Amanda Walters

Fellow’s Profile

Amanda Walters

Fellow’s Profile

Amanda Walters

How to build a powerful movement of low-wage migrant workers

Fellowship

Themes

Focus

Organising migrant communities to support worker rights's through participation

Countries

Fellowship year

2018

Supported by

Locality

Yorkshire and The Humber

Biography

I am the Director of the Centre for Progressive Change, an organisation aimed at building national organising campaigns.

The main topic of my Fellowship was how to build a powerful movement of low-wage migrant workers. I was interested in this topic because I have been organising and campaigning for the rights of migrant cleaners since 2014. As a Latinx migrant myself, I care about this issue. Many migrants come to the UK looking for a better life and end up in low-paid work with terrible working conditions. For my Fellowship, I looked to learn from organisations in the USA and Brazil about how we can build a powerful movement of low-paid migrant workers so that together we can improve the working conditions of these key workers in the UK.

Since my Fellowship, I have taken what I learnt and have built my own organisation looking at how we can build effective national organising campaigns. The first campaign is called Cleaners United, where we bring together trade unions and community organisations to campaign to improve the working conditions of cleaners nationally.

Activity

editorial

April 2023 Fellow's update: Amanda Walters

Amanda Walters (CF 2018) has achieved extensive media coverage for her Activate funded campaign on better sick pay for migrant workers. One of these workers featured anonymously in The Metro paper describing the issues they encounter in not receiving adequate sick pay. Priti Patel and Robert Buckland wrote a joint op-ed supporting the campaign in The Times, which then rolled out into other outlets including the Daily Express, Daily Mail, The Independent and Sky News, getting widespread coverage. Amanda and colleagues also worked with Chartered Institute for Payroll and Pension (CIPP) professionals to release a poll showing their employers support reforms to sick pay. Read the story here.

By Amanda Walters, 2023

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

Activity

editorial

April 2023 Fellow's update: Amanda Walters

Amanda Walters (CF 2018) has achieved extensive media coverage for her Activate funded campaign on better sick pay for migrant workers. One of these workers featured anonymously in The Metro paper describing the issues they encounter in not receiving adequate sick pay. Priti Patel and Robert Buckland wrote a joint op-ed supporting the campaign in The Times, which then rolled out into other outlets including the Daily Express, Daily Mail, The Independent and Sky News, getting widespread coverage. Amanda and colleagues also worked with Chartered Institute for Payroll and Pension (CIPP) professionals to release a poll showing their employers support reforms to sick pay. Read the story here.

By Amanda Walters, 2023

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

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