When supporters of tougher immigration controls are asked what system they would introduce, they often point to Australia’s points-based system. I often get the feeling that this is as much an appeal to old Commonwealth ties as much as a rational answer to the question, with potentially…Read more…
New Immigration Bill clauses could give workers whistle to blow on abusive employers
On Monday the Immigration Bill will return to the House of Commons. In the House of Lords amendments have been added to give rights and protections to asylum seekers and overseas domestic workers which provide an important counterbalance to the nasty t…Read more…
Temporary relief for the NHS as nurses stay on the UK’s job shortage list, says UNISON
Commenting on the announcement from the Migration Advisory Committee –that nurses are to be allowed to remain on the occupational shortages list for another three years – UNISON head of nursing Gail…Read more…
Stand up to Racism demo: refugees welcome
On Saturday 19 March thousands of people will join the Stand up to Racism demonstration and rally in Central London to voice their opposition to inhumane way that the government has dealt with the…Read more…
Migration Advisory Committee report calls for public sector pay rise – but there’s a few snags
Last week, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the independent body which advises the government on migration policy, released its report on skilled migration. This report was prompted by the government asking the MAC to recommend how it could reduce net migration in pursuit of its unachievable…Read more…
Lords call for Immigration Bill to give asylum seekers right to work and protect domestic workers
On Monday the Immigration Bill will start to be debated by the House of Lords select committee. As I have blogged previously, the Bill contains a number of threats for workers. It will introduce measures to criminalise undocumented workers that will make it easier for bad bosses to exploit migrants…Read more…
Cameron should concentrate on European pay, not benefits
Today and tomorrow, the December European Council, where EU leaders meet, will take place in Brussels. The big story for Britain is David Cameron’s EU renegotiation agenda. The TUC has called on him to concentrate on low pay rather than benefit curbs, and especially urged him not to let young…Read more…
East European Migrants and the Welfare State
A new report was published today that ought to have a massive impact on what the politicians say about migration. It’s called Social dimension of intra-EU mobility: Impact on public services and it looks at the impact in West European countries of migration from the ten new member states in…Read more…
Broad alliance must raise the alarm on new Immigration Bill
The Immigration Bill is due to go through the Report stage and Third Reading in the House of Commons this Tuesday on 1st December. The Bill has emerged from the Public Bill Committee – to which the…Read more…
Report from UNITE sector conference, November 2015
The conferences were organised over three days, with services sectors on Monday, manufacturing sectors on Tuesday, and transport sectors on Wednesday. The Graphical, Paper, Media & IT (GPM&IT) conference was on Tuesday. This report covers the p…Read more…
Chutzpah on global migration from the Foreign Secretary
There were many things that made people’s blood boil about Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond’s statement that Europe’s social infrastructure was under threat from migrants fleeing war-torn or poverty-stricken countries in Africa and the Middle East, like the scaremongering…Read more…
Cameron’s EU renegotiation strategy matters to everyone in Europe
Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem about Nazi persecution begins (in its most quoted version): “first they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist”. It eventually ends up “Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up…Read more…
Why we’d find it difficult repeating Better Together for Europe
We’re being asked quite a lot if the trade union movement would join a broad-based campaign to stay in the European Union, working with employers, political parties and others. The example of…Read more…
Temporary migration in Australia: a cautionary tale
Australia is known as a settler nation (although the Australian unions are careful to acknowledge their debt to the people who cared for the land before Europeans arrived.) But more recently, what started as a way to plug short-term recruitment and ski…Read more…
TUC Migration Messaging Project Showcase April 2015
The TUC held an event in April at Congress House to showcase the work that took place during the TUC Migration Messaging project. Campaign group members from the project’s three pilot areas: Corby,…Read more…
#IAmAnImmigrant – poster campaign launch
This is the speech Mohammed Taj gave to the launch in Congress House of the I Am An Immigrant poster campaign. Last year I became the first South Asian born President of the TUC and this year I am…Read more…
Fantastic win for overseas domestic workers
As the coalition government staggers towards its last days, the House of Lords has inflicted one last defeat – by just seven votes, 183-176 – over the rights of overseas domestic workers. The TUC welcomes that move (we called for it this morning) because it restores freedom from slavery for…Read more…
Bright Blue on migration: bright enough, but in the end, too blue
Soft left Conservative think tank Bright Blue has hit the headlines with a new report on what the centre right should be saying about migration this week. In what was mostly newsworthy as an attack from within on the ridiculous Government policy of capping net migration, there are some good ideas,…Read more…
Underpaying the minimum wage & exploiting migrants
The shocking news that the number of bad bosses who underpay the minimum wage to young workers has risen dramatically in the last few years has implications for the continuing debate about migration in the UK: here’s why. One of the main concerns that working people have about immigration…Read more…
International Migrants Day: overstaying and exploitation
It’s ironic that the Daily Mirror should run a story on International Migrants Day about the discovery that there are nearly twice as many people who have overstayed their visas in the country than expected – over a third of a million. Trade unionists will be concerned that those…Read more…