New Films for Domestic Workers

Kalayaan is pleased to be part of a series of short films produced by the British Council and ESOL Nexus, looking at various issues affecting the lives of domestic workers in the UK. We took part in the filming alongside J4DW, Unite and the WEA. The link below provides the site for access to the videos from the British Council and includes a variety of topics from ‘who domestic workers are’, to ‘language’ and ‘communication’ issues they may face.

These films will be accompanied by ESOL activities for learners and resources for teachers which will be from September.

You can see the films on the British Council website: 

Justice for Domestic Workers wins Anti-Slavery award

Kalayaan is delighted that Justice for Domestic Workers (J4DW) has been awarded the 2011 Anti-Slavery Award.   Marissa Begonia received the award on behalf of J4DW at the Human Trafficking Foundation Media Awards held in the House of Lords on Anti Slavery Day, 18th October.  Marissa used this opportunity to remind the audience and Immigration Minister Damian Green MP about the disastrous impact the proposed changes to the domestic worker visa will have. The impacts are likely to include an increase in abuse and return to slavery.

Marissa said:

“With the visa, we are officially recognised as workers and our contribution to the economy, to families and to society is acknowledged. But more crucially for us, we are given the right to change employers if they don’t pay us, force us to work or abuse us. I need to ask why the government is considering removing a visa that been proven to significantly reduce the abuse and exploitation of domestic workers?”.

You can TAKE ACTION to stop these proposals by asking your MP to raise the matter with Home Secretary Theresa May MP as a matter of urgency. Please see the template letter and our briefing on the proposals.  You can also write directly to Damian Green using the points below.

Still time to take action to protect migrant domestic workers

The UK Government is planning to remove the important protections provided by the migrant domestic worker visa. The result will be an increase in abuse, exploitation and trafficking for domestic servitude.

The Consultation which contains these proposals has now closed but the UK Government has not yet announced any decision. If you want to take action, you can still potentially influence a decision by writing to your MP and expressing you concerns. Here is a template letter.

You can also write directly to the Immigraton Minister Damian Green MP, outlining your concerns about the planned changes to the visa, and urging the Government to:

·         Retain the Overseas Domestic Worker visa

·         Ensure that all overseas domestic workers have the right to change employer including those in diplomatic households

·         Ensure that Migrant domestic workers have legal recognition as workers

·         Ensure domestic workers who are in full-time domestic employment are able to apply to renew their visas

·         Ensure domestic workers retain the right to apply for settlement

Address: Damian Green MP, Minister for Immigration, Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

Last chance to save rights of migrant domestic workers

The Government Consultation containing the disasterous proposals for migrant domestic workers closes next week on the 9^th September http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/consultations/employment-related-settlement/employment-related-consultation?view=Binary

To remove the visa altogether as proposed would only deter good employers. Employers prepared to break the law in their employment practises are unlikely to hesitate at bringing domestic workers on family or visit visas. Once here on these visas domestic workers would have no rights in the UK and would be working in breach of their immigration conditions.

The other proposed option is for workers to enter on a 6 or 12 month, non renewable visa. On this visa they would not be permitted to change employer, no matter what their treatment, nor would they be protected by UK labour laws. It is not clear what would they would be expected to do once their visa expired as many have been recruited from a third country, to which they would have no right of return without their employer. To return to their country would not be out of the question for many domestic workers who have debts incurred while securing their overseas job. It seems likely that workers would not only be severely exploited on this visa but that employers would encourage (or force) them to stay on in the UK once their visa had expired.

Please respond raising your concerns at the removal of a visa which works well to protect some of the most vulnerable workers in the UK. An online response can be submitted directly here https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/workroutesconsultation

Jail for woman convicted today of keeping a domestic worker as a slave

You can find coverage in the Guardian, Telegraph and on the BBC.

Kalayaan is concerned that without the protections contained within the domestic worker visa, allowing workers to leave abusive employers without jepordising their immigration status, future workers in similar cases may be too scared to involve the police.

Please visit www.kalayaan.org.uk for actions to maintain the visa.

Watch our video showing why migrant domestic workers need basic protections in law

http://vimeo.com/26645064

This video documents why migrant domestic workers need basic protections in law. The UK Government proposes to remove the existing protections including the right to change employer. Kalayaan demands these proposals are dropped and protections are improved.

Less than a month left to protect migrant domestic workers in the UK!

The Government's Consultation on employment related settlement which contains proposals to remove protections for migrant domestic workers will close on the 9th September- in less than a month.

Please respond before this date to express any concerns you have with the proposals. You can find Kalayaan's full and template response on our website www.kalayaan.org.uk . You can respond online here https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/workroutesconsultation or can fill out and return the form by post or email here http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/consultations/employment-related-settlement/consultation-response.pdf?view=Binary

Government's new Human Trafficking strategy will not prevent trafficking for domestic servitude

On the 19th July the Government published its new strategy on Human Trafficking.

Kalayaan is concerned that the strategy places too much faith in border controls and has too little focus on victim protection. We have found nothing within the strategy which would replace the protections for migrant domestic workers provided by the domestic worker visa.

The domestic worker visa has been found to be the most important prevention of trafficking for domestic servitude.

Find out more about the proposals and write to your MP or respond to the Government's Consultation.

Domestic workers speak out!

On the 10th July over 250 migrant domestic workers attended a public meeting held at Unite the Union to discuss their concerns at the proposed changes to the domestic worker visa and to respond to the Government's Consulation.

There was unanimous agreement that the changes as proposed would be a disaster and a return to slavery. As one worker put it:

'if we were unable to change employer, we will suffer abuse and we will not be treated like any other employee in the UK. We have this right, we are safe now, why change something which helps people?'

Please write to your MP (you can use our template response letter) and respond to the Consultation to keep domestic workers protected.

You can find Kalayaan's template Consultation response here and you can respond online here. Please don't forget to respond before the Consultation response deadline of 9th September.

Photo credit: Paddy Craig

Why the visa works

We were called at Kalayaan a few weeks ago by a friend of ‘Mary’s’ (not her real name). She had first met Mary a few months ago at the gates of the school when they were both dropping off or collecting kids. Mary had slowly begun to trust her and it had become clear that Mary was being treated very badly. She had been in the UK about 1 year and had not been paid at all during this time. She was becoming desperate as she had been brought here by a wealthy and respected friend of the family, to work for her and help with the children, and the only reason Mary had agreed to come was that she could send money home to support her own children.

In fact she had been unable to speak with her family since arriving in the UK and was very worried about how they were surviving without her having sent any money home at all.

The friend passed on Mary’s phone number and we were able to speak with her on the phone. She was very scared of trusting us. Her conditions of employment were awful. She had never had a day off, she slept on the floor of the children’s room, and she cooked all the meals and did all the cleaning and would be called to work at any time. She could only sleep once everyone else in the house had gone to bed and was surviving on leftovers.  Mary’s passport was kept from her but she had a photocopy of her visa and we were able to establish that it was a valid domestic worker visa.

We explained to Mary that her employers were breaking the law in treating her this way and we could ask the police to go in and help her leave. Mary took a lot of convincing but was persuaded in the end by another worker from her country speaking to her and explaining that with her valid visa she would be able to find another job and work to support her family.

Mary eventually agreed to us contacting the police, who went in and helped her leave. Her employer has been arrested and Mary is slowly beginning to rebuild her life. It is clear that without the domestic worker visa which meant she could leave her employer while knowing she wasn’t breaking the law she would probably still be in the situation of slavery.

Please respond to the Consultation on the Government’s proposals to stop or remove the rights from this visa. Please also write to your MP explaining why these changes would be so disastrous for women like Mary.  You can use the template letter on our website, but it would be even better to write your own.

US state department concerned by lack of UK help for abused embassy staff

See Tuesday's Guardian article: US state department concerned by lack of UK help for abused embassy staff. Rather than improve protections for these workers the UK is planning to remove protections for all migrant domestic workers in the UK.

Please do write to your MP (go to Kalayaan.org.uk for a template letter) and respond to the Government's Consulation to object to these very worrying proposals.

Important Actions! Please respond to the Government's Consultation on proposed changes for migrant domestic workers and write to your MP.

Two important actions to protect migrant domestic workers in the UK.

1. Respond to the Government's Consultation
The Government's alarming proposed changes to the migrant domestic worker visa have been proposed in their Consulation on employment related settlement. It is important that as many people as possible respond explaining how the changes will remove the most important protection for this already vulnerable group of workers leading to an increase in abuse including trafficking.
You can find Kalayaan's template response on our website. You can reply to the consultation online here.https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/workroutesconsultation
Please remember to respond well before the closing date of 9th September 2011.

2. Write to your MP
Please write to your MP urgently, outlining your concerns and asking them to raise these with Theresa May, the Secretary of State. You can find out who your MP is here.
You are welcome to use Kalayaan's template response letter on our website, but it will be more effective if you have time to write your own.

Government proposals could mean a return to slavery for migrant domestic workers in the UK

On the 9^th June 2011 the Government announced alarming proposals to change the law on migrant domestic workers in its Consultation on Employment Related Settlement, Tier 5 and Overseas Domestic Workers

Kalayaan condemns these proposals which, if made law, could mean a return to slavery for migrant domestic workers in the UK.

They include options to either abolish the route for migrant domestic workers to enter the UK, leaving them open to being brought into the UK by employers through informal routes in breach of immigration controls, or to restrict them to a 6 or 12 month non renewable visa, and to remove the right to change employers even if severely abused.

Removing the right to change employer would mean a return to bonded labour.  

“The visa has been recognised as the main protection for this group of workers who are already especially vulnerable to severe exploitation including slavery and trafficking for domestic servitude” said Kate Roberts, Community Advocate at Kalayaan.

Removing the visa altogether would increase trafficking via illegal routes and unlawful working leaving those workers believing they are unable to contact the authorities for assistance and with few if any enforceable rights.

Limiting the length of the visa makes it likely that unscrupulous employers would keep workers working for them beyond the length of the visa, again without any recourse to meaningful legal protection against even severe exploitation.

The Government claims that anti trafficking measures can replace protections provided by the visa. Kalayaan, together with many others working with victims of trafficking, hve real doubts about how effective these measures are in practice for all victims. Nor do anti trafficking protections do anything to protect an individual before they are trafficked or to assist those who have been severely exploited but whose abuse does not meet all the trafficking criteria.

It is vital that we take action now, before these proposals are implemented. Please watch this space for campaign actions and please do get involved to prevent this leap towards state sanctioned slavery.

My experiences working as a volunteer at Kalayaan

I have been a volunteer at Kalayaan twice. During my first time volunteering I contributed to the Justice for Migrant Domestic Workers project. I transcribed interviews that were done with the migrant domestic workers regarding their experiences with their employers and the migrant domestic worker visa. I also worked on the client database.

What I enjoyed the most about my time at Kalayaan was meeting the migrant domestic workers and getting to know them. This really put the work that was being done into context and motivated me to do as good a job as possible for them. I think this is what differentiates volunteering at Kalayaan from other charities. The small and relaxed atmosphere of the office creates a positive and comfortable working environment and makes it a pleasure to come in to work.

During my second time volunteering at Kalayaan I conducted interviews with some of the migrant domestic workers based on their experiences of taking a case against their employer to the employment tribunal. I particularly enjoyed this task as it involved working with the migrant domestic workers directly which made the work more meaningful.

My experience at Kalayaan was emotionally rewarding and worthwhile!

Dilara

Update from Kalayaan's Community Advocate Kate Roberts (contd)

The Conference Turning a Blind Eye which launched important research by Nick Clark & Leena Kumarappan of the Working Lives Institute, which looked at the situation of some migrant domestic workers in the UK, found that few workers had contracts of employment, received payslips, or legally required minimum rest breaks.It also found that in many cases, the UK Borders Agency (UKBA) was aware of this, having received details of conditions of work as part of the annual application to renew the workers’ visas. 

In some cases letters sent by workers describing why they had changed employers (as permitted by their visas so long as type of work remains the same) alleged serious abuse including torture and indicators of trafficking for domestic servitude, yet no enquiries were made and nothing at all seems to have been done with this information.

If we are serious about having minimum standards of work for all workers, not to mention our anti trafficking commitments under the Council of Europe Convention for Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings these matters need addressing seriously. A start would surely be a firm UK Government Commitment to the proposed ILO Convention for Decent Work for Domestic Workers, to be voted on in Geneva early June 2011.

Update from Kalayaan's Community Advocate Kate Roberts (contd)

Sometimes this seems to work well, and some domestic workers do find good jobs in this way, other times it does not. Workers come back to us reporting that when they arrive for interview they are told completely different terms and conditions to those advertised. What is incredible is how many potential employers don’t even check that they comply with basic conditions such as the National Minimum Wage before they return the form to us, even if they go on to amend this following a phone call from us it doesn’t give us any faith that the job will be a decent one or that they have thought through their responsibilities as an employer.

Many domestic workers ‘live in’ their employers’ home. While this can be to their advantage, particularly in terms of being able to save more without paying rent or travel costs, many actively chose to live out, or rent a room, perhaps with friends, where they can go during time off, or if they are dismissed with short notice. 

Domestic workers are well aware of the disadvantages of living in, and how there are often few boundaries between working time and time off, with them going to the children at night, or employers asking them to ‘help out’ during their time off ‘you wouldn’t have time off from your own family would you?’

As increasing numbers of tribunal cases involving live in domestic workers show, when the number of hours worked are taken into account, few are paid anywhere near the National Minimum Wage (currently £5.93 an hour), let alone the living wage which is what we would recommend workers are paid at minimum. When workers are given responsibility for an employer’s children and their home it is odd to not then pay a wage which reflects the importance of their work. Yet this type of ‘helping’, ‘women’s’ work  (it is incredibly challenging for male domestic workers to find employment) is still too often not seen as having any real economic value in spite of its importance to society as well as individual families.

House of Lords debate - 8th June

There will be a House of Lords debate on migrant domestic workers, on 8 June 2011, instigated by Baroness Cox.

Update from Kalayaan's Community Advocate Kate Roberts

Coming back to Kalayaan on Tuesday after a long weekend was busy. As well as legal advice and general assistance and enquiries, many of the people who come in at the start of the week are looking for jobs.

While Kalayaan condemns exploitative domestic employment and recognises that domestic workers, particularly those who are migrants and so less likely to have support networks in the UK, are particularly vulnerable to abuse, we are also very clear that many domestic workers move on to properly paid jobs where they are respected.

One of the main services asked of us by our service users, migrant domestic workers, is help finding a job. For this reason we do offer a facility where potential employers can go onto our website, read a brief summary of employers’ responsibilities and then fill out a form describing their job, which we will advertise in Kalayaan as long as the described conditions of work comply with UK employment law.

Justice for All Rally in London Friday 3 June 2011

This rally is tomorrow, please come along and join us in supporting this cause.  If proposed cuts to legal aid go ahead as feared it will really effect migrant domestic workers, including those who have been trafficked, as there will be no legal aid for immigration or employment cases.

Do you believe in Justice for All? Join us taking action for justice at a Public rally outside the Supreme Court, London

Friday 3 June 12pm - 1pm

The Supreme Court, Parliament Square, London, SW1P 3BD,

(Nearest tube: Westminster)

Come down and help us stand up for justice, and hear from a range of inspiring speakers from across the community and voluntary sector.

The Ministry of Justice have proposed important changes to the legal aid system, which will deny hundreds of thousands of people access to Justice.

The Justice for All coalition’s rally outside the Supreme Court on Friday 3 June is one

of several events across England and Wales to mark the Day of Action for justice,

highlighting the opposition to these changes.

Why?

To show the government that a wide range of people from a diverse range of backgrounds oppose the proposed changes to legal aid.

What?

Come and demonstrate your opposition to the changes, and hear from a range of inspiring speakers.

Justice for All is a coalition of charities, legal and advice agencies, politicians, trade unions,

community groups and members of the public campaigning for free legal advice.

Find out more and join us at www.justice4all.org.uk

New London Living Wage figure announced

At a packed May Day event organised by London Citizens, the Chief Executive of Trust for London (one of Kalayaan’s funders), Bharat Mehta had the privilege of announcing the new London Living Wage figure, set annually by the Greater London Authority.

The new rate of £8.30 rose by 5.7%, which is the largest increase since its introduction.

The recent GLA report, A Fairer London: The 2011 Living Wage in London  highlights that 1 in 10 of full-time and 4 in 10 part-time workers are not paid the London Living Wage.

The event also saw the launch of the Living Wage Foundation  , the new accreditation body for this work; and the launch of a campaign organised by Fair Pensions  to persuade FTSE 100 companies to adopt the living wage.