The Unite Union has urged the UK government to drop reforms of overseas domestic worker visas, announced by the Home Office, warning that such an act will cause the migrant workers being trapped with abusive employers.
According to a consensus forged across the political parties in 1998, migrant domestic workers could leave their abusive employers without the fear of being deported. But under the new changes in the coalition government policy, domestic workers are expected to suffer in silence because of being fearful of becoming “illegal.”
“These changes will consign migrant domestic workers to a life of abuse at the hands of their employer and force them to suffer in silence with no hope of justice. We do not need to re-learn the lessons that prompted political parties to come together fourteen years ago and protect domestic workers,” said Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland.
“We urge the government to drop these changes and recognise that turning the clock back will only serve to trap vulnerable workers in abusive employment.”
Unite also expressed its determination to join forces with Justice 4 Domestic Workers, the TUC union, Kalayaan organization, Anti-Slavery International in order to organize a campaign against controversial changes to migrant domestic worker visas.
Meanwhile, a research conducted by the Kalayaan, which provides advice, advocacy and support services in the UK for overseas domestic workers, found that of the 326 people who had registered with them in 2011, 54% experienced psychological abuse, 18% physical and 7% sexual abuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment