Read to the end to find out why the Lionesses' uniform is changing colour, Hot Strike Spring dates, and how Spain took on precarious work, 

Morning team, 

As you have no doubt spotted, this government is becoming increasingly obsessed with tackling “illegal” immigration to Britain. We must “stop the boats”, cry Sunak and Braverman, introducing the Illegal Immigration Bill to parliament in a bid to curb people travelling across the Channel.

But what you might not know is that, right under our noses, the UK’s visa system continues to put some legal migrant workers at risk, making them vulnerable to exploitation and even human trafficking. 

Eleven years ago Theresa May changed the visa system for cleaners, nannies and carers brought to the UK from overseas by their employers as part of her hostile environment for migrant workers. It also made it harder for these overseas domestic workers to leave abusive employers, some of whom keep them locked in some of Britain’s wealthiest homes. I looked into how the rules can trap migrant workers in exploitative conditions, and the charity campaigning to undo May’s legacy. 

I was lucky enough to be among the speakers at an event hosted by the charity Kalayaan and Voice of Migrant Workers last night to mark 11 years of campaigning to restore visa rights for workers. Former victims of human trafficking described the need to set up a union for overseas domestic workers, with Unite's Diana Holland pledging to support the process.

Precarious workers, particularly migrants or workers on zero-hours or short term contracts, have in the past faced serious challenges in unionising, but with the wave of industrial action far for trailing off, could this be about to change?

Know someone who will love this newsletter? Share our sign-up article with your social networks. And why not check out Survival Guide, our newsletter on the cost of living crisis from my colleague Isabella McRae.

What you need to know about work this week:

Every cloud. The government will not raise the state pension age to 68 as planned because life expectancy hasn’t risen as predicted. Here’s the TUC turning making the news seriously 

Exhausted health workers. The 4 Day Week Campaign is calling for the NHS to trial a four-day week to address its problems. Professor John Ashton told the Big Issue over 12 months ago that if the NHS “doesn’t embrace a four-day working week, the labour shortages will become even worse”. 

A fair hearing. Hundreds of Google employees staged a protest outside the tech giant’s London HQ to protest alleged poor treatment and union busting in the redundancy process. Google’s parent company Alphabet plans to make 12,000 workers redundant globally.

Confidence boosting. Young people are still feeling the effects of the pandemic on their social skills and confidence, making it harder than ever for them to enter the workplace. Experts say there’s no replacement for real world work experience - could this project from Amazon and Barnardo’s make a difference?

In case you didn't know, Big issue Group is committed to changing lives for the better by giving people the best opportunity to help themselves. That's why we set up Big Issue Recruit, to find even more ways to offer vulnerable or marginalised people a route into work and end poverty for good.

Find out more on the Big Issue Recruit website.

Uniforms designed for women. As anyone who menstruates knows, white shorts or trousers are a no-go once a month. But it’s rare that employers factor gender differences into work uniforms, as anyone who has read the excellent Invisible Women will know, so it was a welcome sight to see the Football Association has listened to requests from the England women’s football team and switched the colour of Lionesses’ shorts from white to blue.

Taking our jobs. A new report from investment bank Goldman Sachs claims that artificial intelligence could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs. It’s not all bad though as it may also create a boom in new jobs and boost productivity. Crisis averted? 

How old? The minimum wage has gone up, but you’ll get a different rate depending on your age. The Scottish National Party is calling for equal minimum wage for workers of all ages, with the party's social justice spokesman, David Linden, saying the current system “penalises” young people for their age. 

An apology. The Guardian has apologised for the role the newspaper’s founders played in the transatlantic slave trade and and announced a “decade-long programme of restorative justice”. Could this prompt more British companies to acknowledge their roots, and therefore profits, in slavery?

Strike watch

Whoops! An NHS Trust has called a WhatsApp message warning doctors that they could be reported to Border Force if they participate in the upcoming junior doctors strike “a mistake”. The message said striking could mean foreign doctors may struggle to renew their visa, which is false. Alannah Francis at The i has the story.

Hot Strike Spring. Passport Office workers began their five-weeks of industrial action this week, and the Communication Workers Union is poised to announce more strike dates for posties working for Royal Mail.

Schools out. Children in England will miss two more days of school as National Education Union members vote to reject the government’s latest pay deal, announcing further days of strikes.

Here we go again. University students could see another six months of strike action, as members of the University and College Union vote to renew its mandate for industrial action.

A global solution 🇪🇸

For years, Spain has been the “the poster child for precarious work’ writes Sarah O’Connor in the FT. But last year the country’s leftwing government set out to “recover workers’ rights without hurting business”. New rules, devised in collaboration with trade unions and employers, sought to “put a stop to the use of back-to-back temporary contracts and make new permanent jobs the rule rather than the exception”. 

This great piece of analysis looks at how Spain took on the problem of precarious work to boost permanent employment for young people across the country. 

Working culture

I was recently treated by my Yorkshire born and bred Dad to a trip to the National Theatre to see the “love letter to Sheffield” that is Standing on the Sky’s Edge, directed by Robert Hastie. 

Set in the city’s iconic Park Hill housing estate, the play deftly weaves together the lives of three families who each live at different times in the same flat. Jumping between the 1960s optimism to Thatcher’s breaking of the unions, and forwards to Brexit and gentrification, it encapsulates going to work at different times in British history, and how that shapes almost every other aspect of our lives. There are a lot of in-jokes, but not too many to alienate any southerners in the audience. 

In the diary

Tuesday April 11. Junior doctors start four-day strike starting at 7am, ending at 7am on April 15.

Wednesday 26 April. Teachers in five education unions across Northern Ireland go on strike.

Thursday April 27. Teachers strike with the National Education Unions.

The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) Annual Conference: Shaping a fairer world of work.

Friday April 28. All out strike from over 130,000 civil servants and public servants with the PCS Union. 

It’s also International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD) to commemorate the people who have died while working, with a one minute silence held at 12.00. The TUC uses this day to draw attention to the need for proper health and safety at work. 

Tuesday May 2. Teachers strike with the National Education Union.

Animals with jobs 

This eager little husky just wants to run with the big kids. My heart! 🥺

Does your cat / dog/ garden fox/ animal you saw on holiday work participate in the daily grind? Nominate them today by sending me a photo of them hard at work! evie.breese@bigissue.com

This week's Big Issue magazine

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