‘This union fears no one’

Crowding into Unite’s Holborn office conference room for the migrant workers’ conference on February 22, I was struck by the energy and positive vibes just beaming off every single soul in there – alongside the worry and the feeling of insecurity filling the air as it does when strangers gather for the first time.

But as we begin to listen to general secretary Len McCluskey open up the conference and welcome the inspiring workers from a range of different sectors, everyone relaxed.

You’ll often hear the small-minded claiming that migrants are causing the problems within our communities. Well Len McCluskey soon set that straight when he roared out that one of the biggest problems our communities have is the greedy bosses that exploit our hard working migrants!

Every migrant worker has a story to tell, most of them have been through the most horrific journeys from the early stages in life – some still have families fighting those same battles day in and day out, in war torn countries simply to just survive.

Political battle

Just because they have made it to our multi-cultural country does not mean their battle is over. Sure we aren’t at war over here in the UK, and our little ones aren’t climbing through bombed buildings and rubble just to get around their ruined town, but they still have a battle which can be just as hard at times, a political battle.

They are often branded as ‘scroungers’ and are blamed as the main problem within the UK. But what I do not understand is how, as every single migrant worker I have met has come to our country simply to have a chance in life, a chance to provide a future for their children, a chance to work hard and fend for their families they have here and back home. They aren’t asking for a free ride – they are just asking to be treated equally.

I asked one of our members who attended the conference Robert Amour from our CPPT Sector in Swansea, what does he want at the end of this long hard battle we are fighting. I was expecting a full detailed response but instead he simply said, “I just want to be treated as equally as everyone else and that’s when I could not believe we still have human beings saying this in 2017.”

I also managed to speak to another amazing member of ours, Justine Matuszewska, a trunking coordinator, who is one of our very active members attempting to reach out to those in the community, those who are too nervous and afraid to take a stand themselves – in case it highlights them and puts them in the firing line. Justine wants to show her support and celebrate solidarity and Unite stands alongside her hand in hand!

“Migrant Workers are and always have been an important part of building our union’s strength,” said Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland.

“The Conference brought together Unite reps who are migrant workers from across our industrial sectors – celebrating achievements, opposing discrimination and division, and strengthening our industrial voice.

‘Truly inspiring’

“I was very proud to be responsible for organising this event which was truly inspiring. As Unite’s Assistant General Secretary for Equalities and for our transport and food sectors, working closely with manufacturing and services sectors too, we will now be taking forward the positive ideas generated.”

From all the testaments I heard I believe we must keep pushing, we must continue to take huge steps and we must continue to have faith in humanity.

So what can we do next? The list is endless, it all starts with ourselves and opening our hearts. Try to understand what it’s like to spend just one day in their shoes – living in a foreign country, barely understanding the language, while trying to find work and often settling for greedy bosses who have no interest in the person’s needs and feelings – but who only want to exploit them and view them as cheap labour.

We must communicate with each other, we must show support and solidarity. We must stand with our brothers and sisters no matter what colour they are or what religion they believe in, we are all equal we are all one.

We have a long way to go, but as Len McCluskey said during his opening speech, ‘this Union fears no one!’