INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS ALLIANCE CAMPAIGN FOR INTERNATIONAL WORKING WOMEN’S DAY, EARTH DAY, AND INTERNATIONAL LABOR DAY
BACKGROUND
With the new year, the global economy has entered into a phenomenon of “stagflation” where it is experiencing both growth stagnation and inflation. Not having fully recovered from the last global economic crisis of 2008, the crisis worsened even more under the COVID-19 pandemic leading to global growth of 3.2 percent in 2022 and 2.7 percent in 2023 and inflation in some countries continuing now for 40 years.1 The IMF has put the blame of stagflation on workers claiming that “wages could start feeding off each other, with wage and price inflation ratcheting up in a sustained wage-price spiral.”2
Meanwhile, the pandemic put migrant worker labor on the spotlight when border restrictions and general decline in migration led to major labor shortages in health care, agriculture, construction, transportation, and other essential sectors in many wealthy countries. Facing the worsening economic crisis and the pressure to continue increasing profits, governments have resorted to cracking down on unwanted migrants to control their labor supply, increasing temporary, contractual, and precarious migration pathways, and offloading the responsibility of ensuring the safety and well-being of migrants to private sector agencies that profess to practice “ethical recruitment.”
Stagflation, the pandemic, and neoliberal policies continue to push the globe into food shortages, environmental destruction, worsening the conditions of our climate to an emergency situation, and creating conflict that will push more people deeper into poverty, hunger and insecurity. The combination of these multiple crises has displaced and will continue to displace many people from their community and livelihood.
As a result, workers everywhere – especially temporary migrant workers – are faced with the prospects of even greater precarity, competition for jobs, wage erosion, less social protection and deteriorating working conditions all while the global economy spirals downwards. As the International Labor Day and International Working Women’s Day approaches, IMA vows to strengthen our ranks, expand our movement and unite with workers and the oppressed and exploited peoples of the world to confront these multiple crises and fight imperialism. We reaffirm our commitment to building a new system without forced migration and commodification of migrants. Our first campaign reinforces many of the unities that we as IMA members united upon in the General Program of Action approved during our 5th Global Assembly in 2022.
1International Monetary Fund. WORLD ECONOMIC OUTLOOK REPORT OCTOBER 2022. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2022/10/11/world-economic-outlook-october-2022 2Ibid.
OBJECTIVES
1) Ensure that members of IMA take campaigns in support of migrant workers, refugees, workers, and women at the national level through various forms of actions, propaganda, education, and mobilizations
2) Link and raise struggles on the ground to anti-imperialist campaigns against neoliberal policies, imperialist wars, climate imperialism, imperialist aggression and plunder to rally the broadest number of migrant workers and refugees and their organizations to oppose the neoliberal attacks on workers
3) Ensure workers solidarity on campaign, education and mobilisation to stave off the impacts of the crisis among the working people, and to demand accountability from the creators of the capitalist crisis
4) Develop capacity and cooperation of IMA members to respond to crisis situation of migrants and ensure that service provision is combined with active campaigns for rights protection and services.
5) Promote the involvement of migrants in addressing concerns in countries of origin that perpetuate underdevelopment and the forced migration of people.
6) Project the issues of women migrants through propaganda, education, direct action, and women’s rights mechanisms and instruments.
DEMANDS
1. Uphold labor rights: decent jobs creation, wage increases now, right to organize and freedom of association, and access to justice
2. Oppose deregulation of migration, overcharging and illegal collection by recruitment agencies, and profiteering of other businesses from migrants and the process of migration 3. End forced migration
4. Fight all forms of flexibilization of labor and trafficking (including “legal trafficking” of migrants such as the education pathway)
5. Tax the rich to fund social protection for all
6. End austerity measures, no to onerous debt payments
7. No to Labor Export Policy
8. Justice for disappeared migrants at the border.
9. Oppose criminalization of migration and detention of migrants.
GENERAL TASKS
I. Mass Mobilization
1. Conduct focused actions led by migrant workers and refugees on the following days. Other calls for action can be issued accordingly.
March 8 – International Working Women’s Day
March 22 – World Water Day
April 22 – Earth Day
May 1 – International Labour Day
2. Plan and conduct build up events before and after the focused action days including online education campaigns, forums, meetings, etc.
3. Promote mutual solidarity on calls/appeals for solidarity and actions among participating groups in the campaign
II. Education and Information
A. Raise the understanding of members on neoliberalism and its relation to migration. 1. Conduct study sessions on neoliberalism and migration. Adapt the study material created by IMA to particular situations, issues and languages.
2. Study and expose the effects of neoliberalism to seafarer and maritime industries. 3. Conduct webinars, hybrid seminars, or face-to-face conferences on Stagflation, Neoliberal economic policies, and the impact on the working people’s lives, with clear historical lens reaching back to the mid-1970s.
4. Continuously develop the study material through feedback from decentralized discussions. 5. Develop a pool of facilitators for the regular conduct of the discussion. 6. Facilitate sharing of educational materials related to neoliberalism and migration to the members of the alliance.
B. Utilize social media, online, and other technology as a platform for wider outreach 1. Develop the IMA website as a major platform for grassroots voice, promotion of campaigns and IMA’s work, and vehicle to reach expand membership and/or support organisations for the IMA.
2. Utilise social media for wider outreach. Release various types of materials – videos, posters, podcasts – on worker’s concerns
III. Alliance and Network Building
1. Coordinate campaign globally through communication with IMA Global Secretariat, IMA EC, and IMA ICB.
2. Within countries and global regions, coordinate campaign through the use of regional chapters or country chapters or by establishing working groups.
3. Reach out to and involve other organizations, alliances, platforms in campaigns, actions, build up events, etc, particularly anti-imperialist formations.
4. Reach out to and involve workers organisations, trade unions, and workers advocates.
IV. Organization
1. Expand the IMA. Recruit more organisations in more countries and among different sectors of displaced people, with a particular focus on Africa, Europe, Pacific, and South Asia.
2. Encourage the establishment of IMA chapters in countries or subregions with three or more member organisations to enable closer cooperation and systematic coordination. 3. Strengthen coordination with chapters. Create a mechanism for regular consultation of the EC and/or ICB with the chapters.
4. Pursue the establishment and operationalization of working groups as platforms for coordination based on themes and common campaigns. Establish working groups that correspond to the focus of the IMA.
PARTICULAR TASKS
1. IMA member organizations should discuss with their regional chapters, national chapters, or through the use of inter-member working groups on what their campaign strategy is, their timeline, objectives, and red-letter dates, using this document as a reference. IMA member organizations may generate their own campaign memo and all the information should be shared to IMA Global as soon as possible.
2. IMA member organizations should maximize propaganda and creative work by sharing them through social media and other share platforms, which can be facilitated by sharing to IMA Global and then IMA Global disseminating these among members and allies.
3. IMA member organizations should share their social media accounts to IMA Global to help facilitate the amplification of propaganda and creative works.
4. IMA member organizations should document their activities, events, statements, etc. through photos, videos, documents and share them to IMA Global to help with dissemination and documentation.
5. IMA member organizations should regularly update IMA Global either in EC or ICB meetings or through updates to the Secretariat including consultations on any issues that the member organizations, regional or country chapters, or established working groups may have encountered.
6. IMA member organizations should actively vet and seek information and solidarity with organizations whom they work with in the campaign to invite them to become members, supporters, or allies of IMA.
TIMELINE – the timeline and red-letter dates will be updated as members plan and report on their activities
January – Finalization of campaign concept; meeting of core campaign convenors
February to April – Education and information campaigns; conduct seminars, discussions, and conferences; release primers and other materials
Red Letter Dates and Build Up Activities:
1) Arise Women Now – Global Online Rally (March)
2) Webinar on Crisis and Working Women (March)
3) International Working Women’s Day (March 8)
4) World Water Day (March 22)
5) Earth Day (April 22)
6) International Labor Day (May 1)