A new network seeks to encourage Black and immigrant workers to join trade unions

In June, Jessie Ola-Morris heard about a meeting organised by a labour rights group for Black workers. 

It was going to be held at the Teachers’ Club on Parnell Square.  She decided to go.

“I just thought, I’m African, so if there is an organisation that upholds the rights of African migrant community, why not?” she says.

Ola-Morris is a student for now. But she is starting her job search soon, she said. “I thought this would prepare me before I got into the job market.”

The meeting was arranged by Pan-African Workers Association (PAWA), a Black and immigrant scion of the labour union Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

PAWA took root in the United Kingdom, in the summer of 2022.

It was prompted by the experiences of Valentine Guruuswa – PAWA’s co-founder – or, more specifically, the experiences of his cousin, who had just moved to the country from Zimbabwe and took a job as a caregiver, Guruuswa wrote later.

It started with a WhatsApp group, before evolving into a training programme with seasoned union reps, and setting up as a wing of the IWW, reaching and encouraging marginalised workers – people trade unions struggled to reach – to take up membership.

This year, PAWA is expanding into Ireland, drawing members here and nudging them to join a labour union and press for their rights. 

It's a timely arrival, not least because of long-standing concerns around how Ireland's current work-permit regime can tether immigrant workers to their employers, who they may also depend upon for their homes, making it much harder for them to speak out in the face of any exploitation.

Enabling advocates

A majority of immigrants on employment permits said they had faced exploitation under the current work permit regime, according to a recent survey of over 1,000 work permit holders by the Migrant Rights’ Centre Ireland (MRCI).

Of those who responded, “71% of people experienced exploitation. 61% people experienced severe exploitation”, said a report from MRCI. 

A little over half of those people “did not report it”, the report said.

“Only 9% of those who reported had it resolved positively, 61% saying it was not resolved and 19% saying it resulted in significant negative consequences,” according to the report. 

One participant told MRCI: “My employer is always telling that our accommodation is temporary anytime he can tell us to leave in our mobile home”.

Said another: “Was told that in this country even if you bath everyday, you can never be as clean as people from Europe and neither will what you do at work, and that was by a supervisor”. 

Lykelady Chiriseri, PAWA UK’s treasurer and a careworker herself, said the fear of speaking up and losing their jobs and so immigration status can be overpowering for lots of workers. She’s felt it herself, she said.

“We were so afraid to speak up because whatever you say, you are told that ‘you are on a sponsorship’ that word was always thrown around,” Chiriseri said.

Said one worker in response to the MRCI survey: “Employer constantly threatened to cancel the work permit. Manager threat[ened to] cancel my work permit if I don’t do what they want.”

There is a need for groups like PAWA to fill the gaps in trade unions’ relationship with immigrant and ethnic minority workers and reach out to them on their behalf, said Chiriseri.

David Carroll, anti-racism and trade union coordinator at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), said something similar.

That’s why ICTU is also working to get an ethnic minority and immigrant peer group off the ground, Carroll said.

“Migrant workers need to be made aware that trade unions exist and can help them in their employment issues,” he said.

He pointed to the MRCI survey charting the map of what workers face within the work permit system which underscores the need for groups like PAWA and others, said Carroll. “Unfortunately the issues are obviously prevalent,” he said.

Here together 

What triggered Valentine Guruuswa’s co-founding of PAWA in the United Kingdom was when his cousin spoke about her working hours.

She mentioned something about starting work at 7am and not clocking out before 10pm, but “being compensated for eight hours of work”, he wrote in his account of the group's origins.

Guruuswa got fired up. “This didn’t sound right nor fair to me!” he wrote. He set up a WhatsApp group to connect Zimbabwean care workers in the United Kingdom to compare notes on working conditions and offer support.

“When people came [to the UK], they didn’t know what they were coming into,” said Chiriseri, PAWA UK’s treasurer, recently.

Over time, more than 1,000 people joined the WhatsApp group. “I think the group has been very effective in encouraging people to join trade unions,” wrote Guruuswa.

While thinking about the bounds of a WhatsApp group, Guruuswa stumbled upon a promo video for Organise Now – a UK group connecting workers to seasoned union reps.

That led to a training workshop held in March 2023 in Birmingham where people from the group congregated to chat in real life. They nailed down a plan. 

These days, the work of PAWA also involves running an  “Activist Development Programme (ADP)” which launched in 2024, said Chiriseri.

Every year, six people are plucked to take part. They're educated and empowered to take on leadership roles in the movement.

One of the programme's graduates moved to Ireland, which inspired the Irish PAWA, Chiriseri said. “That’s how we said, ‘Okay, now that you’re in Ireland, sow the seed of PAWA.’”

They reached out to the Irish branch of IWW, saying there are activists and energy for getting an Irish PAWA off the ground, she said.

Africa Centre Ireland got involved to help, too. Its members spoke at a meeting held at the Teachers Club over the summer. 

Building a “legacy of Pan-African solidarity” is at the heart of the centre’s mission, said Lassane Ouedraogo, its chairperson.

“PAWA stands for unity, inclusion, and collective progress because when one worker rises, the entire community rises with them,” he said.

Chiriseri, PAWA UK’s treasurer, said PAWA’s doors are open to all immigrant workers, not just those who are Black.

“People were actually thinking it’s time we change our names because PAWA is limiting us whereas we should be a migrant workers association,” she said.

Ola-Morris, the student who had attended PAWA’s meeting in Dublin, is now a member. She has also completed PAWA’s development programme training in Leeds, she said.

In the latest edition of The Pan-African Worker – PAWA’s newsletter – appears an article by Ola-Morris.

“Filtered out before the interview. When immigration status becomes a barrier to work,” read its headline.

It shares vignettes of her new job-search journey. How her application was automatically closed out as soon as she put in her student immigration status.

“This is why fair recruitment is a workers’ rights issue. Employers should review automated screening systems and ensure visa questions identify genuine legal requirements rather than becoming unnecessary barriers,” she wrote. 

Interested in inquiring about PAWA or planning to join? Contact ireland@iww.org.uk.