{"id":2536,"date":"2014-12-19T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-12-19T08:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=2536"},"modified":"2014-12-18T14:09:56","modified_gmt":"2014-12-18T14:09:56","slug":"uniting-migrant-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=2536","title":{"rendered":"Uniting migrant workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never been harder to be a migrant in this country.<\/p>\n

 
\nFrom anti-migrant legislation\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsuch as changes in 2010 to the domestic worker visa, which encourages exploitation and abuse of workers who are already little more than slaves\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto rising xenophobia as evidenced by the likes of Ukip, migrants face challenges that most of us can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even begin to fathom.<\/p>\n

 
\nJust ask Khadija Najlaoui, a migrant domestic worker from Morocco who, upon migrating to London, found her pay and conditions were even worse than in her home country.<\/p>\n

 
\nShe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worked 14 hour days for years on end, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been denied her due wages, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s slept in a closet that functioned as her bedroom, a room she had to share with a printer and a washing machine.<\/p>\n

 
\nBut since participating in Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s United Migrant Workers Education Project, which celebrated International Migrant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Day last Saturday (December 13), her life took a decided U-turn.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI feel proud to be an example of a Unite success story,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bFive years ago, I started from zero. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know one word of English and I had no understanding of my employment rights. Now, after taking part in the programme, I can speak, read and write in English, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m no longer afraid of my employer, and I can advise other migrants about their rights.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nNajlaoui says she still has more to learn to improve her English, and her employment situation, while much improved now that she is aware of her rights, is far from ideal. But, she says, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m finally happy living in this country,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 a happiness she attributes to the community she found in Unite.<\/p>\n

 
\nNajlaoui is just one of the hundreds of migrants who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve participated in the UMWEP, which employs the Alternative Education Model (AEM), an approach to learning that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s focused on the specific needs of individual learners.<\/p>\n

 
\nBeyond English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses, the programme offers courses in drama, Latin American dance, information and communication technology, numeracy and art. UMWEP also offers workshops on employment rights, industrial relations, and other political and social issues important to migrant workers.<\/p>\n

 
\nParticipants and tutors gathered at the Faraday House in Holborn, where courses are held, to celebrate the programme\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s success. A morning of workshops, including a Latin American dance lesson, was followed in the afternoon with traditional Latin American food, a play, a poetry reading and speeches from organisers and participants.<\/p>\n

 
\nUMWEP coordinator Carlos Cruz explained that the Alternative Education Model is what makes Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s programme so unique.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTraditional ESOL courses will teach, for example, a sentence such as \u00e2\u20ac\u0098The cat is black,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Cruz. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe alternative model teaches, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098The NHS isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t working.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 The participants are still learning English, but within the context of their own lived experiences, through issues that are important to them in particular.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nNow in its eighth year, the UMWEP is staffed entirely by volunteer tutors, who devise their own methods of teaching based on various different resources, with no set curriculum. Many of the tutors were once students of the programme themselves.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have to get away from this myth that traditional, state-sanctioned learning is the only way,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Cruz said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen the present government cut funding for adult education in 2010, we decided we have to adopt our own model.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite regional learning organiser Orlando Martins said in an ESOL workshop on Saturday that the programme is so much more than simply learning language skills.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015b\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Agitate, educate, organise,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is an old motto of the trade union movement,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is through education that we become aware of our rights and support each other through solidarity. We are a family here, not a school.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nVeronica Buelecope a migrant originally from Equitorial Guinea, agrees that Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s programme effectively functions as a family away from home.<\/p>\n

 
\nShe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only been in the UK for four months, working as a cleaner, but says she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s learned a tremendous amount through both her fellow students and her tutors.<\/p>\n

 
\nMore than just learning critical language skills, she explains how the UMWEP has helped connect her to a wider community.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a migrant, it can be very lonely and disorientating,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know anyone and you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know where anything is. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a strange feeling to feel like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trapped in a prison, away from your friends and family, in such a large city like London.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut with Unite,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Beulecope explains, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI get out of the house now; I have something to look forward to when I go to the courses on Saturdays. International Migrants Day I feel is about celebrating being together. When we are separated, we are alone, but when we are together, I feel at home.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nCruz emphasised that migrant education has never been more critical, now that migrants face ever-increasing restrictions on their rights.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe corporate media and the Conservative government point the finger at migrants, saying they are to blame for the economic crisis, that they are stealing jobs and relying on benefits,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut there is a mountain of research that proves the exact opposite is true. They create jobs, they pay taxes; they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t rely on the system. Migrants generate an enormous amount of wealth for this economy. In many ways, it is migrants who are propping up this country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wealth.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat many don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realise is that migrants don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come here for some sort of fun journey,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey come here out of desperation. They come here to escape the poverty and violence and instability of their home countries, much of which is a direct outcome of the neoliberal economic model itself.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo while yes, we should celebrate the contributions of migrants on International Migrants Day, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much that we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t celebrate. Migrant worker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rights, even their basic human rights, are not respected in this country. If anything, International Migrants Day should be a day of action.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nTo find out more about the United Migrant Workers Education Programme, visit its website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never been harder to be a migrant in this country.   From anti-migrant legislation\u00e2\u20ac\u201dsuch as changes in 2010 to the domestic worker visa, which encourages exploitation and abuse of workers who are already little more than slaves\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto rising xenophobia as evidenced by the likes of Ukip, migrants face challenges that most of us can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[34,153,200],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2536"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2538,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions\/2538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}