Following the November 12 “For social justice, regularization!” mobilization, which gathered several thousand, the “Undocumented Persons” Coordination, the CIRé, and the union front CSC-FGTB were received Monday morning by the cabinet of Employment Minister Kris Peeters. The delegation included two CSD union representatives, two from FGTB, the CIRé Director, and four members of the Undocumented Persons’ Coordination. It pleaded in favor of a policy ensuring that the undocumented persons who are exploited enjoy rights, and the establishment of a mechanism sanctioning efficiently abusive employers.
“If an undocumented worker files a complaint against his employer today, he risks being deported,” head of national migrants CSC Luan Abedinai observes. “The European directive “Sanctions” proposes that State Members bestow a temporary resident card to workers who file a complaint, so that they might participate in the investigation.”
The delegation also brought attention to the current mass of undocumented workers, including in public works, and insisted then on the importance of deploying a new migration policy with relation to employment.
The Undocumented Females Committee considers that the regularization of women working as home helpers would bring a yearly 54 billion Euros into the Social Security fund.
“Before bringing new foreign workers into the country to cover skill shortages, we should offer jobs to the undocumented,” Luan Abedinai comments.
The delegation requested from the Cabinet a consultation between Secretaries of State Theo Francken, Asylum Policy and Migration, Philippe De Backer, Fight Against Social Fraud, and Zuhal Demir, Combatting Poverty and for Equal Ppportunities. At the unions’ initiative, a meeting is planned at the CIRé with various political parties on the question of the regularization of undocumented workers.
The Brussels Times
