Black members: UNISON pressure brings carers' success

by Ismail Donmezl

NEC member Sofi Taylor told the Scottish Black Members Annual General Meeting how pressure from UNISON on the Home Office led to interim extensions of work permits for senior carers threatened with deportation.

Changes in immigration, visas and work permits mean overseas workers must be in continual employment for five years instead of four to qualify to apply for indefinite leave to remain.

But many workers entered this country with a four year work permit provided by their employers. After pressure from UNISON and the Department of Health, interim measures have brought extensions of work permit holders already in the UK.

The Home Office announced that employers had to pay an hourly rate of £7.02 or the permit would not be extended. 20,000 senior care workers and families are potentially affected by this change. "UNISON continues the campaign to ensure that the changes are not applied retrospectively", said Sofi.

EQUALITIES ISSUES

Eileen Dinning, Scottish Equalities Officer, spoke on key equalities issues relevant to black members in Scotland. The promotion of race equality in Scotland, the Race Relation Act and amendments, anti-racist projects and the need to attend events such as the St Andrew's Day Rally were all part of her interesting talk.

Eileen pointed to lack of engagement locally in promoting compliance with the Race Relations Act. And from the employer side there is a lack of monitoring and feed back on race schemes. "These schemes will remain a tick box exercise," she said. "Unless we go back to our branches and ask employers to assess the impact of their race schemes in our workplaces". The meeting unanimously agreed the new committee.

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