- Conference
- 2006 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 26 October 2005
- Decision
- Carried
Conference welcomes the work that UNISON has done in respect of representing and organising overseas workers in the public sector.
However, this motion is to raise through the National Women’s Conference the issues facing women migrant workers who are encouraged to come to the United Kingdom (UK) to work, either by choice or those who are victims of human trafficking.
According to the United Nations, there are 175 million international migrants and it is estimated that there are 276,000 migrant workers in the UK, the majority of whom are women.
The UK, Ireland and the USA recruit migrant workers from developing countries, such as the Sub-Sahara Africa, India and the Philippines, and most recently from the European Eastern Bloc. Many migrant workers are women between the ages of 25 and 35 years, who leave their children and families for economic reasons. Migrant workers are often brought into the public sector directly by employers and agencies.
Woman migrant workers experience the worst conditions of employment, with little or no protection under law. They are usually employed in low paid occupations such as the three c’s – cleaning, catering and caring.
Migrant workers have to work for four consecutive years before gaining any rights, including sick pay, unemployment benefit, income support and other benefits.
Those women who are trafficked to the UK to serve in the sex industry have no rights. They are not allowed to apply for asylum in the UK even when released from this servitude. This means they are forcibly returned to their country of origin, where they are more often than not re-trafficked.
The National Women’s Committee is instructed to work with the relevant parts of the union to:
1) explore the introduction of trade union membership passports for migrant workers coming to work in the UK public services;
2) create an environment that enables transparency of terms and conditions of migrant workers before they commence their employment in the UK;
3)raise awareness of issues affecting women who are trafficked into the sex industry and campaign to ensure that they are informed of their internationally recognised rights to recovery and specialist legal advice.