SOAS Anti-union Busting Occupation

Yesterday morning the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) director's office occupied by students and supporters in protest against detention of 9 University cleaners, who had recently won living wage representation in a dawn raid on Friday (June 12).

Five have already been deported, and the others could face deportation within days. One has had a suspected heart attack and was denied access to medical assistance and even water. One was over 6 months pregnant. Many have families who have no idea of their whereabouts.

The cleaners won the London Living Wage and trade union representation after a successful “Justice for Cleaners” campaign that united workers of all backgrounds and student activists. Many believe the raid is managers’ “revenge” for the campaign.

Immigration officers were called in by cleaning contractor ISS, even though it has employed many of the cleaners for years. Cleaning staff were told to attend an ‘emergency staff meeting’ at 6.30am on Friday.

This was used as a false pretext to lure the cleaners into a closed space from which the immigration officers were hiding to arrest them.

More than 40 officers were dressed in full riot gear and aggressively undertook interrogations and then escorted them to the detention centre. Neither legal representation nor union support were present due to the secrecy surrounding the action. Many were unable to communicate let alone fully understand what was taking place due to the denial of interpreters.

SOAS management were complicit in the immigration raid by enabling the officers to hide in the meeting room beforehand and giving no warning to them.

The cleaners were interviewed one by one. They were allowed no legal or trade union representation, or even a translator (many are native Spanish speakers).

The cleaners are members of the Unison union at SOAS. They recently went out on strike (Thursday 28 May) to protest the sacking of cleaner and union activist Jose Stalin Bermudez.

The occupation has issued a list of demands to SOAS management:

1. We call on the directorate to request the secretary of state to immediately release the detainees and to prevent the deportation of the three cleaners who are still in detention in the UK.
2. For the directorate to release a public statement condemning what has happened to the SOAS cleaners and calling for their immediate release and return.
3. To campaign for the return of the cleaners who have already been deported.
4. To bring all contract staff in house. SOAS should not use contractors, ISS or others.
5. To keep immigration officers from entering campus under ANY circumstances or other forms of collaboration with immigration or police. Universities are for education not for state violence and oppression.
6. A year's wage as reparations for all detained and deported staff.
7. To hold accountable SOAS managers who were complicit in facilitating the raid and detention of the cleaners, refusing to aid a sick worker and a pregnant woman.
8. To reinstate Jose Stalin Bermudez, the SOAS UNISON branch chair.
9. To respect the right to organise in Trade Unions unimpeded.
10. To provide space and resources for a public meeting to build support for the SOAS 9 and other migrants, in education and beyond, affected by immigration control and racism.
11. Amnesty for all those involved.

One of the detained cleaners stated, “We’re honest people not animals. We are just here to earn an honest living for our families. SOAS management are being unfair.”

The same tactic has been widely used against undocumented migrants in low paid jobs. The fact is that the private sector companies that bid for sub-contracting tenders in the service sector rely on employing people on minimum wages (and even below that if they can get away with it, as they often do) at unsociable hours. And the people that tend to go for these are undocumented workers who can get no other work. The companies know this and employ them specifically because they are marginalised and vulnerable; ripe for exploitation as they cannot stick up for their rights. And when they dare to do just that, these companies feel no qualms about turning the workers into the UKBA, just as the cleaning contractor ISS did with tube cleaners in their employ when they went on strike, with the result that key activists were deported. This is the use of immigration law for union busting.

Unrest at Brook House IRC

A disturbance broke out last night just after 10:30pm at Brook House detention centre at Gatwick Airport. Up to 30 detainees were believed to be involved in setting a fire in an exercise area and causing other minor damaged. The cause of their grievances is not known at present. Police and Fire crews were in attendance and it is believed Prison service 'Tornado' teams were also involved in restoring order. A second fire is also believed to have been started when one of the detainees setting fire to his bedding this (Saturday) afternoon.

Brook House is a purpose-built Category B Prison Service standard building designed to hold up to 426 male detainees prior to their deportation. It is run by G4S, who also manage HMP Parc (and a further 3 IRCs and £ prisons under the guise of its subsidiary GSL) and was opened in March this year as part of a planned large-scale extension to the detention estate over the next couple of years.

Colnbrook IRC Heavily Criticised

The Colnbrook high security detention centre near Heathrow run by SERCO has been heavily criticised by the Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers in a new inspection report.

Anne Owers is quoted as saying, "Overall, we found little improvement at Colnbrook since our last visit. Indeed, there was evidence of the centre taking inappropriate steps to manage some of the challenges it faces; in particular, there were examples of separation being misused and the vulnerable persons unit was not fit for purpose.

"A significant number of complaints, including allegations of staff bullying, were not adequately investigated and replies lacked detail." And that "staff and managers readily admitted that Colnbrook was struggling to cope."

The full announced inspection took place last November and followed a similar critical report the previous year.

Amongst the criticisms were:

• Between 80% and 90% of the immigration removal centre (IRC) population were former prisoners. More than a third in our survey reported spending more than four hours in an escort van. Vehicles often arrived late. There were a significant number of night-time journeys, and only 32% of respondents reported that they had been treated well by escort staff, against an Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) comparator of 50%.

• Only 37% of survey respondents said that they had been well treated by reception staff, which compared poorly with the IRC comparator of 59%.

• Only 30% of the detainees surveyed said that they felt safe on their first night.

• Overall, there was a relatively poor standard of staff-detainee relationships and, whilst 52% of detainees saying that most staff treated them with respect, similar to the figure at the previous inspection, the figure was significantly lower than the IRC comparator of 70%.

• 49% of detainees said that they had been victimised by another detainee or group of detainees, which was significantly worse than the 30% comparator and also significantly worse than the 40% figure reported at the previous inspection. Thirty-four per cent said that they had felt threatened or intimidated by a member of staff, which was significantly worse than the 23% comparator. In line with the centre’s internal survey, our survey indicated a reluctance to report bullying. Only 48% of detainees who said that they had been victimised by detainees or staff said that they had reported it. This was significantly worse than the 63% comparator in the previous survey.

• Colnbrook's control and restraint (C&R) was heavily criticised for being oppressive: There was insufficient de-escalation of use of force incidents, and the monitoring of these incidents was inadequate. Kept too long in isolation after incident de-escalated. Complaints were inadequately investigated. The standard of replies was poor, many were not answered within the prescribed timescale and the standard of replies was insufficiently monitored.

• Rule 40 (removal from association in the interests of security or safety) was regularly used as punishment. The Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme used as system of punishment rather than as the system of reward as it was designed to be.

• The unit for vulnerable detainees was an oppressive and degrading environment. It offered no privacy and was an oppressive and degrading environment. Arrangements for the support of potentially suicidal or self-harming detainees were inadequate, with poor documentation, and some inappropriate separation of vulnerable detainees. Use of force had increased and was not always well managed.

• The Short term Holding Facility (STHF) had a restricted regime and detainees were locked up for 23 hours a day, with little access to information. Despite previous inspectorate recommendations, it continued to hold women in wholly inappropriate conditions, some of them extremely distressed, or co-located with male ex-prisoners.

• Restraints used during all visits to outside medical or dental facilities irrespective of likelihood of flight posed by detainee.

• There was relatively poor access to expert legal advice, with just over half of detainees surveyed indicating that they had a solicitor, which was significantly worse than the IRC comparator of 61%.

• Bail applications were heard through the on-site video suite but UKBA summaries arrived by post - often late, only in English and limited ability to challenge court's assumptions.

Calais Night At The Cowley Club 7th June

No Borders Brighton presents a night of Food, Music, Film and information on 7th June at 6:00pm - fundraising for the Calais No Border Camp which is being held 23-29th June somewhere in or around Calais.

We will be serving a selection of foods from around the world and showing the film 'No Comment', which highlights the everyday lives of migrants in and around Calais.

Come along for some good food, good music and learn about the plans for the Calais Camp.

Suggested donation for the food is £3- (or more if you can afford it) and we will be serving from 7:00pm.

Members and Guests only.

TRANSNATIONAL DEMONSTRATION FOR FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND THE ABOLITION OF MIGRATION CONTROLS

Calais, Saturday 27th June 2009.

In Calais there are around 800-1000 migrants at any one time that are trying to cross the Channel, under constant harassment from the police.

These migrants are harassed because they do not have the right papers, or in many cases no papers at all - they are 'sans-papier'.

These 'sans-papier' in Calais are only the tip of the iceberg: it is estimated that there are over 200,000 sans-papier in France, 1 million in the UK, and up to 7 million in Europe as a whole.

All sans-papier face the same battle - to live and work without exploitation, harassment and fear of arrest and deportation.

NoBorders calls for a world without papers, where everyone lives where they choose.

The route of the demo is the reverse of the walk that many migrants in Calais make on a daily basis - from Coquelles, where they are detained, to the lighthouse, where there is a daily food distribution.

We call on all individuals and groups that struggle for the rights of migrants to sign this call and mobilise for the demo.

The demo is part of a NoBorder camp that is taking place in Calais from 23rd to 29th June (http://calaisnoborder.eu.org).

The demo will start at 10am from the lighthouse on Boulevard des Alliés.

NoBorder Calais
Gdale-CGA
UK No Borders Network

Contact: calais@riseup.net

Calais No Border Camp Promo Video

[click on the image]

6 Arrested At Colnbrook Blockade

A five-hour blockade of Colnbrook detention centre near Heathrow airport yesterday ended with six protesters being arrested for 'obstructing the highway'. The six activists from the Stop Deportation Network had encased their arms in glass and plastic tubes and concrete blocks, blocking the entrance to Colnbrook and Harmondsworth detention centres for over four hours, in an attempt to stop the forcible deportation of 45 Iraqi refugees on a special charter flight to Iraqi Kurdistan. All six were taken to West Drayton police station near Heathrow and charged with obstruction of the highway under Section 14 of the Public Order Act.

Immediately after the blockade was removed by the police cutting team around 12:45pm, three WH Tours and Woodcock coaches were seen leaving the detention centre carrying about 45 deportees. Another 10 or so had been taken from Brook House detention centre at Gatwick earlier this morning. The time, airline and departure airport of the flight have not been disclosed by the Home Office but it is believed to have left Stanstead that afternoon.

At least three people were taken off the flight following last-minute High Court injunctions. Another man, who had not been given Removal Directions but was nonetheless being deported, was also taken off.

Earlier reports said detainees resisted being put on the coaches by taking off their cloths and refusing to leave their cells. A large number of private security guards eventually overcame them but other detainees, hearing what was going on both inside and outside Colnbrook, started a mass protest. There have not been any updates on the situation within Colnbrook since.

[Indymedia post]