Monthly Archives: April 2022

Content warning: this article contains mention of abuse.

Phoebe Dimacali is a domestic worker from the Philippines and Chairperson of the Filipino Domestic Workers Association (FDWA-UK). Francesca Humi is the Advocacy and Campaigns Officer at Kanlungan Filipino Consortium providing immigration casework for undocumented migrants, including domestic workers.

Every year, around 20,000 Overseas Domestic Worker visas are issued to migrant domestic workers who enter the UK from outside the EU with their employers as sponsors for whom they work inside their households. 6 April 2022 marks a decade since Theresa May revoked the Overseas Domestic Workers (ODW) visa concession, removing hard-won rights for domestic workers ushering in the start of the notorious hostile environment policy.

The concession allowed migrant domestic workers to switch employers, register these changes with the Home Office, and apply for extensions of stay and settlement. With the change to the visa in 2012, stays are limited to six months and migrant domestic workers have become tied to individual employers as sponsors, often compared to the kafala system prevalent in the Gulf region, which many workers face prior to arriving in the UK. Domestic workers on the ODW visa can no longer freely switch employers even in cases where a worker is a victim of modern-day slavery or human trafficking and have lost their right to long-term settlement in the UK.

Filipino Domestic Workers Association (FDWA-UK) is a grassroots organisation for and by Filipino women working as domestic workers in the UK, established in response to the 2012 change in visas. It is a member of Kanlungan Filipino Consortium, which provides immigration advice and mental health and welfare-related support for Filipino migrants including survivors of human trafficking and modern-day slavery. As frontline support providers to migrant domestic workers, we know first-hand that these workers face systematic labour exploitation and a heightened risk of human trafficking, which the change in legislation has only exacerbated.

As frontline support providers to migrant domestic workers, we know first-hand that these workers face systematic labour exploitation

Every month, the FDWA-UK rescues a dozen domestic workers from abusive employers. Kanlungan and FDWA-UK receive weekly requests from traumatised domestic workers in urgent need of immigration advice, emergency accommodation, and welfare support. The workers we support are predominantly young women who have left the Philippines to work in private, wealthy households in Gulf countries, Hong Kong or Singapore to send remittances back home to support their families. Many describe difficult working conditions that worsen after being brought to the UK by their employers, where they have no knowledge of support available to them locally.

The vulnerability of migrant domestic workers through the current ODW visa cannot be overstated. A survey conducted in 2019 by the Voice of Domestic Workers found that:

These numbers reflect the experiences of FDWA-UK members. Domestic workers that we support tell us they didnt know where they were going before landing in London. As one FDWA member shared in a 2020 BBC London report, she travelled to the UK with her employer, without access to her passport, and then was subject to physical and verbal abuse until a fellow Filipino domestic worker rescued her. Many feel helpless about their situation after they escape, without the right to settle or work in the UK due to the restrictive terms of their visas their only source of support and joy is the community they find through organisations like FDWA-UK and Kanlungan.

The current ODW visa effectively transforms migrant workers into commodities with little consideration for their needs or rights. Alongside other organisations working to empower migrant domestic workers, we are calling for a return to the pre-2012 ODW visa and demanding better protection of the labour rights of domestic workers.

Just last month, the Government accepted the Low Pay Commissions recommendations that live-in workers should no longer be excluded from the National Living Wage and will put forward secondary legislation to Parliament to make these recommendations into law, based on testimony provided by members of Kanlungan and FDWA-UK. This is a welcome and long overdue sign that the chronic exploitation of domestic workers is finally being addressed and taken seriously.

The current ODW visa effectively transforms migrant workers into commodities with little consideration for their needs or rights

But still, there needs to be a firm commitment to the enforcement of labour law when it comes to domestic work, especially when abuse occurs behind closed doors far from the eyes of regulators. This win also comes in the context of the draconian Nationality and Borders Bill, Part 5 of which further curtails the rights of survivors of modern-day slavery and human trafficking. Last month, the government refused to consider a proposed amendment to the bill (Amendment 70A, backed by JCWI, Kalayaan, Kanlungan, the Voice of Domestic Workers, and others in the sector) that called for a reinstatement of the visa, arguing that the Home Office was beginning a new round of consultations with organisations working with migrant domestic workers. This is despite the fact that Amendment 70A itself was created with direct input from said frontline organisations that know the needs and experiences of migrant domestic workers.

A reformed ODW visa is an essential first step in preventing abuse and exploitation. It must allow workers to change employers, enforce rights in the workplace, give them the option to report abuse and guarantee their rights in the workplace, renew their visas and allow them to be joined by their spouses and children in short, giving migrant domestic workers the right to work and settle in the UK like other migrant workers.

All migrants have a right to a life of dignity, stability, and joy

However, we cannot stop there. For many migrant domestic workers, the impacts of the restrictive visa are only compounded by the hostile environment policy and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Research conducted by Dr Ella Parry-Davies for Kanlungan on the experiences of undocumented migrants in 2020 and 2021 found that migrant domestic workers were frequently exposed to Covid-19 without adequate personal protective equipment, were without sick pay or leave entitlement, and were at risk of losing their employment and housing (for live-in workers) if they or their employers became infected with Covid-19.

We firmly believe that all migrants have a right to a life of dignity, stability, and joy regardless of their immigration status or how they arrived in this country. The call from migrant domestic workers is simple: you entrust us with your houses, your children, your elderly isnt it time we were granted basic rights in this country? We call on the Government to reinstate the Overseas Domestic Workers visa. Domestic work is work. Migrants rights are human rights.

If you or someone you know has been affected by human trafficking, modern-day slavery, or exploitation, you can contact the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline: 08000 121 700.

If you are a migrant domestic worker who needs urgent support with your current immigration or employment situation, please contact:

Kung ikaw o may kakilala ka na biktima ng human trafficking, pang-aalipin, o pang-aabuso, pwede mong kontakin ang Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline: 08000 121 700.

Kung ikaw ay migranteng domestic worker na nangangailangan ng agarang suporta sa kasalukuyan mong sitwasyon sa immigration o sa trabaho, maaari mong kontakin ang:

To keep up to date with our campaign to reinstate the pre-2012 visa and ratify the International Labour Organization Convention No. 189 on Domestic Workers:

See original here:

Why the Government must reinstate the pre-2012 Domestic Workers visa - gal-dem

UCLA Bruins guard Tyger Campbell shoots the ball against Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Drew Timme during the second half in the national semifinals of the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis April 3, 2021. (CNS/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters/Robert Deutsch)

In American sports, March offers a favorite event: March Madness, which can be a welcome distraction at various times of violent unrest and international tragedies, such as the unjust invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Yet sports can also be the very site of its own kind of immorality.

For every pregame prayer led by Loyola Chicago's Sister Jean, there are dozens of star basketball players who rake in untold amounts of money for their universities and conferences, not to mention the literally millions of people (estimated 50 million this year) who will place bets on the games. And yet, the athletes who compete whose labor generates the millions of dollars to be pocketed by corporate sponsors, academic institutions and athletic organizations will not be sufficiently remunerated for their efforts.

In his magisterial study University Ethics, Jesuit Fr. Jim Keenan notes that the three main categories of alienation in the university community are along the lines of class, race and athletics. In fact, these three areas often overlap in the most successful student athletes we have seen throughout the tournament.

The financial windfall to a university from having a star student athlete play for either a football or men's basketball program is almost incalculable. Right away, the financial benefits are obvious. CBS Sports and Turner Sports pay the NCAA $850 million per year for the rights to broadcast the NCAA men's basketball tournament over a period of three weeks each March and April. That number will jump to $1.1 billion in 2025.

The national headquarters of the NCAA, or National Collegiate Athletic Association, in Indianapolis (Dreamstime/Jonathan Weiss)

Each school that appears in the tournament receives a "unit" for every game they play in that year's event. These units are worth more than $337,000. This money is then pooled together and given back to the individual conferences, who are then encouraged, though not obliged, to split up the money evenly.

For smaller conferences, then, these units turn out to have outsized importance, sometimes accounting for up to 70% of their annual operating budget.

And exactly zero of those dollars go to the individual athletes whose talents keep ticketholders in line and home viewers tuned to the tournament.

The most important development to take place in recent years on the issue of financial remuneration for college athletes is the June 21, 2021, opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in NCAA v. Alston. In his concurring opinion to the unanimous verdict in favor of the athletes who sought compensation from the NCAA, Justice Brett Kavanaugh concluded that the annual NCAA traditions "cannot justify the NCAA's decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated. Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. ... The NCAA is not above the law."

The ruling, though, only benefits college athletes invited to sign endorsement deals, thereby making money off of their own name, image and likeness. Even though these agreements often ramp up in the days surrounding the tournaments, they will still only apply to the biggest stars. The vast majority of student athletes will not benefit from this ruling, either because they play a sport not frequently seen on television, or because they play in a smaller school or conference.

What does Catholic ethics have to offer in response to the unjust way in which their colleges and universities fail to remunerate their student athletes? I offer three principles that ought to be combined with the most obvious first step: paying student athletes. This practice, while it should be a prerequisite of any ethical relationship between a student athlete and the university, is not a panacea, but rather a step toward a more integrated vision of athletic freedom.

The poverty of student athletes is especially poignant and sinful when compared to the wealth of those coaching their teams.

First, Catholic ethics says we should resist the commodification of bodies. In Jesuit Fr. John Kavanaugh's Following Christ in a Consumer Society, he contrasts the values of the Commodity Form with those of the Personal Form. One of the most striking critiques Kavanaugh makes regards the commodification of bodies in our society today. The lens through which he examines this phenomenon is sexuality, but the parallels with college athletics are too obvious to ignore.

Kavanaugh notes "three particular aspects of advanced industrial and capitalistic sexuality which are worthy of special mention. It is strikingly voyeuristic; it has a highly developed technological rendition of sexual relations; and it is marked by a severing of human sexuality from the totality of the human person, and a fortiori from personal commitment."

Kavanaugh describes the act of voyeurism, which resonates with the "madness" tournament fans feel even when they have no specific relationship with individual players: "It demands no personal involvement, no commitment, no recognition of the personhood of the sexual object."

What must be built up in athletics in Catholic colleges and universities is the "power of relationship."

At my own institution, Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, one of our campus ministers, Immaculate Heart of Mary Sr. John Michele Southwick, has modeled the Personal Form with the student athletes in an exemplary way. She instituted a program for a day of reflection for all the student athletes on campus, offering breakout groups on various questions for self-evaluation. She encouraged the participants to examine their strengths and weaknesses, and to understand their choices as autonomous agents of their own lives, and to share their reflections with their colleagues and teammates.

She posed a series of questions about their time in college, on and off the court or field, and then asked them to think about what their life would be like after graduation. What were their goals? How could they best go about achieving them?

Such an exercise was straightforward and profound. Southwick addressed these student athletes as human beings, as young people striving for multiple goals while living varied, complex lives, not simply as athletes working for a higher score, a longer run, a faster time. This sort of care invites the common good to flourish among them both now and in the future.

The second Catholic ethical principle that applies to this issue is the preferential option for the poor. Part of caring for the whole person is ensuring that those who are materially poor are especially cared for. Even after taking into account the value of the "full ride" scholarships for student athletes in the "moneymaker" sports football and men's basketball, especially most athletes still fall below the poverty line.

The University of Notre Dame plays Stanford University in a Nov. 27, 2021, football game. (Wikimedia Commons/Chad Kainz)

The poverty of student athletes is especially poignant and sinful when compared to the wealth of those coaching their teams, who are among the highest paid employees at their universities. As with adjunct professors who often do not make a living wage and don't have benefits, student athletes are treated as objects. Scholarships don't count as sufficient remuneration because they are nontransferable; a student athlete cannot pay their parents' rent or other bills with those funds, for example.

So, the Catholic institution, vis--vis student athletes, has a simple choice: either it acknowledges that student athletes function as employees who earn huge sums of money for the university and then pays them accordingly or it continues to exploit the labor of student athletes and refuse them a just remuneration, continuing a practice that directly contradicts the church's social teaching.

Finally, college athletics also has a racial justice component. As Keenan reminds us, "That universities did not admit African Americans to their student body until rather recently is part of the often unacknowledged history of the American academy, but now through the work of administrators working with historians, we are learning how well major American universities profited by the slave trade. The American university houses the ghosts of slavery."

When millions of Americans turn on the television to follow the NCAA men's basketball tournament, perhaps the last thing on their minds is chattel slavery. The young men playing in these games seem to be enjoying themselves; they link arms with their teammates, hug their coaches and execute the plays to perfection. And yet, financial exploitation is on dramatic, public display.

A media timeout during a Big East match-up between Seton Hall University and Marquette University in January 2020. (Wikimedia Commons/DeFazioNJ)

Shaun Harper's research on the Power Five conferences is instructive. "Black men were 2.4% of undergraduate students enrolled at the 65 universities but comprised 55% of football teams and 56% of men's basketball teams on those campuses." Harper also notes that the audience for these games, both in person and on television, is overwhelmingly white.

And to return to the leaders of these programs, "Black men are 11.9% of these head coaches. Power 5 athletics directors earn on average, $707,418 annually. Black men are 15.2% of these athletics directors. The five conference commissioners earn, on average, salaries that exceed $2.5 million. None are Black."

Clearly, there is an important connection between race and class not just in society at large but within the university, and also within their athletic departments. Catholic higher education leaders ought to be on the front lines advocating for fair financial remuneration for their athletes. Failing to do so will only add another chapter in the shameful history of racism in the Catholic church.

As Pope Francis has reminded us, everything is connected. Once the best college basketball players begin earning a salary, these young people will be treated more and more as subjects, and we the viewers can be more than consumers. Until that day comes, we should be cheering for more than our alma maters to succeed in March Madness; we should also long for the end of this uncompensated labor.

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Three reasons this Catholic ethicist thinks college athletes should be paid - National Catholic Reporter

In this week's newsletter, the right has predicted that 'the end of Britain' is night because a pub in Devon renamed the ploughman's sandwich.

In a week where the cost of living crisis is starting to hit home, with energy bills rising from April 1, right wing media commentators were particularly interested in meaningless culture war nonsense that requires them to have a meltdown about a sandwich.

In #RightWingWatch news, I covered movements among Conservative pressure groups in Parliament, with both the Net Zero Scrutiny Group and the Conservative Environment Network increasing their support among Tory MPs amid a tug of war over green policies which could have wider implications for us all

I also looked at another Steve Baker group (hes behind the Tufton Street Net Zero Watch and Net Zero Scrutiny Group), the Thatcher fan club, Conservative Way Forward. Baker announced he was relaunching the group in December, but its been delayed until April because they cant seem to decide what their raison detre should be.

Getting very mad about a sandwich

Nigel Farage is angry because Disney has decided that 50% of roles in its productions will be from underrepresented groups, like ethnic minorities and LGBTQ people.

GB News is angry because a single pub in Devon renamed the ploughmans sandwich the ploughpersons sandwich, in a tongue in cheek nod to female farmers.

Daily Mail hack Andrew Pierce is upset that people receiving NHS care have to fill out a generic form which asks if theyre pregnant, even if theyre a man.

When did the right get so angry all the time at such tiny things? Has it always been like this? This isnt normal behaviour, theyre losing their minds at a sandwich.

Nile Gardiner, the British mascot of US right wing think tank the Heritage Foundation, called the gender neutral sandwich the end of Britain. Wow, theyve cancelled Britain now? Why? Oh, just because someone renamed a sandwich.

I really never knew that the ploughmans was such a core part of British identity, but presumably thats because I live in London, which is not part of Real Britain.

But it seems that the fear of progressive sandwiches is actually a global contagion. In Australia, right wing politician Mark Latham was forced into publicly soiling himself over a vegan rainbow sandwich sold in the New South Wales Parliament.

These days, it seems that if you mention colonialism even happened, youll be accused by the frothing nationalists at places like GB News and Breitbart of attempting to literally destroy your own country.

Which in a strange way is actually a frank admission that a lot of Britain was indeed built by the dead labour of millions of exploited colonial subjects and the wealth extracted by their masters.

A couple of weeks ago, Breitbart London claimed that the National Museum Wales was trying to cancel the steam train, after it launched a BLM-inspired review of its collection with the intent of decolonising the museums production of knowledge about the past.

Admitting that items in its collection were historically linked to colonialism and slavery isnt what I would call cancelling the steam train. The steam train still exists, after all, but it appears that its the reassessment of past history which troubles the Defenders of Empire over at these right wing publications.

Because the museum was inspired to reassess its collection by the Black Lives Matter protests, they also decided to include placards from the 2020 BLM protests in its collection. And would you guess who was annoyed at that? Thats right, Nigel Farage.

Farage against the machine

Ive been reading Michael Cricks biography of Nigel Farage, which contains some rather juicy interviews with some of his contemporaries at school. I already knew the story about how he once marched through a Sussex village shouting Hitler Youth songs, and used to love the fact that his initials were the same as those of the National Front.

But there are accounts from a number of other pupils, one of whom said he suffered frequent anti-Semitic verbal abuse by Farage. Another Jewish pupil said Farage would walk up to him and say Hitler was right, or Gas em.

He was a deeply unembarrassed racist, another pupil said, who relished rubbing people up the wrong way. Like a lot of modern internet trolls, he would brush off his frequent use of racism as just a means to troll other pupils or the teaching staff who he considered to be too left wing.

Getting mad at BLM placards or a sandwich may seem bizarre behaviour, but its just what Farage has always been doing. Provoking, trolling, seeking attention. But I think the difference now is that the culture he represents is on the back foot.

No longer can you hide your racism among the generalised prejudices of 1970s Britain. Nigel Farages views in the 70s may have not been so remarkable because many more people held them. Now you cant go around saying Hitler was right on GB News, so you have to dog whistle about a sandwich, which looks pathetic and ridiculous.

Farage and co are still schoolboys trying to provoke a reaction. The difference is that now, people like him are in charge of the government and a lot of the media, and so they cant get angry about any of the things theyre responsible for, like the cost of living crisis, wage stagnation and poverty.

With the start of April and energy prices skyrocketing, Im sceptical about how many people will be convinced that a sandwich in Devon is really the main problem facing Britain.

John Lubbock leads on the Right-Watch project at Left Foot Forward

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As news reports uncover more information about the coal dealings of Joe Manchin III, the West Virginia Poor Peoples Campaign will hold a 23-mile march followed by a rally to pressure the US senator to change his ways and support actions that save both his own constituents and democracy.

The Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival will support the West Virginia PPC with the march from Harpers Ferry to Martinsburg, which begins with a rally at 10 a.m. ET Tuesday, April 5, outside Storer College. The co-chairs of the PPC:NCMR, Bishop William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, will speak at the rally, as will state leaders and impacted people.

Manchin's unyielding attacks on the poor such as blocking living wages and refusing to support a bill that extends the tax credit that helps children or expand health care and ultimately carrying the agenda of the Chamber of Commerce rather than having compassion for the people of his state and the country these are why West Virginia is our countrys Selma, Bishop Barber said. This is why we accepted the invitation from the West Virginia PPC to join this march and engage in direct action with poor and low-wealth people in the state where my grandfather was born. And its why we must hold the Mass Poor Peoples and Low-Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls on June 18th.

The various programs can be viewed here.

Sen. Manchin has refused to help his own constituents, especially 710,000 poor and low-income West Virginians, by blocking the passage of even a watered-down Build Back Better. He has refused to save our democracy by blocking bills to restore and expand voting rights protections such as the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, Rev. Dr. Theoharis said. More importantly, his refusal to end the racist filibuster or enact a fair taxation system blocks policies that protect the people and the planet. Time and time again, Sen. Manchin chooses the greed of the chamber of commerce and billionaires over the needs of the people. I am proud to march with moms who have lost the Child Tax Credit, low-wage workers, families impacted by coal waste Sen. Manchin profits from, and others who are demanding voting rights, living wages, clean air and water, and the right to thrive not barely survive.

Figures compiled by the Institute for Policy Studies last year showed that the $3.5 trillion (over 10 years) version of BBB would have: created 17,290 new jobs in West Virginia; benefited 346,000 children by extending the expanded child tax credit; and allowed an additional 88,050 people to take paid leave each year.

The WVPPC, the PPC:NCMR and partner organizations are demanding that Manchin move from policy cruelty to compassion and from policy meanness to mercy to help not just the 40% of West Virginians who are poor or low-income 710,000 people but the 140 million nationally who are since his votes hurt not just his constituents but people across the country.

Both Storer College and the town of Harpers Ferry are deeply connected to the civil rights movement. Storer was a historically Black college that opened in 1867 and served both Black and white students at times. It hosted the first American meeting of the Niagara Movement, the predecessor to the NAACP, in 1906.

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass described Harpers Ferry as the town where the end of American slavery began because John Brown tried to initiate a slave revolt there in 1859.

On Wednesday, marchers will rally at 4:30 p.m. ET against the Rockwool insulation plant in Ranson at a bike path across from the plant. Some residents opposed the plant because they fear damage to the environment.

Below is the schedule for the rest of the week. All programs begin at 10 a.m. ET unless otherwise stated:

_ April 7: Marchers will go by North Jefferson Elementary School and through Fox Glen.

_ April 8: March to Martinsburg.

_ April 9: Rally at Sen. Manchins office in Martinsburg and then support West Virginia Rising in its blockade at Manchins coal plant in Grant Town that afternoon.

_ April 10: Bishop Barber and Rev. Dr. Theoharis preach a Palm Sunday service across the street from Manchins dirty coal plant in Grant Town.

Last week, the New York Times published an article titled How Joe Manchin Aided Coal, and Earned Millions.

At every step of his political career, Joe Manchin helped a West Virginia power plant that is the sole customer of his private coal business, the article said. Along the way, he blocked ambitious climate action.

Read the original:

'This is our Selma': Poor People's Campaign begins 23-mile march on Tuesday to demand that Sen. Manchin stop abandoning poor and low-wealth people...