Zarah ChoudharySalford Mayor Paul Dennett has become the first council leader to sign the Migrant Care Worker Charter, which aims to prevent migrant care workers becoming victims of modern slavery.
Unison members, migrant care workers themselves, campaigned for the creation of North West region’s Migrant Care Worker Charter.
UNISON president and Salford City branch secretary Steve North called on more council leaders in the region to sign up, and for central Government “to end this scandal.”
In 2020, the Government introduced the health and care worker visa to allow medical professionals to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with the NHS, an NHS supplier or in adult social care.
But Unison said that one unintended consequence of the visa has been a surge in modern slavery, whereby migrant workers become victims of exploitation, including poor accommodation and bad employment practices – such as the illegal deduction of wages, high agency fees, employers not paying the minimum wage, trade union victimisation and inadequate health and safety.
NHS Employers, the employers’ organisation in England, has already sought to address some of these issues by creating the ethical recruiter list for NHS trusts seeking to hire overseas workers.
The union pointed to one example, where a group of Indian employees claimed they were not being paid for their full hours at a local homecare company, and that one had been dismissed for standing up to the company.
The branch recruited them into UNISON, won them compensation for owed earnings, got the individual’s job back and reached a recognition agreement with the company.
North noted: “While we recognised organising was the most fundamental way of challenging this exploitation, we felt that the council should do more to ensure they weren’t commissioning companies who exploit sponsored workers.
“We also knew it was an issue that went beyond Salford.
“So, working with North West UNISON and other branches, like Bolton UNISON, we supported the sponsored workers to inform a migrant worker charter for social care.
“The workers themselves came up with the demands and have led the meetings regarding the charter.”
North added: “We in Salford City UNISON are incredibly proud to have secured the first council leader’s signature on the charter.
“We are grateful for the ongoing support of Paul Dennett and we appreciate him standing by these workers.
“But this is not a political victory. This is an industrial victory, led by sponsored workers who have organised themselves into UNISON, led this campaign and faced down exploitative employers, despite risks of dismissal and deportation.
“They have been supported by our tireless Salford City UNISON local organiser Matthew Dickinson and our Black members’ officer and national vice president Julia Mwaluke, herself a migrant care worker.
“We now need more council leaders to sign up, but we also need government to end this scandal. Migrant workers are organising in UNISON to make sure that happens.”
Yorkshire & Humberside also launched a migrant care worker charter this month.
The region’s migrant worker lead Jordan Stapleton said: “For too long, migrant workers have been treated appallingly after coming to the UK to care for some of society’s most vulnerable people.
“This charter is a significant step towards stopping the awful conditions they experience.
“UNISON will be working with councils across Yorkshire and Humberside to crack down on this exploitative behaviour, and ensure these workers are treated with the respect they deserve.”
