New model motions for Labour & union CLPs & branches – December 2022

Posted: 9 December 2022

As the Tories continue to escalate their brutal war on migrant rights, it is vital that we organise the labour movement – our party and our unions – to fight them tooth and nail. We cannot simply rely on our leaders to do this from the top, and increasingly we need to directly challenge their compromises. And as always, as activists we must do the patient and persistent work of persuasion in our workplaces and communities.

So – please help us win round, unify and mobilise our movement, branch-by-branch and from the base up, by proposing our model motions to your local Labour Party (branches and constituencies) and to your union branch, whether or not it is affiliated to Labour.

• Motion for Labour branches and CLPs
• Motion for union branches

Please let us know via info@labourfreemovement.org what branches you plan to submit the motion in, and the outcome! In your local Labour Party, you can generally submit motions by sending them directly to your branch/CLP secretary (depending on whether your constituency operates a GC [General Committee] with ward-based branches, or a constituency-wide all-members meeting). In your trade union branch, how to submit motions may vary between unions – try contacting your branch secretary, chair or other elected branch officers or ask your workplace rep/steward for advice.

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Motion for Labour branches and CLPs

Immigration and asylum: stand for free movement, equality and solidarity

The Tories are waging an escalating war on migrants’ rights and dignity: an intensifying Hostile Environment; the disregard of Windrush victims; the neglect of Ukrainians and Afghans in need; the brutal Rwandan deportation scheme; and now the humanitarian crisis at Manston. Anti-migrant politics have contributed to fascist violence, including the petrol-bombing of an immigration facility.

Labour cannot merely criticise Tory incompetence while promising to continue most of their policies. We must entirely reject their approach.

This branch/CLP therefore expresses deep concern at recent announcements from Labour’s leaders, including Keir Starmer’s statements promising “points-based” immigration controls and saying there is “not a great deal” of difference between us and the Conservatives on immigration.

Labour can change minds and turn the tide if we argue now for an alternative rooted in solidarity. We must counter scapegoating with real solutions to the problems facing working-class people: explaining how curbing migrants’ rights undermines all workers; taxing the rich & big business to fund good jobs, homes, services and social security for all; and scrapping all anti-union laws so workers can unite to push up wages and conditions.

PCS trade unionists considering striking against maritime “pushback” plans, health & education workers protesting their co-option as border guards, and ordinary people from Peckham to Glasgow blocking raids, point the way.

We call on the whole party to uphold the policy passed at our 2019 conference¹, drafted by the Labour Campaign for Free Movement, committing to:

• “Oppose the current Tory immigration legislation and any curbing of rights.”
• “Reject any immigration system based on incomes, migrants’ utility to business, and number caps/targets.”
• “Close all detention centres.”
• “Ensure unconditional right to family reunion.”
• “Maintain and extend free movement rights.”
• “End ‘no recourse to public funds’ policies.”
• “Scrap all Hostile Environment measures, use of landlords and public service providers as border guards, and restrictions on migrants’ NHS access.”
• “Extend equal rights to vote to all UK residents.”

Following Brexit and the new assault on refugees, we must also commit to:

• Guarantee safe, legal routes for asylum seekers, and day-one rights to work and social security, with decent housing in the community not detention.
• A simple process for all UK residents to gain permanent residency.
• End all immigration raids, detention, and deportations.
• Re-enter Europe’s free movement area, and pursue free movement agreements with other countries, including in all future trade deals, with the goal of equal, universal free movement.

This branch/CLP resolves to:

• Notify our Labour MP/PPC/selection candidates, our region & Keir Starmer’s office of this motion passing, and submit it to our CLP/Region
• Contact our local anti-raids group and/or the Anti-Raids Network, and our nearest anti-detention group(s), for training, cooperation and protests.
• Endorse and promote the Labour Campaign for Free Movement², send it a donation of £___ (labourfreemovement.org/donate), and invite it to send us a speaker.

Footnotes

1. https://www.labourfreemovement.org/labour-conf-2019-landslide-policy/
2. More information about LCFM at labourfreemovement.org

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Motion for trade union branches

Edit as appropriate depending on your industry and your union’s affiliation to Labour

Immigration and asylum: stand for free movement, equality and solidarity

The Tories are waging an escalating war on migrants’ rights and dignity: an intensifying Hostile Environment; the disregard of Windrush victims; the neglect of Ukrainians and Afghans in need; the brutal Rwandan deportation scheme; and now the humanitarian crisis at Manston. Anti-migrant politics have contributed to fascist violence, including the petrol-bombing of an immigration facility.

Now, only the rich can move and stay where they want. Immigration controls make migrant workers precarious and vulnerable to hyper-exploitation, pressing down wages and conditions for everyone. From education¹ to transport², unscrupulous employers have called in immigration enforcement as a union-busting weapon against those who dare to stand up to them.

As a union, we reject this rotten regime. We stand for workers’ unity across divides of race and nationality. In place of scapegoating, we want real solutions to the problems facing workers: taxing the rich & big business to fund good jobs, homes, services and social security for all; and scrapping all anti-union laws so workers can unite to push up wages and conditions.

We support civil servants in PCS considering striking against maritime “pushback” plans; health & education workers protesting their co-option as border guards; and ordinary people from Peckham to Glasgow blocking raids.

We welcome the bold migrants’ rights policy set at Labour Party conference 2019, including the points below³. Not just Labour but the whole trade union movement should campaign for this in full.

• “Oppose the current Tory immigration legislation and any curbing of rights.”
• “Reject any immigration system based on incomes, migrants’ utility to business, and number caps/targets.”
• “Close all detention centres.”
• “Ensure unconditional right to family reunion.”
• “Maintain and extend free movement rights.”
• “End ‘no recourse to public funds’ policies.”
• “Scrap all Hostile Environment measures, use of landlords and public service providers as border guards, and restrictions on migrants’ NHS access.”
• “Extend equal rights to vote to all UK residents.”

Following Brexit and the new assault on refugees, we must also demand:

• Safe, legal routes for asylum seekers, and day-one rights to work and social security, with decent housing in the community not detention.
• A simple process for all UK residents to gain permanent residency.
• End all immigration raids, detention, and deportations.
• Re-enter Europe’s free movement area, and pursue free movement agreements with other countries, including in all future trade deals, with the goal of equal, universal free movement.

This branch resolves to:

• Explore possibilities for immediate solidarity work as a union branch, e.g.: ensuring we support & protect colleagues subject to immigration controls; resisting co-option as border guards in the Hostile Environment; and gathering and delivering aid for people trapped in detention/refugee camps or forced to make dangerous migration journeys.
• Contact our local anti-raids group and/or the Anti-Raids Network, and our nearest anti-detention group(s), for protests and for training and cooperation to protect ourselves, our colleagues and neighbours from raids.
• Endorse and promote the Labour Campaign for Free Movement (the network of Labour and trade union activists fighting to defend and extend migrants’ rights), send it a donation of £___ (labourfreemovement.org/donate), and invite it to send us a speaker⁴.
• Via our union’s affiliation, pressure the Labour Party, and election candidates of all parties, to uphold and implement this policy.
• Send this policy to our union’s regional and national bodies.

Footnotes

1. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jun/17/soas-cleaners
2. https://www.labourfreemovement.org/border-policies-a-union-busting-weapon-for-tube-cleaners-bosses/
3. https://www.labourfreemovement.org/labour-conf-2019-landslide-policy/
4. LCFM is the campaign that successfully campaigned to pass the 2019 Labour policy, and organises labour movement action for migrant rights. More information available at labourfreemovement.org

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