3. Building trust and understanding with migrant workers
While many of the problems migrant workers face mirror those of other workers in low-paid, insecure jobs, their experiences are shaped by added pressures – including the immigration system, racist treatment, workplace exploitation, additional financial difficulties and the fear that speaking up could cost them their livelihood, their home, or even their right to remain in the UK.
It is essential that anyone working with migrant workers understands these additional pressures before they start helping them. The current political climate, with increasingly hostile anti-migrant rhetoric in public discourse and policymaking, has only heightened these fears. Many workers worry about being scapegoated, targeted or dismissed – even when their actions are lawful and justified.
Drawing on interviews and real-life case studies, this chapter highlights the specific vulnerabilities migrant workers face – from tied visas and legal precarity to language barriers and isolation – and offers practical guidance on how to build trust, approach conversations with care, and respond effectively when workers come forward. A positive interaction with the union can be transformative, whether helping to resolve a workplace issue or simply offering a space where people feel heard and less alone. Organising can empower migrant workers with the tools to advocate for themselves and improve conditions for all.
The migrant experience: unique pressures and vulnerabilities
Migrant workers may face serious exploitation, but they often don’ t talk about it in those terms. Fear, isolation, debt and discrimination are common themes in their stories, and they shape what people disclose and when. In interviews, union organisers stressed how issues like visa insecurity or family and community stigma often lie beneath the surface of a workplace complaint. Understanding this broader picture is essential:
• some workers are unable to leave exploitative jobs because they’ re tied to a single employer for visa purposes;
• others fear retaliation from agencies or managers if they raise complaints;
• still others worry about debts to brokers or fear they will lose the accommodation attached to their job; and
• yet others are under pressure from families back home who are reliant on money being sent back to them.
Whilst some migrant workers come from countries or regions with strong trade union traditions e. g. Kerala in India, many come from countries where trade unions
16 LRD • Supporting migrant workers