ON DEMAND: Work It Out - protecting migrant workers' rights

A spotlight has been shone on the workers who keep this country going, like never before. Millions of carers, nurses, doctors, supermarket workers, delivery drivers and more are on the frontlines of this crisis. British and migrant workers, shoulder to shoulder.

People have come from all over the world to make this their home. They deserve the right to work and live safely. They deserve to be seen as so much more than a visa, a passport or a number. And they deserve more than the hostile rhetoric and short-sighted policies that have robbed them of the safety and security we all need.

We can and must take action to better serve the people to whom we owe so much. To find out what needs to change and how, join us for the launch of our new campaign, Work It Out.

Download the Work It Out manifesto

Work It Out campaign launch

This webinar was held on Friday 11 December, watch it back now.

We were delighted to be joined by these incredible speakers:

Chair: Nadia Whittome MP

Nadia Whittome became Member of Parliament for Nottingham East at the 2019 general election. Prior to her election she worked as a hate crime project worker and as a carer, a role she continued part time when covid-19 struck. In April she spoke out publicly about the lack of PPE available for care home workers, and was fired from her care work role for doing so. In Parliament she has campaigned for migrants' and workers' rights as well as for a Green New Deal. 

Lucila Granada, CEO, Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)

CEO of FLEX since July 2019, Lucila Granada was formerly director of the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) which is a frontline feminist organisation run by and for Latin American women working with 5,000 women each year to provide them with support services and achieve advocacy aims. Prior to this, Lucila founded and led CLAUK, a campaign coalition of Latin American organisations campaigning for ethnic recognition and improved access to health and labour rights. Lucila was Chair of the Labour Exploitation Advisory Group and a trustee at FLEX. She also holds a PhD on migration, language and ethnic identity from Aston University.

Find out more about FLEX's work here

Aké Achi, Founder and Director, Migrants at Work

Aké is a former child labourer. He has worked as a trade union regional organiser in the UK for a number of years. He is currently the Deputy General Secretary of the National Trade Union of the Security Officers of Cote d'Ivoire. Aké holds a BSc in International Relations and French and a Master's degree in international human rights law. He is training to become an employment and immigration lawyer. He set up Migrants At Work Ltd because he realised that migrant and British workers from BAME backgrounds are not getting the support they need in the labour market as workers because they are being organised as migrant or BAME workers, instead of workers. 

Find out more: https://migrant-at-work.webnode.co.uk/ 

View the slides from Aké's talk

Wilson Ayala, Chair of the Cleaners and Facilities Branch, Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB). Translation by Laura Barroso, IWGB

Wilson Ayala, chair of the cleaners and facilities branch. Wilson has overseen many successful campaigns at the cleaners and facilities branch and has been supporting hundreds of workers through the pandemic helping many be furloughed when employers have tried to cynically cut jobs and save money.

• Please support IWGB's letter writing campaign directed at the multimillion pound cleaning and facilities company, Atalian, who is dismissing its cleaners and refusing to put them on furlough - more details here
• Please support the upcoming strike of Security guards at Greenwich University, who are fighting to be brought back in house. Please sign the petition, and donate to the strike fund, if you are able.

The event was hosted and introduced by Satbir Singh, Chief Executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.