Morning Star Scotland conference: migrant workers fighting and winning

Workers’ Rights / 6 November 2026 Unions hail new laws forcing employers to include salary in job ads 6 November 2026 Industrial / 6 November 2026 Unions begin consultation process with university amid risk to 188 jobs 6 November 2026 Healthcare / 6 November 2026 Emergency care for dying people grows as people left with ‘nowhere else to turn’ 6 November 2026 Britain / 6 November 2026 Two policemen accused of injuring man detained under Mental Health Act 6 November 2026 Industrial / 6 November 2026 Tube drivers to strike over Christmas in long-running dispute 6 November 2026 Britain / 6 November 2026 Greens accuse Scottish Labour of minimum wage betrayal 6 November 2026 THE Morning Star Scotland’s Autumn conference got under way today with a testimony on the plight of migrant workers.

Young Unite worker Tiago Brandao shared his experience of leaving Portugal to find work and build a life in Scotland.

“Our work keeps Scotland running,” he said.

“We serve people, cook, clean, work breaks, work late, work weekends and cover shifts, but that work is not the whole story.

“Many workers face insecure hours, split shifts, contracts that are hard to understand, tips sharing in unclear ways and data does not always add up.

“The hard part is simply a simple fear: if you complain, you might lose your job. That fear is not imaginary.”

Breaking those chains of fear was central to Unison’s campaign to move to sector-wide sponsorship in social care, rather than leaving workers tied to exploitative employers.

Favour Davidking, a worker with a non-unionised care company, described joining her first online Unison meeting as a “game changer” as they established a committee for migrant care workers.

“The first line of action was to launch a survey,” she said. “This survey engaged over 650 migrant workers in social care.

“What we saw in the survey was alarming: the exploitation going on and the abuse.

“That is the life of a migrant being sponsored.”

Speaking of the campaign’s success in winning concessions from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on creating a sector-wide sponsorship scheme, she said: “Maybe it’s a weak victory, but a victory is a victory.

“She had bought the idea of the fair visa campaign.

“We are very proud to have delivered this through a collective effort through our union, Unison, through our migrant care worker campaign, and we are not stopping.”

Britain / 8 November 2026 Morning Star Scotland conference 8 November 2026 Immigration / 2 November 2026 ‘Time to stop demonising migrant workers’ 2 November 2026 Unions cautiously welcome Home Secretary’s watered-down permanent settlement plans for foreign carers

TUC CONGRESS 2026 / 14 September 2026 Migrant workers are an inspiration in their fight for justice and dignity 14 September 2026 Faced with employer abuse and exploitation, low-paid overseas staff have been the backbone of Britain’s health and social care sectors. The Labour government must abandon plans to punish them with draconian visa restrictions, writes CLARE WILLIAMS, Unison national officer

Scotland / 5 September 2026 A new chapter for the people’s paper 5 September 2026 After months of uncertainty over printing and distribution, the first Scottish-printed edition of the Morning Star is soon to roll off the presses