation.

Many such bosses, taking pride in Guernsey’s history as a welcoming port for all-comers, do their best. They provide an honest wage, good advice and decent housing for the nine months or more that the staff join them.

Such employers can no doubt point to the strong bonds that have built up between them and workers from all parts of the UK, Latvia, Madeira, Poland or further afield. With a good reputation, an employer can ensure that workers return again and again, inviting families and friends from their region to join them.

Worker-employer relationships of that kind are the backbone for several industries. Even in these tough economic days, it remains important to bolster the working population with guest workers willing to work hard in catering, cleaning, horticulture, construction and other sectors.

Unfortunately, not all guest workers – and some less well-off islanders – are lucky enough to meet employers and landlords with scruples.

For them it is all about cutting costs to the bone. If that means cramming entire families into single rooms, then so be it. ‘At least they have a roof over their head,’ will be the logic.

Such property owners understand the law and realise that many of the people they allow to live in appalling conditions would not know how or to whom to complain. If they did, would they dare?

Health and Social Services is to be applauded for seeking to update the 1934 law.

Those employer-landlords who object and claim it will cost jobs should imagine what they would feel like if forced to sleep, cook and live as one of four adults in a space designed as a hotel room for two.