Trade unions unite in solidarity with refugees
- Government complicit in refugee hotel attacks, say trade union leaders
- Statement seeks to mobilise trade union movement against “alarming” rise in far right activity
- Unions back Care for Calais and call for safe and legal routes for migrants to reach UK
A joint statement signed by more than a dozen trade union leaders has slammed government complicity in attacks on refugee hotels.
The statement was coordinated by the Fire Brigades Union, and is signed by unions representing workers across the economy.
The statement is as follows:
In recent weeks, we have seen an alarming rise in violence and intimidation organised by the far right against refugees and refugee accommodation.
The government is complicit in these attacks. The Rwanda policy does not make sense as a means of stopping small boat crossings – and it is failing on its own terms – but it fits with a long-running campaign of rhetoric and demonisation.
Anti-migrant politics are an attempt to divide working class people against each other. In the past decade, the UK has suffered a crisis of living standards – with wages falling and public services left to rot. The people to blame for this are politicians, billionaires and big corporations, not migrant workers or refugees forced to live in temporary accommodation. The anti-refugee campaign offers no solutions to the real problems faced by the deprived communities they are often targeting. The answer is solidarity, not scapegoating.
As trade unionists, we know whose side we are on when we see far right mobs attacking refugees and politicians playing the mood music. We send our solidarity to Care4Calais and all groups fighting for refugee rights, and we support the call for safe and legal routes into the UK. We call on workers and trade union members to show their solidarity and to mobilise against the far right.
Signed
Matt Wrack – FBU General Secretary
Gary Smith – GMB General Secretary
Andrea Egan – UNISON President
Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney – NEU Joint General Secretaries
Mick Lynch – RMT General Secretary
Jo Grady – UCU General Secretary
Michelle Stanistreet – NUJ General Secretary
Mick Whelan – ASLEF General Secretary
Sarah Woolley – BFAWU General Secretary
Paul W Fleming – Equity General Secretary
Julia Georgiou – NHBC Staff Association General Secretary
Naomi Pohl – Musicians’ Union General Secretary
Steve Gillan – POA General Secretary
Rob Monks – URTU General Secretary
