The politics of claims‐making by labour migrants in Israel

Abstract

This article studies the effects of the Israeli migration regime on the prospects for the emergence of a politics of claims‐making by labour migrants, comparing the structures of constraints and opportunities to establish organisational frameworks faced by documented contract workers and undocumented spontaneous migrant workers. In spite of the exclusionary character of this migration regime, some groups of migrant workers have succeeded in establishing associations that attempt to place demands on the public agenda. Paradoxically, these organisations were established by the migrant workers that hold the most insecure and vulnerable status in the country: the undocumented spontaneous migrants. The paradox is explained by the differences between the institutional arrangements that shape the incorporation of documented and undocumented migrants. While the control mechanisms exercised both by state agencies and the employers upon the documented migrant workers impede their collective organisation and articulation of demands, the relative ‘autonomy’ enjoyed by the undocumented migrants allows them to establish associations that function as vehicles for claims‐making. The article further analyses the strategies employed by these migrant organisations to gain access to Israeli state agencies and public opinion. It is shown how these strategies as well as the content and the discursive framing of the demands are affected by the exclusionary principles of the Israeli migration regime.