The TEFL Workers’ Union (IWW) is proud to be a signatory to a joint statement demanding that public sector pay raises are not used as a way to way to further impoverish and victimise migrant workers.
Traditionally, TEFL students are thought to be “language tourists”, coming to the UK for short periods to improve their English. But years of budget cuts to public ESOL provision has seen an increase in settled migrants in TEFL classrooms. And while most of our members are in the private sector, we too have seen our wages fail to keep up with inflation, long before the cost-of-living crisis.
The suggestion of the government that public sector pay rises be funded by increasing NHS and visa fees paid by migrants is morally reprehensible.
Too many TEFL workers know what it means to live paycheck-to-paycheck. We know what it’s like to not have paid sick days and we’ve experienced long waiting times to see a GP when we’re sick.
But public sector workers and migrants are not the enemy. We demand a fully and properly funded NHS. We refuse to see migrants – many of whom are our students – be scapegoated for the consequences of years of underinvestment and privatisation.
It is only through solidarity – private and public sector, migrants and those born in this country – that we can improve our lives, our communities, and our working conditions.
We stand with migrants. We stand with public sector workers.
The full text of the statement is below:
As trade unions and migrant organisations, we stand against this Government’s attempts to pit worker against worker. We know that an injury to one is an injury to all.
All workers deserve decent pay, safe working conditions and protections if our bosses seek to take advantage of us. Public sector workers deserve pay rises, but we strongly oppose any decision to fund this by further taxing migrants, by hiking visa costs and NHS fees. This is a blatant attempt to sow division within the labour movement and our communities.
Increasing the Immigration Health Surcharge by 66% and increasing visa costs will push ever more people into destitution and poverty. The UK already effectively taxes migrants twice for healthcare, and has some of the most extortionate visa fees in Europe – a migrant family of four often has to pay around £50,000 over 10 years for the right to stay. This massive increase is simply unaffordable – it will price workers out of being able to afford a visa and force thousands further into poverty during the cost of living crisis, or out of the country.
Migrant workers are a vital part of our communities and our workforce. They are the backbone of our public services, and our migrant members already face the hostility of the immigration system. No worker should be pushed into poverty, unsustainable debt or homelessness simply because of the papers they hold.
We urge the Government to abandon its plans to increase NHS and visa fees for migrants and meet the pay demands of our public sector workers through progressive taxation which ensures those with the broadest shoulders contribute more to our vital public services.