22 June 2023 10:30am–2:00pm
Southampton City Council Main Car Par / Main Reception Foyer Area, Southampton City Council, Civic Centre Southampton, SO14 7YL
To celebrate the Year of the Black Worker, UNISON Southampton District Branch will use this momentous day to host the Windrush 75th Anniversary of the arrival of British Caribbean communities. The Branch will acknowledge the sacrifices and contributions the Windrush generation, and their descendants have made to British society.
Southampton District Branch Secretary Mark Roberts, along with Orpah Moyce and Larry Kazingizi branch Black Members’ Officers hope you will come along and support this very important day with us.
Timetable
10.45: Music by Saxophonist Toby Orpah Moyce / Larry Kazingizi, Black Members’ Officer, UNISON Southampton District Branch
11.00: Flying of Windrush Flag / Lord Mayor / Councillor Valerie Laurent
11.15: Video Stories from the Windrush Generation / Christolina Mungu, Southampton / Gordon Ben, Southampton / Vilma Scott, Southampton
11. 45: Message from Branch Secretary Mark Roberts
12.00: Brief Overview of Southampton / Sheriff of Southampton / Councillor David Shields (TBC)
12.15: Lunch
13.00: Video stories from the Windrush Generation / Christolina Mungu, Southampton / Gordon Ben, Southampton / Vilma Scott, Southampton
14.00: Close
Background
On 22 June 1948, 1027 Caribbean migrants arrived in the UK on the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in Essex, their first stop before travelling towards London. The journey took around 22 days.
Many people from British Commonwealth countries travelled to the UK between 1948 and 1971, this was encouraged by the British Nationality Act (1948), that granted them citizenship of their right of abode to all members of the British Empire.
On arrival in the UK many of these migrants were greeted with a lot of attention. However, this later led to racism where they experienced ignorance and hostility from those living in England, who viewed the migrants as unwelcome threats to the stability of the UK.
This historic moment has come to stand for the huge contribution that post- war immigrants made to the UK. It has always had a special meaning for UNISON as a union.
Workers from the Commonwealth not only helped build public services, they fought back against racism and, as they did so, they transformed our trade union movement too. It’s one of the reasons why equality and a public service ethos that serves all communities is at the heart of everything UNISON does. They are a part of the history of our union.
Windrush Day should be a day of celebration. Instead, the Windrush generation are still fighting for justice.
What happened to those caught up in the Windrush scandal was an outrage. Demeaning letters were sent out from the Home Office telling people who’d lived in the UK all their adult lives to leave. It was shabby, shameful treatment from a country that had taken the best years of their lives and relies on the public services they helped build.
They were entitled to gratitude and a peaceful life. Instead, many lost their homes, families, health and even their lives. The head of the Independent Review, Wendy Williams, identified “a culture of disbelief and carelessness…. made worse by the status of the Windrush generation, who were failed when they needed help most”.
The compensation scheme should have been a way of delivering justice, making restitution and rebuilding trust. Instead, it placed victims under scrutiny, made heavy evidentiary demands, treated their claims with scepticism and placed their applications and their lives in limbo.
This is why UNISON called in December last year for the responsibility for administering the Windrush compensation scheme to be moved away from the Home Office.
This is why we are supporting the campaign to make the compensation scheme easier to navigate and for all those affected to be given a real apology.
And what’s more, UNISON stands against the ‘hostile environment’. We are public service defenders, not immigration border guards. Nor will we stand by as the government turns migrant workers into second class citizens – we will defend them as workers and equal citizens in this country, a true and fitting tribute to mark Windrush Day.
As the Windrush generation continues to fight for justice and against racism, UNISON will support them every step of the way.
