‘I“Immigration harms British workers. We must limit immigration to improve the lives of the working class.” This is the implicit, and often explicit, message of those who oppose immigration and those who want to dramatically reduce immigration. This message has been made even more explicit by the riots that have erupted in anger against immigrants and asylum seekers, most of which have taken place in the British capital, London. The most disadvantaged areas Of England.
I want to set aside the question of whether immigration harms British workers, or, more appropriately, under what circumstances such an allegation might be true, and ask instead a different question: if critics of immigration genuinely believe that their aim is to protect working-class interests, what other policies can or should we expect them to support?
Perhaps what best serves the interests of the working class is the ability to organize collectively. Workers have very little power as individuals, but employers have many ways of imposing their will on workers, from wage cuts and layoffs to divestment and asking governments to monitor what workers do. The power that workers have comes primarily from their ability to act collectively, through trade unions and other labor movement organizations, to collectively withdraw work, that is, to go on strike. Many studies of The Importance of Trade Unions Higher wages and improved working conditions Reducing inequality.
Over the past half century, a series of governments, beginning with Margaret Thatcher’s, Parade of Laws To restrict the right to form trade unions and to take collective action, secondary picketing was banned, the dismissal of workers who take informal action was legalized, and minimum notice periods were imposed before starting a strike. The final attack on trade unions by the outgoing Conservative government was the Strikes (Minimum Level of Service) Act 2023has forced workers in health care, education, transportation and other sectors to continue working during legal strikes, effectively using the law to coerce workers into strikebreakers.
The cumulative effect of these laws has been to destroy the ability of workers to protect their interests. Not only have they suppressed wages and worsened working conditions, but they have also helped to promote what is euphemistically called a “flexible” labor market – a labor market in which workers have fewer protections and employers have stronger incentives not to provide basic necessities like full-time or permanent work and sick pay. “Precarity.” According to one study “It is pervasive in British working life.” Those who most need trade union protection are the least likely to join a trade union.
But many of those who want to limit immigration to protect working-class people’s interests, from Suella Braverman to Nigel Farage, support both the trampling of trade union rights and the expansion of flexible labour markets. Condemnation of junior doctors’ and train drivers’ pay deals shows that there are many people who will defend the working class when it helps to push for restrictive immigration policies, but not when workers speak out collectively to protect their interests.
A good example of the interplay between low pay, poor working conditions, flexible labour markets and migration is the social care sector, which has more than 100,000 vacancies and relies on migrant workers. Last year the Home Office issued 350,000 “health and care” visas, almost three-quarters of all skilled worker visas to be approved in 2023. Ben Brindle, from the Oxford University Migration Observatory, said: “The government has opened up the immigration system to social care workers without addressing the underlying causes of the social care worker shortage – namely the poor pay and working conditions in the social care sector.” Primarily publicly funded sector“By doing so, It becomes easier to exploit workers And continue Deny Minimum living wage.
The solutions to the welfare crisis are easy to find: proper government funding to ensure fair wages and an industry-wide system that prevents employers from exploiting the dispersion of the workforce. Yet no one, including politicians who are critical of immigration and call themselves defenders of British workers, is willing to implement this obvious solution.
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In a fragmented industry with workers who can be easily pressured or intimidated by management, Trade union level Trade union density is inevitably low, with only 20% of frontline care workers and 15% in the private sector being unionized. As in many other labour market sectors, organizing to prevent the exploitation of migrant workers is also essential to defending the interests of non-migrant workers. Failure to show solidarity with migrant workers can undermine the rights of all workers.
It’s not just on trade union rights or labour market flexibility that those who claim to defend British workers on immigration fail to do so on other issues. From housing to education, benefits to childcare, critics of immigration often support policies that severely harm the working class.
Let’s think about benefits. Basic rate of welfare benefits At the lowest level It is the first real-terms decline in almost 40 years. Universal Credit is far below what is needed. Cover the essentials Food, utilities, basic necessities, etc. Such despicable acts Not only does it exacerbate poverty, But it is also People looking for workBut many of those who are hostile to immigration are also hostile to recipients and support welfare austerity policies – which is unsurprising given the long history of shared contempt for both immigrants and the poor.
The question of the relationship between immigration and working-class interests remains controversial. Immigration is bad for workersSome combine the argument for greater restrictions on immigration with classic defenses of trade union rights and welfare benefits, but too often critics of immigration suddenly lose interest in improving working-class lives when it comes to broader social policies.
So the next time someone declares that mass immigration needs to end to protect British workers, ask not about immigration but about trade union rights, flexible labour markets, the welfare state and austerity. If the working class only cares if it justifies a particular immigration policy, then that care is worse than performance.
