A Message to All Migrant workers on Merseyside

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union and welcomes all workers. In this country, we have members from many different parts of the world. We work together with those members, no matter where they were born.

The IWW believes that the working class has no country and that we are stronger when we fight together against the capitalist system. Capitalism exploits our work, skills and time. Capitalism causes endless wars over oil, water, land and markets. Capitalism degrades and pollutes our planet. We share a common interest in combating it, and uniting across all borders.

The EU does not, and never could, represent the kind of internationalism the IWW believes in. The freedom of movement the EU claims to promote is driven by the interests of big business; a hunger for cheap labour and an avoidance of investment in education and training. The proper, progressive and constructive response to the zero-hours, low-waged, neo-liberal economy it has promoted is stronger worker organisation, NOT restrictions on the freedom of workers to move across borders.

These are frightening and deeply unsettling times for migrant workers in this country, and Liverpool IWW wants to reach out and express our solidarity with you. We want to welcome you in to our union as our ‘fellow workers’ and to restate the following:

The IWW belongs to you too. It is truly a union for ALL workers, regardless of the work you do. Whatever the politicians eventually decide, we will stand by you and defend your rights to settle, live and work alongside us as equal members of our community. We invite you to join with us and to fight for our internationalist vision, which celebrates our humanity and common interests as working class people. We struggle for a world in which the needs of all are held in equal regard, and the division between a class that owns and a class that works is banished from the face of a globe with no borders.

If you would like to join us, or get in touch, email liverpool [at] iww [dot] org [dot] uk. You can also find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolIWW), and Twitter (@liverpool_iww).