Black workers call for fight against new crackdown on immigrants

Louise Nousratpour in Scarborough
Sunday April 26, 2009
The Morning Star

BLACK workers have called for a national campaign to expose the failings of the government's "discriminatory" new points-based immigration laws.

The harsh new system, introduced last year, puts financial and skills-based restrictions on migrant workers and international students coming from outside the European Union.

"Migrant workers are already exploited by unscrupulous employers - now they must suffer legalised discrimination by this government," CWU delegate Colin Bell told the TUC black workers' conference on Saturday.

Delegates warned that the measures victimised overseas workers, kept out the poor with financial barriers and forced lecturers to be immigration snoops.

Under the new rules, international students must have proof of large reserves in their bank accounts to be granted entry into Britain and workers are expected to spy on their migrant colleagues.

University and College Union delegate Gargi Bhattcharyya warned of increased pressure on lecturers to spy on their international students.

"They are turning us into snooping agents of the state and legitimising soft racism," she said, asking the labour movement to press for the measures to be scrapped immediately.

UNISON delegate Sushil Munakhya pointed out that, by law, overseas students must register for ID cards at their colleges.

He accused ministers of trying to "sneak in the introduction of ID cards through the back door."