Northwest Migrant Workers Win Victory Against Modern Slavery | Article, News | news

Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett and some of Salford’s migrant care workers on campaign

UNISON members in Salford have paved the way for a new charter which aims to prevent migrant care workers from falling victim to modern slavery.

The members, migrant care workers themselves, were instrumental in the creation of the North West region Letter from the migrant care worker.

Salford Mayor Paul Dennett was the first council leader to sign the letter, in September, after a period of local organizing and campaigning.

UNISON president and Salford city branch secretary Steve North is not only calling on more council leaders in the region to sign up, but for central government to “end this scandal”.

the problem

In 2020, the government introduced the Health and Care Worker visa to allow medical professionals to come or stay in the UK to do eligible work with the NHS, an NHS provider or in adult social care.

But an unintended consequence of the visa has been an increase in modern slavery. UNISON campaigners are finding that migrant workers are too often victims of exploitation, including poor accommodation and poor working practices such as illegal wage deductions, high agency fees, employers not paying the minimum wage, union victimization and inadequate health and safety. .

NHS Employers, the employers’ organization in England, has already tried to address some of these issues by creating the Ethical Recruiters List for NHS trusts looking to recruit overseas.

UNISON believes it is time for local authorities and the NHS to address these issues in social care in their commissioning agreements.

City of Salford

At the end of last year, the Salford City branch was told a care home was due to close and be demolished, because the owners wanted to use the land to build flats. The branch stepped in and, although it was impossible to save the home, it managed to secure a salary that was being withheld and new jobs for much of the workforce.

Steve North says “Some of these workers were on sponsored welfare visas and would have been deported if we hadn’t found them other jobs.”

News of the union’s intervention spread and caused a group of Indian workers on sponsored visas to approach the branch. They said they weren’t being paid for full hours at a local home care company and that their leader had been fired for standing up to the company.

The branch recruited them to UNISON, won them thousands of pounds in due earnings, got the leader’s job back (he’s now a representative) and forced a recognition deal with the company.

Mr. North notes: “Whilst we recognized that organizing was the most fundamental way to challenge this exploitation, we felt that the council should do more to ensure that they did not commission companies that exploit sponsored workers.

“We also knew it was an issue that went beyond Salford. So, working with North West UNISON and other branches, such as Bolton UNISON, we supported sponsored workers to inform a letter from migrant workers to social care. The workers themselves raised the demands and have led the meetings on the letter”.

the letter

North added: “At Salford City UNISON we are incredibly proud to have secured the signature of the first council leader on the letter. We are grateful for Paul Dennett’s ongoing support and appreciate him standing by these workers.

“But this is not a political victory. This is an industrial victory, led by sponsored workers who have organized in UNISON, led this campaign and stood up to exploitative employers, despite the risks of dismissal and deportation.

“They have been supported by our tireless local Salford City UNISON organiser, Matthew Dickinson, and our Black Membership Officer and National Vice President, Julia Mwaluke, herself a migrant care worker.

“Now we need more councilors to sign up, but we also need the government to end this scandal. Migrant workers are organizing in UNISON to make sure this happens.”

Yorkshire and Humberside also launched a migrant worker letter this month.

The region mMigrant worker leader Jordan Stapleton said: “For too long, migrant workers have been treated appallingly after coming to the UK to care for some of society’s most vulnerable people.

“This letter is an important step towards stopping the appalling conditions they experience. UNISON will work with Yorkshire and Humberside councils to clamp down on this exploitative behavior and ensure these workers are treated with the respect they deserve.”

Northwest Migrant Workers Letter

Letter from Yorkshire and Humberside Migrant Workers