Migrant workers and their supporters are planning a day of action to highlight their role in the UK in what is being billed as a celebration of the contribution they make to British society.
Plans for the event, called One Day Without Us, include a labour boycott to show how important migrants are to the UK workforce.
Organiser Matt Carr, a writer and commentator, has urged migrants and their supporters to join in the day of action on 20 February 2017. He said the trigger for the event was profound concern about worsening attitudes to migrants in the UK.
Carr said he believed that those who voted against Brexit, and also many of those who voted in favour of it, were alarmed at the levels of racism and xenophobia that had manifested before and after the referendum vote.
“We want to make this an inclusive event,’’ Carr said. “We realise that because of the legal constraints on striking, many workers will not be able to take formal strike action. However, they can choose to support this event simply by taking the day off work.”
He said he was surprised how quickly the event had gathered momentum. Despite discussions taking place in a closed Facebook group over a few days, Carr said there were now about 6,000 people involved in the conversation about A Day Without Us.
The aim of the day of action is to emphasise the variety of work migrants undertake to help keep the UK afloat – from NHS doctors to those who staff the hospitality sector. The organisers say a day without migrant labour will demonstrate how much the economy would struggle without their contribution.
The day of action, scheduled to coincide with the UN’s World Day of Social Justice, is based on similar events in the US in 2006 and in Italy in 2010.
Carr plans to approach religious and community organisations as well as political parties and trade unions to support the idea and to ensure it takes place across the country and is rooted in local communities.
Carr said he was hopeful that employers who relied on migrant labour would support the strike and shut their businesses for the day. “Since Brexit we have seen levels of xenophobia and racism that have been increasingly legitimised. We want to make a bold and powerful statement and give migrants an opportunity to express themselves,” he said.
