1. Introduction
This guide is for UNISON organisers, workplace reps, caseworkers, and members supporting migrant workers across the UK – especially those in health, social care, and outsourced services. Whether you’ re representing a member facing dismissal, responding to a visa-linked issue, or approaching an employer about poor conditions, this guide offers practical tools, legal information, and examples of effective union support and campaigning.
Migrant workers are turning to UNISON in growing numbers. Their experiences can be shocking, but most of the problems are not immigration issues – they are workplace injustices such as wage theft, bullying, excessive hours, unfair dismissal and discrimination. The immigration system just adds extra layers of fear and control, making it harder for individuals to speak out.
Yet these same workers have shown extraordinary bravery and resilience. Many have made huge personal sacrifices and travelled thousands of miles, often to provide care for others. With the right advice and representation, they can win cases and confront abusive employers themselves. When they organise collectively, they have the power to challenge exploitation and achieve lasting change.
A growing and vital workforce – with fewer rights
Migrant workers make up a significant and growing proportion of the UK labour force. They have always played a central role in building strong public services and trade unions. Today, around one in five workers in the UK is a migrant worker, with even higher proportions in health, social care, cleaning and agriculture. They fill essential and often low paid precarious roles in under-resourced sectors and are vital to keeping services running. But the immigration system means they have severe restrictions on their rights, and this often obstructs their ability to work safely, speak up or organise.
Many migrant workers are sponsored by an employer as a condition of their visa, must meet high salary thresholds, and pay thousands of pounds in fees on the long route to gaining settled status in the UK. If they lose their job, they may lose their right to remain in the UK. Others are on visas that restrict their working hours or limit their time in the country. Under the current system, if people are found working without the right to do so, they can be detained, removed from the UK, or even prosecuted and imprisoned. All of this creates fear and dependence.
Employers have been given huge power over migrant workers by the state. Under the visa system, right to work rules( see Appendix) and laws such as the“ illegal working offence”, they can use immigration status as a tool of control – to threaten, discipline, or exploit workers. These policies are part of the so-called Hostile
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