Travellers made their way to Parliament Square on Wednesday, June 10 from locations spanning the country.

Dozens of social care employees, predominantly Black African, gathered despite intermittent rain, with numerous repeating the refrain from a hundred-year-old American labour movement song about solidarity and the strength found in union membership.

These care staff, many of whom entered Britain via a specific visa programme established during the Covid pandemic, have been actively campaigning among parliamentarians in recent months through UNISON’s – their union’s – Fair Visa Campaign.

This month’s activities comprised a parliamentary lobby, submitting a petition at 10 Downing Street, and a remembrance gathering outside the Home Office, before culminating in a gathering at Parliament Square where addresses were delivered by care staff, Labour parliamentarian Angela Rayner, and UNISON’s leader Andrea Egan.

The predominantly privatised care industry continues to grapple with acute staffing challenges, with approximately 110,000 positions remaining vacant primarily because of wages that have long been inadequate for work that proves exhausting both physically and emotionally.

The current visa arrangement, together with Government plans to lengthen the timeframe required before eligibility for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), risks making matters considerably more acute.

Currently, the minimum residence requirement stands at five years, however the Home Secretary has proposed raising this to a minimum of 15.

Under the present programme initiated during Boris Johnson’s tenure, care staff find themselves bound to one employer acting as their sponsor.

One contributor at the Parliament Square gathering described the circumstances as essentially equivalent to forced labour, with employees vulnerable to unfair treatment and potential removal from the country should they exercise their legitimate workplace entitlements.

Although the visa ought to permit access to the NHS, care staff qualify for no additional welfare support despite contributing income tax and National Insurance.

The requests from these staff appear to me to be extraordinarily reasonable: permit visa holders to work throughout the industry, maintain current ILR criteria, and establish authentic negotiation rights in social care.

Following the June 10 gathering, UNISON’s recently appointed leader Andrea Egan informed attendees at the union’s local government conference that the occasion had been deeply moving and emotionally touching.

I find it difficult to take issue with that assessment.

And what a striking juxtaposition that exuberant exhibition of unity presented, mere hours after coordinated racist attacks had forced migrant healthcare staff to flee their accommodation in Belfast.

George Binette served previously as Hackney North & Stoke Newington Labour Party Trade Union representative.