3071-The political economy of new slavery

Bridget Anderson 115
have kept their visas renewed, but have not done so. Some employers
will bring their workers to the UK on the wrong visas (for example
tourist visas) which cause great difficulties to the individuals when the
mistake is discovered. The police are reluctant to classify withholding
passports as ‘theft’, so MDWs are forced to report their passports as ‘lost’
instead. Embassies are reluctant to demand their property back from
unscrupulous employers.
Passport retention is an area that causes such distress and expense to
workers that Kalayaan is hoping to start a major campaign focusing on
this issue. 8
4. Countries need to sign up and abide by UN/ILO conventions
The Global Campaign for the Ratification of the International Convention
for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
members of Their Families continues. 9 The UN General Assembly
approved the Migrant Convention on 18 December 1990 and by
10 December 2002 20 state parties have ratified the convention. 10
This will happen at the earliest on 1 May 2003. The UN Convention is
very important because it extends fundamental human rights to all
migrant workers, both documented and undocumented. It recognizes
migrant workers are social entities with families and provides the right
to family reunification.
There are two ILO conventions relevant to migrant workers: the
Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) and
the Migrant Workers (Supplementary provisions) Convention, 1975
(No. 143). Both have been ratified, 11 but extra pressure is needed to
ensure that states abide by the recommendations and to encourage
more states to ratify them.
5. The right to join a trade union
The right to join a trade union is a crucial right for MDWs across Europe.
In Greece, a union for domestic workers has been formed as part of
the Athens Labour Centre and they will accept MDWs without papers.
In Germany, most MDWs are not part of a union because most unions
will not accept undocumented workers. In France, the main unions for
MDWs are the CFDT or the SUD, which has close links with the Sans
Papiers movement. In the Netherlands, although good co-operation is
maintained with the FNV it is still unclear as to whether the FNV will
accept undocumented migrants as members. In Spain, two trade unions
are very active in campaigning for rights for MDWs, the UGT and