This book based on undercover journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai’s experiences among Chinese illegal labourers in this country is vital reading for all who campaign about workers’ rights, racial and sexual exploitation, globalisation, trafficking and forced migration. The tale (or tail, in this case) begins in globalisation and the massive impact of opening China to market capitalism
Theme: Extreme-Right politics
Roll call of deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, 1989-2010
IRR has, since 1989, been recording the deaths of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants – two of the most vulnerable sections of our society – as a result of attempting to enter the UK, self-harm, denial of medical treatment, destitution, hazardous working conditions or racist attacks. Forced by circumstances beyond their control to seek a
Protest against clampdown on working asylum seekers
Around 150 demonstrators marched through Hull this week to protest against Home Office pressure on local factories to sack Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers. Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers have been living in Hull since the beginning of the decade and, although most have had their asylum applications refused, many have built new lives for themselves in
Anger at overseas doctors’ permit requirement
New regulations affecting International Medical Graduates (IMGs) have been criticised by leading members of the medical profession and immigration practitioners. The NHS has developed and utilised the skills of IMGs, essentially Black doctors from Third World countries, since its inception in 1948. The arrangement between IMGs and the health service has traditionally been seen as
Unions working against racism?
A new pamphlet, co-produced by the Working Lives Research Institute and the TUC, is directed at reinvigorating the anti-racist struggle in the workplace. With Black workers set to make up an increasingly large proportion of the low-paid labour market, the pamphlet argues that Black trade unionists need to hold leading positions, that Black self-organisation needs
UK laws fail to ‘manage’ migration and to protect migrant workers’ rights
The Institute of Employment Rights’ (IER)’s recent publication Labour Migration and Employment Rights examines present immigration and employment law and policy affecting migrant labour and concludes they are failing to protect the most vulnerable workers in the UK. The report asserts an employment rights approach to the examination of immigration law and policy on the
Are Chinese lives cheaper?
This was one of the questions asked at a meeting held in London on 7 July 2004, to discuss the Morecambe Bay tragedy in which 21 Chinese cockle-pickers drowned after being caught in bad weather and high tides. The meeting, which had been organised by Min Quan, the Chinese Monitoring Project, heard from Lin Guo,
Royal Mail and racial bullying
On 25 May 2004, Mahmood Siddiqui, a 59-year-old postal worker at the Royal Mail sorting office in Harlow, was awarded £178,542 in compensation for racial discrimination by an employment tribunal. Mahmood had suffered four years of racist abuse at the hands of his white colleagues which the tribunal found was ‘vicious and sly’. He was
Black and Minority Ethnic teachers miss out on performance pay rises
Is there discrimination against Black and Minority Ethnic teachers in performance-related pay? In September 2000, the government launched a performance-based pay rise package for teachers. Experienced teachers could apply for a £2,000 pay rise and, if successful, move to a higher pay scale. Teachers had to complete a form indicating how they met eight professional
If they have your passport, they have your life
It might sound innocent enough. A family brings someone from abroad to work in their home, under the domestic worker visa programme. For the sake of ‘convenience’, the employer hangs on to the worker’s passport. But a new report from Kalayaan, a group supporting the rights of migrant domestic workers, shows how the withholding of