Christmas is a time for giving but not it seems in Calais. Where refugees lives continue to be a living hell.. The following is the first of a couple of reports, and thoughts about how we might build solidarity for some of the most serious and vulnerable ,yet resourceful and intelligent victims of war,globalisation more war and the war on terror.They have one final hurdle to surmount; British /French collabarative immigration policies which are destroying their basic refugee protection.
Imagine the floods in Tewkesbury last year, were more widespread, and that you are you family, friends and neighbours had lost all your possessions as the waters rose. Rendered homeless you decide to move, to drier, warmer, safer parts. You choose to go to a place where you have some connections, to try and cope with the distress of losing everything and to try and rebuild your life.
NoBorders Benefit for Transnational Solidarity
Saturday 6th December 2008 @ Rampart Social Centre, featuring:
52 Commercial Road, sista zoum, Danny Fontaine & The Horns of Fury, onlyjoe, DJ Martin Klang, xtrats and more tba
PRESS RELEASE
for immediate release
25 November 2008
Activists picket UK Border Agency in London to protest the launch of ID Cards
Activists from NoBorders, No2ID and other Initiatives demonstrated today at the headquarter of the UK Border Agency (Lunar House) in Croydon, London to protest against the introduction of ID Cards for non-EU citizens applying for, or renewing visas for study or marriage.
The protest was part of a UK wide protest of NoBorders groups against the launch of ID cards today, other protests were held in Cardiff, Liverpool and Glasgow.
About the launch of ID Cards
25th of November is the start of the implementation of ID cards.
From that day on, non-EU citizens applying for, or renewing visas for
study or marriage, have to attend a UK Border Agency centre for
interrogation, and fingerprinting. The cards they will be issued with will
hold their photograph, name, date of birth, nationality, immigration status and an electronic chip with biometric details, including fingerprints and digital facial image. All indefinitely held on the UK Identity Service database.
Soon other foreign nationals living in Britain will be issued with ID cards.
From next year, once migrants have been used to test the scheme, airport workers will be required to have ID cards. In 2010, students will need ID cards to get a student loan and they will be available to the rest of us on a “voluntary” basis, with ID cards being paired with passports in 2011. Unsurprisingly the government hasn’t yet named the date when the cards will be compulsory for everyone, though
it has been repeatedly made plain that this is the intention.
In targeting a largely voiceless group, with plenty to lose by not complying, the government is following a familiar path for repressive regimes throughout history. It is only through solidarity with the first people to be 'registered' that we can hope to oppose this scheme.
The government is upfront about it’s plans, and has repeatedly stressed they consider that "border control can no longer be a fixed line on a map". This first blow against everyone’s liberty is part of a wider government plan to internalise borders within the UK so everyone can be numbered and monitored.
Immigration law already gives the Home Office powers it would like to exert over everybody. Under a cloud of anti-immigration hysteria the government is increasing it’s social control and attempting to usher in unprecedented powers of surveillance over the whole population.
About London NoBorders
London NoBorders support all those in struggle against borders, against
their incarceration in detention centres, against their deportation,
against their super-exploitation as illegal workers. London NoBorders
campaigns for freedom of movement and the right to remain for all.
contact: noborderslondon@riseup.net
web: http://london.noborders.org.uk
report from the picket in London, November 28th: Amey offices entered as campaign for sacked colombian cleaners grows
read background story
public talk: Precarious Work and the Struggle for Migrant Workers' Rights | Report from the Talk
upcoming Monday 8 December: Protest at Amey’s national HQ in Oxford, at 11am. Transport from Bristol(e-mail bristolnoborders@riseup.net) and possibly elsewhere (for london contact
noborderslondon@riseup.net).
Detention Centres:
Harmondsworth (Heathrow)
Colnbrook (Heathrow)
Tinsley House (Gatwick)
Brook House (Gatwick)
Reporting Centres
Communications House (Old Street)
Electric House (Croydon)
Beckett House (Southwark)
"Short Term Holding Facilities"
Lunar House
Electric House
Communications House
UK Border Agency
Lunar House (Croydon)
Apollo House (Croydon)
At a packed meeting trade union activists, Latin American solidarity campaigners and immigrant rights organisations came together to discuss how to build solidarity with Latin American workers in Britain who are organising for trade union rights at work. Dave Esterson reports....
Over 50 people packed into a meeting in South London to discuss how to take forward the current campaigns of immigrant workers getting organised in their workplace.
The meeting was organised by London NoBorders, the Latin American Workers Association along with other activists in the Campaign Against Immigration Controls and the Bolivia and Colombia solidarity campaigns.
There were four main speakers – three workers currently organising for trade union rights in their workplaces and one from the CAIC.
The first speaker, Julio Mayor, is one of five workers sacked by the company Amey plc. Julio is member of Prospect and Unite. These workers have been accused of bringing the company into disrepute but their real crime is they organised the cleaners to fight for better wages and conditions.
Julio described how Amey were contracted by the National Physical Laboratory to do the cleaning work. Originally there were 36 Latin American cleaners. When Amey took over the contract at NPL the cleaners were paid £7.10 per hour. The company were surprised at this rate of pay and so attempted to get rid of those workers contracted at this rate of pay. Their first act was to reduce the levels of staffing. When the workers resisted the company responded using intimidation. On one occasion the workers were invited to a health and safety training session. Once in the room 60 police and immigration officers entered. Some of the workers did not have the papers needed to work and have since been deported.
But this did not deter the other workers who knew their rights and continued to show a tremendous spirit of solidarity and courage. The workers decided to inform their fellow workers, and trade unionists, who worked directly for NPL, about what was happening to them. For the crime of exposing the terrible working conditions of Amey’s workforce five were suspended. The fight now goes on to get them reinstated (see below).
The next speaker, Alberto, works in a bank which hires Lancaster cleaning company. The cleaners in this company decided to organise in Unite. When the management first met a delegation of the workers they threatened to sack them and bring in new workers. The managers said they would consider giving the pay rise demanded but only if they could cut costs by transferring three of the workers to another workplace. The Unite official present in the meeting recommended to the representatives that they accept this as it was the best offer they could get. The delegation refused to give an answer saying they would take it back to a mass meeting of the workers.
The mass meeting unanimously decided that they would not agree to a single worker being transferred. Instead the workers decided to organise a protest outside the bank. Unfortunately some officials of Unite spent more effort trying to convince the workers to postpone the demonstration rather than organise it. Eventually the workers decided to press ahead with their action – with or without the union. When Alberto heard about the struggle at Amey he contacted the workers there who gave advice and encouraged them to go ahead with their campaign. Eventually the demonstration went ahead despite the workers being fearful of what might happen. After pressure from the workers Unite agreed to loan the workers T-shirts and a megaphone for the protest and one of the Unite officials attended. The demonstration was a success and when the workers sent a letter to the management (signed by all the workers) saying more protests would follow the company’s attitude changed. The head of HR along with another senior manager met a delegation of the workers and agreed to the pay rise, nervously asking if the workers were happy.
Robinson, a cleaner at the University of London who works for OCS service company, and a member of Unison and Unite described how their struggle had been a long process. Initially the workers had felt scared and isolated. So they agreed collectively to try and overcome this every day – to build up an atmosphere of solidarity. They started with a film showing of Bread and Roses to show all the workers that it was possible for them to get organised.
From this a committee was elected to lead the fight for their rights. When the management attempted to intimidate the workers, including using dirty tricks like not paying some of them for two or three months, the cleaners asked for support from all the university workers and students. The campaign has been successful as they won a pay rise to £7.45 and trade union recognition. But this has not been without cost as one worker remains suspended without pay and needs support and solidarity.
The speaker from CAIC made the point that all of these situations are very similar where people don’t actually work for the company where they work but for contractors. He also pointed out that the immigration laws were being specifically used to stop workers from organising.
After the speakers there was a general discussion. One question raised was whether we could support the demands for regularisation as there is a new campaign called Papers Please! But it seemed that this campaign accepts the government needs to have immigration controls and that the government should be able to decide who is worthy of getting papers and who isn’t. The speaker from the floor asked what did the workers need, what kind of regularisation did they want.
Another asked what the role of the trade unions had been. Two of the speakers were very critical of how the unions had behaved during their campaigns with one saying the union had been an observer rather than an organiser and the other pointing out that their union had been more obstructive than helpful and that it was really down to the workers to organise themselves. One speaker from the floor commented on how, since coming over from Latin America, he had observed how bureaucratic the trade unions in Britain are and that it was easier to talk to the prime minister than to talk to a general secretary of a union! The chair summed up the meeting asking those present to support any future actions and the campaigns of the workers and commented that despite having criticisms of the union we aren’t anti-union, that people should get organised and join a trade union but that ultimately we are the union.
