LONDON — A hundred people joined a Sept. 17 protest here called by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union and backed by other unions against changes made by the Labour government to visa-eligibility requirements. This poses the threat of deportation for nearly 200 workers on the London Underground and thousands of other workers nationwide.
The government announced July 1 that 180 job categories would be stricken from the list of “skilled worker visa” eligibility, including “rail travel assistant.” Salary thresholds for getting the visas were also raised, so if your pay is lower, you’re no longer eligible and can be deported. The changes took effect July 22.
Akinwumi Akinyemi, who works for London Underground at Paddington Station, told the Militant he had come from Nigeria in 2022, getting a job on the Underground last year. His wife works in the National Health Service. With the government’s changes, they face deportation when their visas expire next year.
Akinyemi said he went to see Rail, Maritime and Transport union representative David Kasim and together they worked to find out all those affected. They then brought this attack on workers to the attention of the RMT’s London Transport Regional Council, which organized the protest.
“It’s important that we have union backing,” Kasim told the Militant. “We need a coalition of unions to fight this. We’re trying to get an injunction, and then some sort of exemption, as we try to get this ruling repealed.”
“Our members were employed with the expectation that they could stay and build their lives here,” Eddie Dempsey, general secretary of the RMT, told the protest. “If you’re a paid-up member of the RMT, I don’t care where you’re from, we will defend you. The minute you join our union you’re one of us.”
“When you tell people, ‘Come, study, if you find a job you can stay,’ you give them an expectation,” Avi Khera, one of the workers affected by the changes, told the Militant. “We’re standing up for ourselves. What have we got to lose? We just want what’s fair.” Khera has spent tens of thousands of pounds since moving to the U.K., on college tuition, visa fees and the National Health Service surcharge levied on immigrants.
The demonstration was supported by the Transport Salaried Staffs Association and the Public and Commercial Services Union. Members of Unison, Unite and the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain joined in.
Between 500 and 2,000 of their members at the Department for Work and Pensions could be threatened by the changes, the Public and Commercial Services Union said.
“We have reports of cases in Manchester, Hull and elsewhere,” Conor Price, a member of the RMT National Executive Committee for Manchester and North West England, told the Militant. “There could be hundreds of thousands of workers affected across the country.”
“We’re not just numbers, we’re human beings,” Ayodele Oynole, who works on the Underground at London Bridge Station, said. He came from Nigeria with his wife and two children in 2022. “With union support, I’m certain we can turn back this attack.”