More in common

The Immigration Act 2016 went through Parliament with little fanfare in May — but its consequences are dire for not only recent migrants but also black communities who have settled here for decades if not centuries.

Most disturbingly of all, it criminalises illegal working and sets out to create further divisions in an already divided society.

That’s why Congress overwhelmingly carried a motion that stands against the pernicious Act on the final day of the TUC conference yesterday (September 14). Congress called on the General Council to lobby against the Act and demand its repeal.

It also called on trade unions to protect members against some of the Act’s measures. For example, trade unions must stand by members and stop them from being disciplined for refusing to check documents and trade unions should also monitor how bosses carry out checks to avoid discrimination.

Unite EC member Mohammed Taj, who moved the motion, argued that the Act is not actually about migrants but it’s “about turning ordinary people into immigration officers”.

“It outsourced this role to ordinary citizens, turning us into internal border police,” he noted.

Calling the Act a “nasty, racist piece of legislation” to widespread applause, Taj pointed out that members across trade unions are now being asked to check people’s legal status to be in the country.

He railed against measures that force public authorities to ensure frontline workers speak English to an unspecified standard and that make it a crime for landlords to rent to tenants if they suspect they may be undocumented.

“This will lead to more racial profiling — with employers deciding not to give jobs to people with the wrong color of skin or the wrong accent,” he argued. “It will mean landlords will play it safe and not rent to people from black communities, with health workers denying treatment to those who cannot pay.”

Most worryingly of all, Taj noted, the Act will “create an atmosphere of suspicion, by institutionalising a culture of ‘us and them’.”

“Comrades we cannot allow the issue of immigration as the proxy of all the ills in our society to go unchallenged,” he added.

He pointed to the anti-migrant fervour unleashed by the EU referendum and argued that we cannot try to reach out to disillusioned Brexit voters by pandering to anti-migrant sentiment.

“We must promote the tried and tested universal trade union values of unity, solidarity and strength,” he said. “That no matter where you come from, workers have more in common that that which divides us.”