Under pressure

Today on International Women’s Day (March 8), much is made of the overall pay gap between men and women in the UK – now standing stubbornly high at 19 per cent.

But what’s not as often talked about is that if you happen to be both a woman and Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME), the problem is compounded – the pay gap, for example, between Bangladeshi and Pakistani women and UK men overall, skyrockets to 26 per cent.

Migrant women workers arguably have it worst – in addition to working in low-paid sectors, many face language barriers that make them especially vulnerable to employer exploitation, since they often do not fully understand their rights.

Migrant women workers are also often severely under-employed, according to the Fawcett Society. Many come to the UK with high educational qualifications but because they are not recognised in the UK, they are forced to take on low-paid work.

And migrant women workers too tend to be concentrated in occupations in which abuse and exploitation is particularly rife, such as domestic work, food processing, care and hospitality.

Nilufer Guler, a waitress and member of Unite’s Restaurant and Bar Workers branch, reveals just how common sexual abuse is in her industry.

“It’s totally and completely normalised,” she explains. “Just the other day, a customer very forcefully brushed his crotch against a waitress. Women are constantly being told by management to wear short skirts, to shave, that their hair isn’t okay.

“Managers impose on women workers hugs and kisses and threaten them if they don’t do exactly as they’re told,” Nilufer explains.

Although not herself a migrant worker, many of her colleagues are, and she says they’re particularly vulnerable.

“In my experience in hospitality, workers in housekeeping for example are almost all women and every single one I’ve met has been a migrant worker,” she said. “Housekeeping contracts are intentially designed to make you entirely disposable – they also don’t specify your hours, the amount of rooms you’re expected to clean or the time you’re expected to spend on each room.

“This lack of clarity gives management full latitude to totally control every aspect of work and change the terms at any time. Companies shamelessly exploit this because there’s so little regulation in hospitality and it’s worse for migrants because most don’t understand their basic rights.”

She recalled one instance when she was helping represent a migrant worker whose rota was suddenly changed after several years of having a consistent schedule.

“The sudden change in rota was devastating for this worker,” she explained. “She was a single mother and it totally ruined her childcare arrangements.”

While hospitality workers all deal with many of the same issues, migrant women are at higher risk, Nilufer says, because many have visa insecurities and so are afraid to complain about their treatment.

“They also work ridiculous hours just to make ends meet so the farthest thing from their minds is making a fuss that could risk their job – they’re paid so little that many are just one pay check away from homelessness. Under that sort of pressure and fear, they’re very reluctant to join trade unions.”

Making a ‘huge difference’

But trade unions, Nilufer emphasises, can make a huge difference for migrant women workers and she believes Unite and the wider labour movement must devote more of its resources to organise this particularly vulnerable group.

“A union presence changes the entire dynamic of a workplace,” she said. “One Romanian colleague of mine was facing a disciplinary for not making it into work on time one day. When I told management a trade union rep would be accompanying her, the meeting was instantly cancelled. Being in a union sends a very strong message.”

Unite in particular is a good vehicle for campaigning – Nilufer points to a successful demonstration supported by the Restaurant and Bar Workers branch which rallied around migrant staff working at Byron Burgers who’d been targeted in immigration raids.

The mass protests which Unite helped organise forced the burger chain to close for a day – and brought the plight of migrant workers front and centre in the media.

Unite general secretary for equalities Diana Holland today (March 8) seconded a motion at the TUC Women’s Conference on organising migrant women workers, which called on the trade union movement to take greater strides in embracing migrant women.

“This is a group of workers facing additional hostility from their bosses,” she told UNITElive before the conference. “There’s a great deal of fear among migrant workers that rogue bosses prey on – women in particular are targeted when family responsibilities or pregnancy are an issue; they’re forced to put up or shut up.”

“We know also that trafficking – modern-day slavery – occurs in sectors in which migrant women tend to work such as in food processing, domestic work, hospitality and care.”

Holland noted that Unite is actively lobbying the government to take measures to protect migrant women workers.

For one, the union successfully fought for the extended remit of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) – before, the public body only oversaw labour exploitation in food and agriculture but now it has been given extra powers to investigate all sectors.

Now, Unite is calling on the new body, now called the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) to reinstate trade union representation on its board which it previously dropped. Unite is also calling for licensing to be extended to all sectors beyond food and agriculture and for the GLAA to be properly resourced.

Justice for domestic workers

Unite is likewise on the frontlines in the fight against the tied domestic worker visa through its campaigning group Justice 4 Domestic Workers.

In 2012, the government introduced a “tied visa” regime which prevents domestic workers from changing employers. This change has dramatically heightened the risk of migrant domestic workers facing emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Justice 4 Domestic Workers – organised for and by domestic workers themselves – has relentlessly pressed the government for change in a series of ongoing coordinated actions.

But such campaigns are only the start for Unite, Holland says.

“Even though Unite is a union which represents all workers, we have to recognise that migrant women workers are among the most vulnerable – and often the exploitation they face is hidden,” she told UNITElive. “That’s why we must be doubly alert.”

Addressing the TUC Women’s Conference today, Holland urged delegates – especially after a 41 per cent increase in reported hate crime following the EU referendum – to “send a united message, that every migrant woman worker has a proud place in our trade unions.

“I know that ‘sectoral bargaining’, ‘Gangmasters Licensing Authority’ and ‘Overseas Domestic Worker Visa’ are not demands that sound very exciting; but they are. They prevent trafficking and modern day slavery, and they safeguard standards for all workers.”

“The year after they abolished sectoral collective bargaining in agriculture, where many migrant women workers work, Unite’s survey showed over 60 per cent had no pay rise and 80 per cent of those who had a pay rise had no say,” she explained. “We know too there is abuse of many migrant women workers in sectors like hospitality, contract cleaning and social care – sector bargaining here could make a real difference for all workers.

“Many of our unions were built by workers who were migrant workers. Don’t let anyone divide us. This is all our movement.”