Latest editorial
A “SEISMIC shift” in Britain’s visa system is needed to protect all workers from “super-exploitation and abuse,” according to a new study by the Institute of Employment Rights (IER).
The current visa system for migrant employment, where employers “sponsor” migrant staff to come to Britain, “undermines, devalues and dehumanises” workers and should be replaced, the study found.
It calls to replace the sponsorship system with “a rights-based regime” that would include affordable visa charges, a shift away from short-term visas towards permanent migration, a mechanism for employers, unions and ministers to decide the rules and protections for migrant workers under the 2010 Equality Act.
The visa system traps workers with abusive employers, creating a vulnerable workforce scared to complain for fear of deportation — that is why we’re campaigning for a ‘common sponsorship’ model instead, writes FAVOUR DAVIDKING
MARTYN GRAY asks TUC congress to endorse measures that would help stop the present exploitation of seafarers
It is only trade union power at work that will materially improve the lot of working people as a class but without sector-wide collective bargaining and a right to take sympathetic strike action, we are hamstrung in the fight to tilt back the balance of power, argues ADRIAN WEIR