‘I had no hesitation in cancelling the meeting’- Unison’s Andrea Egan on Mahmood migration talks

Last week, Unison General Secretary Andrea Egan was due to meet the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to discuss her controversial plans for immigration reforms, but the meeting was cancelled by Unison after Mahmood refused Egan’s request to bring a care worker who would be affected by the “earned settlement” changes.

Unison have been at the forefront of opposition to the Home Secretary’s plans to double the default time migrants must live in the UK before qualifying for settlement, from five to 10 years – with some having to wait even longer based on their job or other criteria

Unison are particularly concerned about plans to apply those longer waiting times to migrants already working in the UK. The union has highlighted the impact on foreign workers who are plugging gaps in social care.

The care worker who Egan wanted to bring has completed an NVQ level 3 and is set to do further qualifications so that he can develop his career in the sector, and he was planning to tell Mahmood about why he and many other Unison members had chosen to work in it.

The Unison member said caring for others was “the most honourable thing you can do with your life”, and “nothing is more beautiful than being able to reassure and support someone who needs your help”.

Andrea Egan, on her blog site, explained the situation thus:

“On Wednesday the 21 October, I was due to meet home secretary Shabana Mahmood along with a policy officer and one of the migrant workers leading our brilliant campaign to oppose cruel government proposals to extend the indefinite leave to remain qualifying period to up to 15 years.

This meeting would have been the first between UNISON and the home secretary since I became general secretary. The fact we had to wait so long to get a meeting with a Labour cabinet minister is in itself extraordinary, especially given we have made it abundantly clear how central an issue these proposed immigration reforms are for the union.

Regrettably, the home secretary’s office informed us two hours prior to the meeting that our migrant worker member would not be allowed to attend the meeting, as the home secretary considered it “inappropriate”.

Since becoming general secretary, I have frequently taken UNISON members, including migrant workers, with me to government meetings – including in the Home Office – to make sure they are involved in crucial negotiations and discussions. This is central to my vision of putting members first. No minister had ever previously expressed opposition to this.

It is not up to the home secretary to dictate to UNISON who we bring to government meetings. And it is deeply concerning that she considers it acceptable to explicitly exclude a migrant worker, selected by his peers to represent them, from a meeting to discuss proposals which would devastate their lives.

Political decisions might be signed off in ministerial offices in Westminster, but they affect real people. I consider it both cowardly and politically inexplicable that a Labour cabinet minister would refuse to engage directly with workers in the firing line of their proposals.

That’s why I had no hesitation in cancelling the meeting. I will not allow our members to be disrespected. Nor will I permit ministers to exclude them from key conversations.

The migrant worker campaign will continue, and I have every belief that we will triumph.

Solidarity to all.”