By co-founder Valentine Guruuswa

During the summer of 2022, a cousin of mine, who had recently relocated from Zimbabwe to the UK to work as a caregiver, shared something with me that deeply resonated. She mentioned that despite starting her workday at 7 am and returning home after 10 pm, she was only being compensated for 8 hours of work. 

This didn’t sound right nor fair to me!

So I decided to do some independent digging up of the facts. I soon learnt that this was widespread in the UK social care sector. Care workers are only paid for client contact time. Travel between clients is not compensated for. It soon became clear to me that many Zimbabweans who were coming to the UK to work as carers were being subjected to super-exploitation. I decided to contact a couple of Zimbabwean labour activists to talk about the situation and what could be done. It turned out that many of them had been approached by people seeking help. It was from my conversations with Zimbabwean labour activists that the idea of a Whats App group dawned on me. I designed a flyer and circulated it amongst my friends  inviting them to join me in a Whats App group of Zimbabwean Care Workers in UK. 

The response was overwhelming! 

We started the group in November 2022.  We have since surpassed 1000 participants. I think the group has been very effective in encouraging people to join trade unions. However, there are limitations to what can be done on Whats App. Just as I was starting to think the initiative had lost momentum, I stumbled upon an Organise Now advert. I immediately filled a form and was contacted by an activist, Matt. Organise Now then helped me arrange an online meeting between our Whats App group members and the IWGB.

The online meeting was a huge success!

After the online meeting we thought we could arrange a training workshop This culminated in the first ever face to face event which was held in Birmingham on the 25^th March 2023. When I started the Whats App group I never imagined I would be able to bring a bunch of people in one room to talk about worker rights and organising. Many thanks to Organise Now for helping both materially and in kind. 

The face-to-face meeting was amazing!

I think there is huge potential for educating and organising not only Zimbabwean care workers but African migrant care workers in the UK. With many people coming to the UK to work as carers, the labour movement must make sure that it has mechanisms to incorporate everyone into the working class movement. 

Further events

Since the meeting in Birmingham we have organised as part of the IWW to put on social events across the UK including in London and Bristol where we have growing memberships. We are currently working on hosting regular cafes where members can meet, socialise, bring children, learn their rights and invite other workers along, as well as hotline for members to get advice on their rights at work.

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