International Workers’ Day marks an opportunity to draw attention to the struggles migrant workers face, and stand in solidarity with them. However, at MRN we believe that the fight for migrant workers’ rights cannot be achieved under the UK immigration system.
Workers are viewed through the lens of their economic worth. This is especially the case for migrant workers. Migrant workers face the pressures of a capitalist system and inhumane immigration systems. Visa schemes, points-based immigration systems and sponsorship mean that migrant workers are essentially commodified and viewed solely as economic units, with their worth derived from their labour under capitalism. They are seen as commodities to be used and discarded when bosses or the Government sees fit. The UK’s visa sponsorship system leaves migrant workers at risk of exploitation and disposable commodities, and immigration enforcement measures through right to work checks have brought borders into the workplace. Combined, they leave migrant workers in a constant state of precarity.
Demanding safe working conditions for migrant workers is just the first step. Power for migrant workers in the workplace means examining the root cause of exploitation and precarity.
Dismantling the sponsorship system
The UK’s immigration system enables the exploitation of migrant workers. The sponsorship has been celebrated by many employers and businesses as a route to bring those with the right skills and experience to the UK to build successful careers and companies. However, in practice, this scheme is being used as a route to exploit sponsored migrant workers with little safeguards for those arriving in the UK via this scheme.
Migrants across multiple employment sectors face numerous issues including debt bondage, forced labour, unfair dismissal, threats, and the issue of arriving in the UK only to find the job they were promised does not exist. Despite the prevalence of these abuses, the majority of incidences go unreported due to the lack of safe reporting mechanisms for migrants. In addition, if a compliance investigation by the Home Office strips an employer of their sponsorship licence, then the migrant has just 60 days to find a new sponsor. If they do not, they are expected to leave the UK voluntarily or face deportation. It is ultimately the migrant worker who bears the brunt of compliance investigations and therefore, many choose to stay in exploitative employment rather than having no work or being removed from the country.
This system means migrant worker’s livelihood and ability to stay in the UK is in the hands of the employer, shifting the balance of power away from the worker and trapping them in exploitation.
No borders in the workplace
The Hostile Environment has turned employers into an extension of immigration enforcement. We are categorically opposed to immigration raids and the demonising of migrants, and we’re calling for an end to right to work checks and borders in the workplace.
Right to work checks treat migrants and racialised people with inherent suspicion, and contradict demands for freedom of movement. Under current legislation, these checks, confusingly, do not check for a worker’s right to work. There is no legal obligation for right to work checks. Under UK law, the employer carries out a right to work check to establish a ‘statutory defence’ against an illegal employment offence if an individual cannot demonstrate their right to work. This is where immigration raids come in.
If an employer is found to be employing someone without permission to work, they are subjected to a civil penalty while the migrant worker is essentially kidnapped by the State. The Government has stated that they will use “every available power” to support law enforcement activity to identify and reduce people without permission to work in the UK whilst ensuring that only those eligible can work, receive benefits or access public services.
This system is highly lucrative for the Government. The latest data shows civil penalties for the last quarter of 2023 alone were £7.9 million for 391 civil penalties. Thereby the total penalties amounted to roughly £28.4 million. At the same time, they create an atmosphere of fear amongst migrant and racialised communities, and push migrant workers underground into more precarious employment.
There are no ‘low skilled’ workers
Policies and discourse around migrant workers separates them into categories. ‘Low-skilled’ or ‘unskilled’ workers are seen as those in retail, agriculture or manufacturing. However, the label ‘low skilled’ is degrading. ‘Low skilled’ or ‘high skilled’ categorisations insinuates ‘low skilled’ workers are less deserving of rights or generally less desirable. It reinforces class divides, justifies subjecting workers to poor working conditions and protections, and cements exploitation of many workers. All workers are skilled. We must reject any attempts to pit workers against each other or divide them.
Migrants’ rights are workers’ rights. There can be no liberation for workers while the immigration system enforces its cruel rules in the workplace and profits from migrants’ misery.