Precarious Work and the Struggle for Migrant Workers’ Rights

5.30pm  Sunday 16^th November

Pullens Centre. 184 Crampton Street, Elephant and Castle, London SE17 3AE

A public talk and discussion organised by London NoBorders, Campaignagainst Immigration Controls and the Latin American Workers Association, Coordinadora latinoamericana, Bolivia Solidarity Campaign, MERU Three months ago five Colombian cleaners working for Amey Plc at the National Physical Laboratory were suspended for daring to criticise Amey for putting an excessive workload onto ever fewer staff, for unilaterally changing terms and conditions and for disrespecting grievance procedures. The five have since been sacked. When Amey took over the contract in December 2006 it found itself faced with a largely Latin American migrant workforce that was organised and conscious of its rights. They had recently unionised and were taking steps to gain recognition – a right afforded to all other staff at the NPL. In order to enforce a serious increase in workload and downgrade in conditions, Amey tricked the cleaners into attending a fake training session, only for the doors to be bolted and 7 of the workers to be taken away by the police. Of these, three were deported – one to Colombia and two to Brazil. All lost their jobs. The case of Amey Plc seems to be typical of the working conditions many migrant workers face in the UK and the profit companies make from their precarious situation. In our talk we will hear from workers involved in those struggles and activists supporting them what their experiences are to organise and what the perspectives of such self organized struggles could be.