Unison has praised the role of migrant workers in
Britain’s public services and urged the Government to change attitudes that “criminalise” them.

Unison said thousands of care workers, kitchen assistants, meat handlers, cleaners, nurses and classroom assistants were migrants.

General secretary and CoVE Commissioner Dave Prentis said: “It’s about time that many of the opinion formers woke up to the fact that migrant workers play a vital role in the very fabric of our public services and we should be more supportive and proud of their contribution.”

“The fact is that many local services would crumble without such staff and this country has only been able to expand its public services so quickly and efficiently thanks to migrant workers.”

Unison said government figures showed that 38% of all doctors working in hospitals in England qualified outside of Britain, 40% of new dentists were born abroad, 16% of nurses come from ethnic minority backgrounds,
58% of new doctors in the NHS were born overseas and 25% of British medics have their roots in the Indian sub-continent.

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