Tomás Ó Flatharta

Here is very interesting news from London.

Source :
Jim Denham, Shiraz Socialist – Tube Workers Against Deportations

Posted in Tubeworker’s blog on 22 August 2025

RMT has called a demonstration at the Home Office on 4 September to demand justice for TfL and LUL workers threatened with deportation due to visa sponsorship revocation.

The demonstration takes place from 08:00 at 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.

Background on the issue

Posted in Tubeworker’s blog on 5 August 2025:

A number of London Underground workers are facing possible deportation, after changes to visa-sponsorship rules moved their roles into a different category.

Transport for London previously sponsored visas for workers in roles such as CSA2, but these roles no longer meet the benchmark for visa sponsorship as they are assessed as “medium-skilled”. The government’s Migration Advisory Committee has to issue a specific exemption to allow employers to continue sponsoring visas for these workers.

This means workers who were employed with sponsorship could find themselves not only out of a job, but facing the prospect of having the leave the country. As their right to remain in the country is tied to visa sponsorship, having their sponsorship revoked means they could be at risk of deportation.

The London Underground workforce has always include a significant migrant contingent. From 1956, the company ran recruitment drives in several Caribbean countries, resulting in the hiring of 6,000 workers. Outsourced cleaners, caterers, security guards, and track protection workers are overwhelmingly from migrant backgrounds. Immigration status has been used by cleaning contractors in the past to undermine union organisation.

RMT is organising a campaign to defend the rights of the workers now facing the revocation of their visa sponsorship. That must include industrial action if necessary, as well as political campaigning. If TfL colludes in allowing them to be booted out of their jobs and out of the country, it will make a mockery of the company’s professed commitment to anti-racism and equality.

Posted in Tubeworker’s blog on 6 August 2025:

Image source here.

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In the corridors of power, corporations and public bodies often speak a language of progress and inclusivity. We see this every June with rainbow-wrapped tube roundels and in annual celebrations of Windrush Day. But for those of us who keep London moving, the contrast between these public displays and the day-to-day realities can feel jarring. It’s a tale of corporate hypocrisy, where a carefully curated public image masks a troubling internal truth.

Take the case of the Windrush generation, so (rightly) revered that an entire railway line in London is named to honour them. This group, named after the ship that brought the first large wave of Caribbean migrants to the UK in 1948, answered Britain’s call to rebuild the country after the war. Many found work in public transport, becoming the backbone of the services we still rely on today. Transport for London (TfL), among other institutions, now celebrates their contributions with monuments, exhibitions, and official recognition on Windrush Day. Yet, recent news stories expose a shocking contradiction.

A recent Standard report, prompted by RMT campaigning, highlights that dozens of current London Underground staff, many of whom have lived in the UK for years, now face the threat of job loss and deportation.

A change in government immigration policy has raised the salary threshold for skilled worker visas and removed roles like “station assistant” from the eligible list. These are the same kinds of roles that the Windrush generation filled, yet the modern-day workers are being treated as disposable. The corporate celebration of the past seems to come at the expense of protecting the workers of the present.

A similar hypocrisy can be seen in TfL’s approach to the LGBTQ+ community. Every year, TfL participates enthusiastically in Pride, with branded buses and public messaging that champions diversity. Its internal “OUTbound” network supports LGBTQ+ employees, and its policies are meant, rightly, to foster an inclusive workplace.

However, this stance is thrown into sharp relief by a recent UK Supreme Court ruling. The court decided that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex assigned at birth. Some have seized on this ruling to push for the exclusion of transgender women from single-sex spaces and services. If this was adopted on TfL, it would affect both trans staff and customers.

Essentially it means denying the truth that trans women are women, a position Tubeworker is clear on.

As a public body, TfL must abide by the law. This puts it in the untenable position of publicly celebrating trans rights at Pride while potentially having to implement policies that legally undermine the very people it claims to support.

The common thread in both stories is that an employer rarely undertakes genuine acts of solidarity but rather corporate branding exercises, in line with current laws and popular views, designed to generate positive press and goodwill.

As workers, we must look beyond the official parades and press releases to the real policies that impact our colleagues. We must hold institutions like TfL accountable not just for the histories they celebrate, but for the rights and livelihoods of the diverse people who are here today, working to keep London’s public transport running.

The way we do this is through socialist politics and on the picket lines. Not rubbing shoulders with directors and dignitaries at corporate events. Right now, this means demanding that TfL and the Mayor lobby the government to change the law, or, as a minimum, issue an exemption, to allow those workers threatened with visa revocation to remain in the country. And it means demanding TfL commits to maintaining trans-inclusive policies.

Thanks to
Jim Denham, Shiraz Socialist – Tube Workers Against Deportations