UNISON MARKS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF MIGRANT WORKERS WITH CALL FOR ACTION
To mark International Migrants Day on 18 December, UNISON pays tribute and thanks all workers, migrant and local, who continue to risk their lives to provide essential services and keep vital sections of the economy going through the COVID19 pandemic.
We owe a debt of thanks to all those women and men, who are essential workers. Respect to all migrant and local workers, who have worked throughout the pandemic in solidarity with each other and to the benefit of us all, in our hospitals, care homes and factories. We pay special tribute to our migrant workers who have to contend with inequality, racism and hate.
UNISON stands for the rights of all migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees. We fight for all migrant workers, for decent pay, for better working conditions and for the best possible protection from coronavirus.
On this day we also remember all migrants who died trying to get to Europe to escape conflict and extreme poverty. In 2020, almost 1000 people are known to have died in the Mediterranean, and the real number is estimated to be higher. There have also been more than 400 deaths in the Atlantic and further deaths in the English Channel.
We remember all migrants stuck in overcrowded camps across the UK and Ireland and those trapped in European camps with squalid living conditions and a severe lack of adequate sanitation or hygiene facilities, even amid the heightened health risks due to Covid-19. We challenge the violation of the fundamental rights of migrants. We remember the struggle of undocumented migrants living and working in our societies without access to health care and other basic rights.
Migration is a human story. It is an integral part of our own culture as our families have moved across the globe as migrant workers themselves. We call for human decency and respect, not the building of walls and not abandoning people to drown at sea.
We challenge the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to protect our migrant workers and their families, especially now in this time of crisis for everyone. We fully support the Migrant Workers Charter launched by ICTU today and call on the NI Executive and employers to act immediately to remedy the disgraceful injustices suffered by many migrant workers.
