n By Hajera Blagg
Food manufacturing is among the most difficult sectors to organise – turnover is always high, and with the workforce dominated by migrant workers speaking many different languages, uniting a diverse group of people under one banner is not easy.
But Unite site convenor Monique Mosley, herself originally from Holland,
has shown it can be done. She works for food manufacturer Greencore in Selby, and thanks to her efforts, membership density has increased considerably.
Success it appears, comes down to language. “There are nearly 30 different nationalities represented at our site in Greencore, all speaking a total of maybe 12 or 13 different languages,” she noted. “What’s really made a difference is that we can provide workers with information about the union from Unite’s website, which is translated in many different languages.”
Monique has set up a system where one or two ‘trusted members’ from each language group can, translate at disciplinaries with reps – or members’ information posters. They can also help spread the word on key issues. Wherever possible, Monique believes that you should try address members in their own language.
But often there are added complexities for women migrant workers.
Monique highlighted that migrant women – which make up nearly 70 per cent of the workforce at Greencore – face very specific challenges that many people often don’t fully understand.
“Many of our members come from very traditional cultures. Even though they do go out to work, when they come home, they’re also expected to take on all the domestic duties including childcare,” she explained.
“And because of the language barrier, many migrant women don’t know, for example, that free childcare is available. How can they know? They can’t access that information because it’s often only advertised in English.”
Monique highlighted an ‘advertising campaign’ of her own that she carried out in December by having posters made in several different languages
promoting occupational health services that Greencore provides. “Since then, there’s been significant take up of occupational health,” Monique noted. “Little things like this can make a huge difference.”
Monique added that domestic abuse is also significant problem facing migrant women. “Of course, domestic abuse happens in every community, but in certain cultures, it can be tougher to tackle. Because of the language barrier and entrenched cultural norms of silence, it’s harder for these women to get help.”
Monique recounted one time on site when one worker, a husband, began threatening his wife, who also worked on site. The altercation started to become physical, and everyone just carried on their work in silence.
“I reported them and referred the woman to a domestic abuse centre to get a bit of breathing space,” she said. “The husband ended up moving back and she stayed on working. I made sure the company supported her, so that she could carry on working and didn’t have to worry about money.”
What’s more, she brought those who witnessed the incident together for a meeting, and emphasised to them that such behaviour was totally unacceptable.
“But I also told them that if anyone has similar issues, they can contact me in confidence. They can ring me or WhatsApp me at any time. The most important thing is that they don’t stay quiet. We’ve got support in place that can help.”
Monique has also been working on
implementing Unite’s Get Me Home Safely campaign on site. This campaign is particularly relevant to the workforce at Greencore, since so many workers are women on shift work who travel alone at night.
“The company has agreed to provide bicycle safety lights and panic alarms, and we’ve arranged for the North Yorkshire Police to come and give a talk about bicycle safety and safety in general,” Monique noted. “I’ve also arranged for groups of workers to share a car ride home together, or to at least walk home together after finishing the same shift.”
17 uniteLANDWORKER Spring 2024
Taken together, the support that Unite has offered these migrant working women, many of whom are in a union for the first time, has helped build trust and solidarity. And it’s this solidarity that inspired the workforce to overwhelmingly vote for industrial action last year in a fight for better pay.
“During the pandemic, we were considered heroes feeding the nation,” Monique explained. “But as soon as Covid restrictions were lifted, we were back to being nobodies. No bonuses, no pay rises, nothing.
Then with the cost-of-living crisis it really hit our workforce hard. There was a lot of anger,” Monique said. After the overwhelming vote for strike action, the company put forward a new pay deal, which the workforce accepted. Monique said she was proud of the stand her members were prepared to take.
While much has improved at the Selby Greencore site for workers, Monique said there’s still work to be done. “Beside language barriers and cultural differences, migrant women also face outright discrimination,” she said.
“They aren’t taken seriously. Many of the women who work here are highly educated but there’s no path toward career progression. My hope is that the company starts to see them as more than just low-skilled workers. They deserve to be treated as equals – they’re just as capable as anyone else.”
On International Women’s Day, Monique urged all women to join a union. “Women have fought to be treated as equals for a long time – from the suffragettes demanding the vote to the fight for equal pay in the 1960s. And while much has improved for us, we’re still not equals. We still get forgotten about, put down and left behind. Without a union, as a woman, you’ve got to face all this on your own. The only way we’ll continue to improve things for ourselves is together.”
Find out more To be come more active in your branch
or to find out more please contact
mila.fernandes@unitetheunion.org in the first instance
See pages 14 and 15
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