Successful Migrant Workers event ensures the struggle for Migrant Workers rights will continue

Our thanks to everyone who participated in our Migrant Workers event in Dublin at the weekend, especially to those who travelled from outside the city.

On the 13th of June, The Teachers Club on Dublin’s Parnell Square hosted a discussion on Migration and Workplace Organising, led by the Pan African Workers Association (PAWA), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) along side members of the African Centre Ireland.

PAWA is a support network established by and for African workers in Britain aimed at improving working conditions and organising possibilities. PAWA was formed in 2022 in reaction to the widespread exploitation that African workers had noticed in their industries and how this discrimination seemed to coalesce around newer migrants specifically.

PAWA members also hold membership of the IWW and in collaboration with the IWW, PAWA aims to educate people about the importance of joining unions as well as educating people about their employment and visa rights.

The event was the continuation of a series of talks that had been held earlier in the year in both Belfast and Derry, with hopes to bring the PAWA model to Ireland.

IWW Ireland Secretary, opened the event by welcoming all to the room and giving a brief introduction to the panel speakers and background to the event.

PAWA Executive Committee Member, who presented online, began by discussing his own experiences as a migrant worker and how PAWA gave him a genuine sense of solidarity and proved the adage that there is strength in numbers true.

PAWA Media Officer, followed this by highlighting the importance of unions as a preventative to feeling silenced or isolated as well as his own experiences of discrimination and exploitation.

IWW Caseworker, gave some background of the IWW to participants, the grass roots nature of the IWW as well as highlighting recent union victories.

Finally, Chairperson of the Africa Centre, spoke on the vulnerability of migrant workers and how fear that is used by employers to immobilise workers and remove their power but that this power can be taken back, through collective action and struggle.

The floor was opened for questions and a lively and engaging discussion ensued where people brought their own concerns and experiences to the floor, as well as ideas for follow up events and organising. It was an invigorating experience that highlighting the continuing need for spaces for migrant workers to discuss issues specific to their experience as workers and the need for organising locally.

For more information on how you can get involved and unionise, email: pawa@iww.org.uk