“The workers... battle-cry must be: 'The Permanent Revolution.'” — Marx and Engels, 1850

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Latin American immigrant workers get organised!

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 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. 

To help with the campaign contact:
 
Latin American Workers Association
Asociación de Trabajadores Latinamericanos
 
Email: latin_americanworkers@hotmail.com 

Support the sacked Amey workers 

Read more about the Amey sacked workers –  Amey, NPL and the Struggle for Workers Rights 
http://caic.org.uk/node/18 

Action

Bristol No Borders are organising a solidarity picket and there are plans for more demonstrations in London

There will be a picket in Bristol outside Amey’s offices

This Friday, 21st November at: 1 Redcliffe Street between 12.00pm and 2.00pm This follows several demos in London, and one last month in Bristol. 

http://bristolnoborders.wordpress.com/

 

Tue 18, November 2008 @ 17:00

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discussion of this article

Jake said…

Thanks so much for this report Dave - it was much needed! Feel free to post elsewhere as we would like to get word out about all of this. Do you have any problem with it being posting on other sites?

I was there translating and want to just point some things out.

On the supposed new Papers Please campaign: when the Unite industrial organizer at the meeting said that this was a new campaign, I think he got it wrong. Papers Please is the name of a new report by the Migrant Rights Network on the effect of immigration raids and checks on workers since the new penalties came in back in February. They had a report launch at the House of Commons. True, the report recommends some kind of regularisation but doesn't specify. There is nothing on their site about a campaign. So kick me if I'm wrong but I don't think so!

The only campaign like that is Strangers into Citizens (or StC - run by TELCO/London Citizens), who I have heard are building for a mass action like a march in May 2009, similar to the one in 2007. A few unions will once again be backing this. It is a proposal for a 4 year amnesty with conditions to be met and predicated on tighter controls in the future. This was rightly criticized at the meeting on Sunday.

BUT through the churches and a lesser extent the unions StC have mobilised migrant workers like nothing we've seen recently - 8,000 at the May 07 demo. In the U.S. the great mayday migrant marches two years ago had two wings - a conservative/Catholic one (kinda like StC) and a more principled 'papers for all' type wing which supported the widespread strike action which took place. Maybe we need to find practical ways to build the latter here, with migrant workers themselves at the centre of it. The meeting on Sunday suggested there may be some potential, and the Campaign Against Immigration Controls (CAIC) one possible vehicle to do so, although I'm not sure. The next CAIC meeting on Sunday November 30 will be evaluating last Sunday and hopefully talking a bit about StC. See CAIC site for details once up.

On the sacked NPL cleaners - in addition to the Bristol picket this Friday, there will be a central London midweek protest exactly a week after they get the decision on their appeal against dismissal, which we expect to be any day now, and expect to be negative. Watch this space.

There will also be a public meeting in Oxford on Thu Dec 4 and and action at Amey national HQ, also in Oxford, on Mon Dec 8. Again, assuming the decision is negative. Anyone wanting a speaker and/or can donate please email latin_americanworkers@hotmail.com.

Tue 18, November 2008 @ 22:28

Dave Esterson said…

Jake

I have no problem with this being posted anywhere. Where can I post it?

You are also welcome to use it and correct it where I have misunderstood about the Papers Please report.

I think the question asked by Robin in the meeting, asking the migrant workers what do they need in terms of regularisation or an amnesty is the right way to start. I think people answered it in the meeting where they did not want to see a situation where some are given papers (maybe because they have families here) while others are deemed unworthy and face deportation. The strong sense of solidarity among the workers was evident in the meeting as witnessed by the decision of the Lancaster cleaning company workers not to allow management to pick on a few workers - in contrast to the union official just trying to negotiate any deal.

The examples we have of how managements are quite deliberately calling in the home office/immigration authorities when migrant workers are organising and joining trade unions means we can pratically show to trade unionists why we must oppose all immigration controls. But at the same time I think tackling the situation of workers who are fearful of being deported if they fight for their rights means we must demand that those workers that are here (all of them) are immediately given full rights to remain living here and to have the right to work. We have an opportunity to argue that without a fight against immigration laws and for papers for these workers - that the trade unions must lead - then any attempt to organise migrant workers will constantly be undermined.

At the same time we should not accept any deal where regularisation or an amnesty is given with either the tacit or open approval of immigration controls and where the immigration authorities are able to pick and choose on a case by case basis.

I think the meeting was excellent and the organisers are to be congratulated. I would urge everyone to get in contact with the Latin American Workers Association and try to get a speaker for their workplace or union branch.

Wed 19, November 2008 @ 00:57

George B said…

A very informative and useful report, Dave -

There is (needless to say) much more discussion as well as action needed. What can we learn from the experience in the States? What do we borrow and adapt, what do we reject?

Tomorrow evening (Thursday 20 November) there is a rally from 5.00 PM at Birbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1 (Tube: Euston Square, Russell Square, Warren Street) with John McDonnell in support of an offshoot of the London Living Wage campaign for cleaners at the college on an outsourced contract with OCS. This demand has been won at the neighbouring School of Oriental and African Studies, but one of the leading figures in that campaign Stalin Bermudez (a UNISON member) has been suspended. He's apparently on the platform as well.

George.

PS: high praise for the hard work and non-sectarian approach undertaken by Jake.

Wed 19, November 2008 @ 09:26

Jake said…

Thanks Dave, George for your comments.

Dave - you can post your report anywhere! We want to get it out there, it's a campaign tool!

On Papers Please - you didnt get it wrong as you just reported what you heard the Unite official say. I thnk he got it wrong. LAWAS actually got some of the interviewees for that research, and we were certainly never under the impression it was to be a separate campaign.

Will hopefully come back on some of the discussion points in your posts - be good if others chipped in too as like George says "more discussion as well as action is needed" to find the way forward. I certainly think publicizing the few good examples of workplace solidarity that we have is paramount, and the discussion can accompany that.

Wed 19, November 2008 @ 17:40

George B said…

Struggles involving Latino and other migrant workers in the cleaning and catering sectors seem to be spreading across London.

On Thursday 20 November I attended a very good meeting, called by campaigners at Birkbeck College with John McDonnell and Jose Stalin Bermudez, an Ecuadorean worker at the neighbouring School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), where the college authorities agreed to implement the London Living Wage of £7.45 an hour though they rejected the call to bring cleaning and catering services back 'in house'.

Stalin is currently the chair of the college's UNISON branch, but has been suspended by the college authorities in what look like an act of victimisation for his union activities. Robinson, whom Dave mentioned in his original report of last week's meeting of the Latin American Workers' Association, was also at the meeting and spoke eloquently in Spanish.

The governing body at Birkbeck meets on Wednesday evening 03 December and there is a protest rally to demand the Living Wage outside the main building in Torrington Square, WC1 (nearest tube stations: Euston Square, Goodge Street, Russell Square and Warren Street) from 5.00 PM onwards with speakers from the SOAS campaign, Clara Osagiede, now the grades secretary for London Underground cleaners in the RMT and others from UNISON and the UCU.

George.

Sun 23, November 2008 @ 11:14

Jason said…

I guess also though Jake Dave is giving you permission to send out the report far and wide if you know of forums and lists where it could usefully be used.

Inspiring action by London workers that can and should be rpelicated elsewhere.

Wed 26, November 2008 @ 19:57

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