- Conference
- 2024 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 20 February 2024
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference is deeply concerned about the exploitation of migrant workers in the UK, particularly in the social care sector. Acute underfunding, a refusal to address workers’ pay and the absence of meaningful reform has left the social care sector in crisis. Care workers are overworked, underpaid and struggling to plug the gaps in a sector desperately short of staff. A rise in overseas recruitment has been fundamentally important to meeting these staffing challenges across health and social care. However, migrant workers have been left doubly vulnerable because of conditions in the social care sector interacting with punitive immigration rules.
Care worker exploitation is rife, irrespective of migration status. But add in the even greater power unscrupulous employers have over migrant care workers and the conditions for the most extreme and disgraceful practices have been created. Migrant care workers, sponsored by their employer, are often unable to leave exploitative situations and find work elsewhere. Irresponsible care employers know this and seek to extract money and working hours from them, often in clear breach of the law. Care workers who whistleblow are often victimised, dismissed and then left destitute and at risk of deportation.
The interaction of the terrible underlying conditions of that sector with our immigration system has led to unnecessary suffering by migrant social care workers.
Rather than support migrant workers, the Government has sought to make the rules even more punitive and exploitative, ending the ability of care workers to bring their children and spouses with them. Conference believes that separating families and isolating workers from the right to a family life is not only inhumane but will also worsen the exploitation migrant workers experience.
Conference welcomes the work done at all levels by UNISON to respond to this challenge, especially by branches and activists to challenge exploitation and injustice, support migrant worker members from destitution and the threat of deportation. This work has been supported by the provision of free immigration advice through the helpline run by JCWI (Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants). This invaluable service has supported members dealing with the hostile environment, ever-changing immigration rules, employers using visa conditions to exploit workers and more. It has also supported branches and activists dealing with complex immigration rules affecting workplace rights.
Conference also welcomes the launch of a new migrant worker network, a new informal network which enables the union to improve our communication with migrant worker members and strengthen our organising and recruitment activity.
Conference therefore calls upon the National Executive Council to:
1)Raise awareness of, and promote, the new migrant worker network;
2)Support the work of branches and regions in organising migrant workers with resources and advice
3)Continue to support and promote awareness of the JCWI immigration advice helpline
4)Campaign to improve the rights of migrant workers, working with the union’s migrant worker networks;
5)Continue to campaign against the “Hostile Environment” approach to immigration policy.