About us
The Worker Support Centre (WSC) works to ensure workers are treated with respect and dignity and to prevent labour abuse and exploitation.
We work to fix the systems preventing workers from upholding their rights, and to support workers to secure and advance workplace rights. We help build worker power so that people can bring about change in their workplaces and to the systems that govern their lives. We provide direct support, advice and advocacy to workers, and we engage in worker-led policy change activities.
The Worker Support Centre delivers a unique model of worker-driven support, solidarity, campaigns and policy actions. Our outreach is led by staff who speak the languages of the people we help, and who have experience of the issues they face.
We are based in and support workers in Scotland. Where a worker in receipt of our support moves within or outside the UK we will continue to provide support where required. Where a request for support is made from outside Scotland we will assess it based on our urgency, risk and resource criteria and will seek to refer workers to partner services across the UK. ions.
Our staff
Caroline Robinson
Executive Director
Caroline is WSC Executive Director. She founded WSC in 2022, following extensive research with seasonal agricultural workers in Scotland, and into representation of temporary migrant workers globally. From 2012-19, Caroline founded and directed the charity Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX). From 2008-11 she led global policy for the Global Alliance against Traffic in Women. She co-founded the global Anti-Trafficking Review Journal in 2011, and sits on its Editorial Board. She has worked as a Senior Advisor in the UK Parliament and for the United Nations in the Afghan Parliament. She holds a MA in Development Studies with distinction from IDS. Caroline lives in the Scottish highlands, and loves mountains and everything outdoors.
Lynda Bridger
Finance Officer
Lynda is WSC Finance Officer as an independent consultant. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant and trained with BDO. After leaving BDO in 2004, Lynda has worked in the not for profit sector initially as a Finance Manager for a Fairtrade charity, Twin and since 2011 as an independent consultant to a number of charities. Lynda has a wealth of experience in preparing SORP accounts and project reporting for major donors (EU, Comic Relief, DFID). Lynda has acted as a project consultant to the International Division of the British Red Cross and currently works with a portfolio of smaller charities.
Valeria Ragni
Centre Manager
Valeria is WSC Centre Manager and has over ten years’ experience in establishing, developing and delivering programmes on local, national and international scales. This work has been focused in the UK and international refugee, migration, trafficking and violence against women sectors. She has fulfilled front-line and managerial roles in major third-sector organisations. Valeria speaks Italian and Russian, lives in Glasgow and is a trustee for a small community-led organisation based in the Southside. She loves spending time with her family and friends, being outdoors and reading.
Iryna Pakhil
Outreach Caseworker
Iryna is WSC Outreach Caseworker, she provides support and advice to seasonal workers in agriculture. She has previously worked on English and Scottish farms picking soft fruits and at a packhouse under Seasonal Worker visa scheme. She has a Master’s in TEFL and over 10 years’ experience in teaching at agricultural college and working as interpreter and translator for businesses and individuals. She speaks Ukrainian, Russian and Hungarian.
Margarita Permonaite
Peer Engagement Officer
Margarita is WSC Peer Engagement Officer. She has over 3 years’ experience in supporting farm workers in Scotland. Her interest in workers’ rights comes from her personal experience as an agricultural worker back in 2004. She has since joined the University of Dundee where she earned three degrees, MA European Studies and International Politics, MLitt International Security and Politics and MSc Social Research Methods, and progressed her knowledge in migration and refugee studies, human rights, social equality and inclusion. She has worked in various projects that promote human rights in Scotland. She speaks Lithuanian, Russian and Kurdish Kirmanji.
Our trustees
Claire Smith
Chair of the Board of Trustees
Claire has worked in nature conservation since 2004, mostly in the charitable sector. She has experience of project management, managing teams and budgets and on working with government and statutory bodies to improve environmental policy. Claire believes that upholding and raising awareness of workers’ rights is key to having a healthy and functional food system, delivering for people, nature and climate.
Justyna Majewska
Trustee
Justyna is a project manager and a community engagement specialist. With a background in managing international charity organisations, including previously serving as the Worker Support Centre’s manager and projects related to community development. Justyna has consistently demonstrated a passion for empowering individuals and fostering inclusive communities. She is currently involved in the legacy of Adam Smith. In this position, she works to ensure that Smith’s ideas on ethics, empathy, and social responsibility continue to inspire and inform contemporary discussions on community welfare and economic justice. Justyna’s interest in the Worker Support Centre stems from a strong belief in the importance of supporting vulnerable workers and ensuring they have access to fair treatment and resources. Justyna is also deeply committed to mental health, with a strong interest in supporting individuals and communities in their journey toward well-being and resilience.
Cameron-Wong McDermott
Trustee
Cameron is as a Lecturer in Social Change and Clinical Legal Education. He holds undergraduate and professional qualifications from the University of Glasgow and qualified as a solicitor in 2016. From 2016 to 2020, he served as a legal officer at the European Court of Human Rights, and has previously worked in legal and policy roles at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland. He works within the Glasgow Open Justice Centre, where he leads on the development and management of partnerships and clinic-based projects at the School of Law. His clinical practice sits at the intersection of law, social justice, and community empowerment. He is a director of the Community Legal Education Programme, which aims to enhance the legal literacy and capability of vulnerable and marginalised groups. Cameron is particularly interested in understanding and exploring how movement lawyering, whereby lawyers support marginalised communities to build power and work towards achieving systemic change, relying on a diverse range of legal and political tools, can be applied in Scotland.
Maria Navarro Pimentel
Trustee
Maria is a trained Environmental Engineer with a background in Health, Safety, and Environmental advisory roles and data analysis in the waste management sector. She has experience working with diverse clients in Mexico and as a data analyst in the Waste Management Sector in Scotland. Maria is inspired by the WSC’s model of worker-driven support and representation and she is eager to contribute to its mission, to ensure every worker is treated with dignity, respect, and fairness.
Philomena De Lima
Trustee
Philomena de Lima has lived and worked as a sociologist, in the Highlands for 35+ years. She is a Professor Emerita in Applied Sociology and Rural Studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) . She established the Centre for Rural and Remote Studies in 2004 and was its Director from 2008-2019. She has published extensively on rural migrants and issues of poverty and social exclusion in rural areas . She has previously served on a number of Boards , including the National Lottery Charities Board. She was a member of the independent advisory group in Scotland that produced a report on the ‘Funding and Commissioning of Violence Against Women and Girls Services’ in 2023 and is currently a member of the Scottish Government Expert Advisory Group on Population and Migration.
Nicky Bolland
Treasurer
Nicky is a visual and community artist based in Perthshire with over 15 years’ experience working with communities in Scotland and overseas, including migrants rights organising, advice/advocacy work and project delivery. Nicky was keen to join the board of the Workers Support Centre because she is passionate about ensuring people are able to have their voices heard and can access their rights: she wants to be part of efforts to ensure that migrants coming to Scotland experience inclusion, fair opportunities and a warm welcome.
Iryna Petkevica
Trustee
Iryna is a Client support advisor who works for Social Security Scotland and volunteers for Citizens Rights Project as interpreter and OISC immigration level 1 advisor. She is a former seasonal worker who worked in the Scottish Agricultural and Processing sector for over 10 years. She also has a degree in Business Management. Iryna worked as a human trafficking and labour exploitation outreach worker on the Worker Support Centre pilot project at Just Right Scotland outreach worker and for Fife Migrants Forum staffing a RSABI run helpline for seasonal workers between 2020-2022. She speaks Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and English.
As a farm worker in the past Iryna has always wanted to help and improve the current situation that seasonal workers face. She believes that every person, who comes to work in the UK, must have an equal opportunity to be treated with dignity and respect and have an access to information regarding their rights.
Fair Work First Statement
The Worker Support Centre (SWC) is committed to advancing the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy. Jointly agreed with the WSC staff, this statement confirms the WSC’s commitment to ensuring there are fair working practices in place by confirmation of the following:
Payment of at least the real Living Wage
The Worker Support Centre is a Living Wage employer.
Appropriate channels for effective voice, such as trade union recognition
We provide an environment where staff feel safe to voice their opinions, their views are sought out, listened to and decisions are made only after effective consultation with all staff. We promote unionisation and recognise trade unions.
Investment in workforce development
We support learning and development across the organisation at individual and organisational level using a range of learning opportunities and encourage all staff to proactively engage in skills development. We are committed to ensuring that regular mandatory training updates are undertaken.
No inappropriate use of zero hours contracts
The Worker Support Centre does not use zero hours contracts.
Action to tackle the gender pay gap and create a more diverse and inclusive workplace
The Worker Support Centre is fully committed to ensuring an inclusive culture. We recognise the need for a diverse workforce to work in the organisation and meet the needs of temporary migrant workers we exist to support. We are committed to equitable pay, support and progression for staff across our workforce. We are an Equal Opportunities employer.
Offer flexible and family friendly working practices for all workers from day one of employment;
The Worker Support Centre supports its staff to work flexibly at the time and in the location that best meets the needs of the organisation, the role and the employee. Most of our staff work remotely but we offer regular and flexible access to office spaces. We embrace flexibility with remote working, hybrid working and continually review working patterns for new and existing staff. We are in the process of reviewing our policies and contractual arrangements to establish a more progressive suite of family-friendly policies.
We oppose the use of fire and rehire practice.
Get in touch
Call our helpline 0800 058 1633 or email us to get free and confidential support and advice on your rights at work and during your stay in the UK
Tuesday – Friday: 1500-1900
Saturday: 1100-1600
At all other times there is an answer phone facility; please leave a message and we will respond as soon as a staff member is next available.