MAYDAY- INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY - EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL – MIGRANTS, REFUGEES, LEGAL OR 'ILLEGAL' TEAR DOWN THE BORDERS THAT DIVIDE US
May Day is International Workers' Day, a day that should recognise that the working class is an international class; that the oppressed and exploited throughout the world have everything in common with each other and nothing in common with 'their' nation, 'their' government and 'their' bosses. So migrants, refugees, those deemed 'illegal immigrants' by the State,those facing deportation, people in detention, should be at the center of what May Day is all about.
The Trade Union movement has had a sorry history in relation to immigration controls. At the beginning of the 20thcentury the TUC agitated for the first immigration controls against Jews, which helped bring about the introduction of the 1905 Aliens Act. At various times throughout that century trades unions have organised against migrant workers and for greater controls. So not only have migrants confronted with the physical and legal borders, they have to contest the borders that exist within the workers movement itself. On May Day we must challenge that and call for a world without borders.
There has always been a voice within the trade union movement in support of migrant rights and against controls starting with the 'Voice from the Aliens' over a hundred years ago. More recently trades unions have opposed newlegislation strengthening immigration controls. Today some unions such as the NUJ and hopefully UCU, if it takes on the position of Natfhe, have come out against immigration controls. Others have made serious efforts to organise migrant workers and assist them in struggling for decent wages and conditions. But they did not anticipate that this would bring them into conflict with immigration controls as bosses used the threat and actuality of immigration raids and checks as a weapon against these struggles.
Immigration controls are a weapon against the whole work force. They divide us and are a tool of discipline the workforce. If there are workers with less right or no rights, this undermines the position of workers as a whole. The answer must be to oppose immigration controls. EQUAL RIGHTS ARE IN THE INTERESTS OF ALL WORKERS!
Immigration controls are in your work place and the union ought to be fighting them. This is getting worse with new legislation which makes employers into spies for the Home Office, asking for papers andnational insurance details from migrant workers on a regular basis.UNIONS MUST RESIST THESE LAWS, ACT IN SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE ATTACKED IN THIS WAY!
People in the caring professions are supposed to act as immigration officers; reporting migrants to the Home Office, denying people services because of their immigration status, evicting them and taking their children away. Transport workers are expected to take part in immigration checks at railway and tube stations or deport people on aeroplanes. We say DEFIANCE NOT COMPLIANCE!
People in your union are rounded up, detained and deported. We say NO DEPORTATION! NO DETENTIONS! Set up or support a campaign against their deportation. Take industrial action to oppose their deportation.
'Illegal' or precarious immigration status makes many workers vulnerable to super-exploitation paid well below the minimum wage with no health and safety conditions. The tragic consequences of this have been seen on the sands of Morecambe Bay. It is a duty of the trades union movement to organise, support and defend all workers regardless of their immigration status and say loud and clear IMMIGRATION CONTROLS KILL! NO ONE IS ILLEGAL!
There have now been two successful conferences bringing together trade unions and community organisations one in Liverpool and just a month ago, in London. People wanted to take the enthusiasm and energy of these conferences forward into practically building the resistance against immigration controls which has led to the formation of the Campaign Against Immigration Controls – CAIC. If you want to get involved contact
You can subscribe to our email by sending an email to
caic-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
temporaryweb: www.29thmarch.org.uk
The Trade Union movement has had a sorry history in relation to immigration controls. At the beginning of the 20thcentury the TUC agitated for the first immigration controls against Jews, which helped bring about the introduction of the 1905 Aliens Act. At various times throughout that century trades unions have organised against migrant workers and for greater controls. So not only have migrants confronted with the physical and legal borders, they have to contest the borders that exist within the workers movement itself. On May Day we must challenge that and call for a world without borders.
There has always been a voice within the trade union movement in support of migrant rights and against controls starting with the 'Voice from the Aliens' over a hundred years ago. More recently trades unions have opposed newlegislation strengthening immigration controls. Today some unions such as the NUJ and hopefully UCU, if it takes on the position of Natfhe, have come out against immigration controls. Others have made serious efforts to organise migrant workers and assist them in struggling for decent wages and conditions. But they did not anticipate that this would bring them into conflict with immigration controls as bosses used the threat and actuality of immigration raids and checks as a weapon against these struggles.
Immigration controls are a weapon against the whole work force. They divide us and are a tool of discipline the workforce. If there are workers with less right or no rights, this undermines the position of workers as a whole. The answer must be to oppose immigration controls. EQUAL RIGHTS ARE IN THE INTERESTS OF ALL WORKERS!
Immigration controls are in your work place and the union ought to be fighting them. This is getting worse with new legislation which makes employers into spies for the Home Office, asking for papers andnational insurance details from migrant workers on a regular basis.UNIONS MUST RESIST THESE LAWS, ACT IN SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE ATTACKED IN THIS WAY!
People in the caring professions are supposed to act as immigration officers; reporting migrants to the Home Office, denying people services because of their immigration status, evicting them and taking their children away. Transport workers are expected to take part in immigration checks at railway and tube stations or deport people on aeroplanes. We say DEFIANCE NOT COMPLIANCE!
People in your union are rounded up, detained and deported. We say NO DEPORTATION! NO DETENTIONS! Set up or support a campaign against their deportation. Take industrial action to oppose their deportation.
'Illegal' or precarious immigration status makes many workers vulnerable to super-exploitation paid well below the minimum wage with no health and safety conditions. The tragic consequences of this have been seen on the sands of Morecambe Bay. It is a duty of the trades union movement to organise, support and defend all workers regardless of their immigration status and say loud and clear IMMIGRATION CONTROLS KILL! NO ONE IS ILLEGAL!
There have now been two successful conferences bringing together trade unions and community organisations one in Liverpool and just a month ago, in London. People wanted to take the enthusiasm and energy of these conferences forward into practically building the resistance against immigration controls which has led to the formation of the Campaign Against Immigration Controls – CAIC. If you want to get involved contact
You can subscribe to our email by sending an email to
caic-subscribe@lists.riseup.net temporaryweb: www.29thmarch.org.uk
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lol@workplace unions
02.05.2008 11:16
ex-union member