‘While Strictly Speaking It Is Illegal, You Can Work as Long as You Want’: How Platform Facades Enable Gig Workers to Comply With, Bend and Break Migration Rules

The systemized exploitation of temporary migrant agricultural workers in Canada: Exacerbation of health vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and recommendations for the future

This paper uses narrative analysis to explore how Alberta government Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) “constructed” migrant work and migrant workers in legislature and media statements between 2000 and 2011. Government MLAs asserted that migrant work (1) was economically necessary and (2) posed no threat to Canadian workers. Government MLAs also asserted that international migrant workers (3) had questionable occupational, linguistic or cultural skills and (4) caused negative social and economic impacts in Canada. Taken individually, these narratives appear contradictory, casting migrant work as good but migrant workers as bad. Viewed together, these narratives comprise an effort to dehumanize temporary and permanent international migrant workers. This (sometimes racialized) “othering” of migrant workers justifies migrant workers’ partial citizenship and suppresses criticism of their poor treatment. Cet article utilise l’analyse narrative pour explorer comment les membres du gouvernement de l’Assemblée législative de l’Alberta (députés) ont « construit » le travail des migrants et des travailleurs migrants avec leur déclarations dans la législature et les médias entre 2000 et 2011. Les députés du gouvernement ont affirmé que le travail migrant (1) était nécessaire économiquement et (2) ne représentait aucune menace pour les travailleurs canadiens. Les députés du gouvernement ont également affirmé que les travailleurs migrants internationaux (3) avaient des compétences professionnelles, linguistiques ou culturelles douteuse et (4) avaient des impacts négatifs sociaux et économiques au Canada. Pris individuellement, ces récits semblent contradictoires, décrivant le travail migrant comme bon, mais les travailleurs migrants comme mauvais. Prises ensemble, ces récits constituent un effort pour déshumaniser les travailleurs migrants internationaux temporaires et permanents. Cette « altérisation » (parfois racialisé) des travailleurs migrants justifie la citoyenneté partielle des travailleurs migrants et supprime la critique de leur mauvais traitement.

According to the latest data, the construction sector is one of the second largest employment generation sectors with 71 million workers’ force and Indian construction workers are listed under the unorganized sector. The Ministry of Labor and Employment launched the e-sharam portal for unorganized sector workers which helps them to get awareness about the social security schemes. It is the first database in India that covers migrant workers, gig workers, construction workers, and migrant workers. However, it is crucial to study the status of social security among migrant construction workers. The main intention of this paper is to understand the status of social security among migrant construction workers in India. The present paper focuses on the latest literature related to social security especially related to migrant workers. The methodology adopted by the researcher is the secondary data. The finding of the study reveals that workers will only know information about social security through the welfare boards, workers who work on sites, and eighty percent of workers are not conscious about social security privileges. Meanwhile, the socioeconomic condition of workers was poor and factors like education level, and monthly income were very poor, the average monthly income was less than five thousand rupees per month. A few prominent studies were conducted on comparative studies comparing their economic status before and after their migration and it was found that the economic condition has improved when they have migrated from their place to some other place for livelihood. Keywords- Social security, Migrant construction workers, Unorganised sector, Socio-economic conditions.

PurposeThe demand for construction-related occupations has increased consistently over many years in New Zealand (NZ). This has necessitated recourse to migrant workers to address capacity and capability requirements. Migrant construction workers hail from various backgrounds with a complex set of their needs being met through employment in NZ. Research on understanding the satisfaction levels of this category of construction workers is scarce. With recent insinuations about migrant exploitations, research investigations into this knowledge area are significant. In this study, the authors sought to establish the moderating effect of migrants' demography on the determinants of job satisfaction in NZ's construction sector.Design/methodology/approachData were obtained from migrant construction workers of Chinese extraction through a structured questionnaire survey. From 200 questionnaires administered, 108 samples were completed by migrant construction workers involved in major projects in Auckland city, NZ. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to establish the moderating effects of their demography on job satisfaction.FindingsResults from this study support the internal validity and reliability of these personal characteristics as moderators of job satisfaction for migrant construction workers. These results suggest the relevance of personal characteristics of Chinese migrants in any improvement initiatives being developed for this group of construction workers.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings from this study contribute to the discourse on the relevance of construction migrants as a strategic alternative to addressing skill shortages within the NZ construction sector. They also provide evidence that contributes to an improved understanding of the migrant workforce to meet their aspirations and enhance their general well-being.Originality/valueAlthough the study is ethnic-specific, the conclusions show the relevance of personal characteristics in the experiences of construction migrant workers. The study is representative of the catchment of temporary migrant workers in the construction industry in NZ. The study provides insights for organisations employing migrants about putting in place appropriate measures to enhance their satisfaction levels. Finally, this study's findings may contribute to policy initiatives on the optimal categories of migrants engaged on construction activities to derive the maximum benefits for NZ.

Platformised services allow affluent others to socially reproduce themselves while reinforcing the barriers to reproduction for migrant workers. Drawing on participant observation and interviews with male migrant food couriers attempting to make a living in Helsinki, the article examines how the social reproduction of migrant platform workers’ labour power is shaped in the interstices between food delivery platforms and bordering processes. Through the notion of life's work, the article analyses how the couriers construct their lives around gig work, highlighting their agency in handling their life, labour and legal status. The argument put forth is that migrant platform workers’ social reproduction is not merely barred but reshaped in the intersection between, on the one hand, being subjected to the labour platform and welfare state bordering and, on the other, the subjective efforts through which migrants manage their life-making practices, revealing a mutual but contentious interdependence between labour platforms and migrant workers. The article enhances current understanding of the structural factors impacting migrant workers beyond just the platform itself, around which struggles emerge and which enable the extractive operations of platform capital.

Introduction To date, migrant workers have generally been excluded from disease burden estimates. However, changing employment patterns, worldwide and in the European context, suggest occupational disease in these workers may become an increasingly important consideration. We have extended our attributable fraction (AF) methodology to provide estimates, theoretical at this stage, of the disease burden experienced by migrant workers in a country hosting large numbers of non-residents in this industry. Methods Proportions of migrant workers exposed were estimated using the data available, generally limited, on numbers of non-residents employed, plus estimates of staff and population turnover based on average contract lengths for non-resident workers and working time limits. Life expectancy was based on the host country’s resident rates rather than the local rates in migrants’ countries of origin. Where available, exposure-response relative risk estimates allowed for migrants’ shorter exposure durations. The host country’s underlying disease rates were applied to the migrant worker population estimates to give attributable disease numbers. Results Based on theoretical data for a country employing migrant workers in the construction industry, where between 1980 and 2015 migrant worker numbers were assumed to have increased more than ten-fold, we estimated that 13% of cancers attributable to working in construction were in migrant workers, a share projected to rise in the future as migrants who have ever been exposed in the host country age and increase in number with high turnover. In contrast, two-thirds of the estimated prevalent non-malignant respiratory diseases were in migrants. Conclusions We present a method to estimate occupational disease burden in migrant workers, a group who have been overlooked in the past due to temporary employment status and short residency. The method allows fair comparison to be made between the experience of work-related disease in migrant and resident workers.

BackgroundThe rate of international migration for the primary purpose of employment has increased exponentially in recent decades. A significant proportion of this global movement takes place across East and Southeast Asia as workers move on a temporary basis from lower-middle-income home countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to high-income host destinations including Hong Kong and Singapore. Relatively little is known about the unique and long-term health needs of this heterogeneous group of people. This systematic review presents an analysis of recent research into the experiences and perceptions of health of temporary migrant workers in the East and Southeast Asian regions.MethodsFive electronic databases CINAHL Complete (via EbscoHost), EMBASE (including Medline), PsycINFO (via ProQuest), PubMed and Web of Science, were systematically searched for qualitative or mixed methods, peer-reviewed literature published in print or online between January 2010 and December 2020. Quality of the studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research published by the Joanna Briggs Institute. Findings from the included articles were extracted and synthesised using qualitative thematic analysis.ResultsEight articles were included in the review. Findings from this review indicate that multiple dimensions of workers’ health is impacted by the processes of temporary migration. In addition, the research reviewed indicated that migrant workers used various strategies and mechanisms to attempt to address their health-related issues and to take better care of themselves. Such agentic practices could help them manage and maintain their health and wellbeing across physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions within the structural constraints of their employment.ConclusionsLimited published research has focused on the health perceptions and needs of temporary migrant workers in East and Southeast Asia. The studies included in this review focused on female migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines. These studies provide valuable insights but do not reflect the heterogeneity of migrants moving within these regions. The findings of this systematic review highlight that temporary migrant workers experience high and sustained levels of stress and are exposed to certain health risks which may compromise long-term health outcomes. These workers demonstrate knowledge and skills in managing their own health. This suggests that strength-based approaches to health promotion interventions may be effective in optimising their health over time. These findings are relevant to policy makers and non-government organisations supporting migrant workers.

Migrant workers – especially migrant women – form a critical component of care infrastructures and workforces around the world. However labour migration governance frameworks and protection regimes do not always effectively respond to labour market and employer needs, or sufficiently protect migrant care workers’ rights. This policy brief provides an overview of transformations shaping the growing global demand for care workers, the decent work and labour migration governance challenges which shape outcomes for migrant care workers, and provides recommended policy actions.

Migrant workers have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To examine their access to health services and social protection during the pandemic, we conducted an exploratory scoping review on experiences of migrant workers in three countries with comparable immigration, health, and welfare policies: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. After screening 961 peer-reviewed and grey literature sources, five studies were included. Using immigration status as a lens, we found that despite more inclusive policies in response to the pandemic, temporary migrant workers, especially migrant farm workers and international students, remained excluded from health services and social protection. Findings demonstrate that exploitative employment practices, precarity, and racism contribute to the continued exclusion of temporary migrant workers. The interplay between these factors, with structural racism at its core, reflect the colonial histories of these countries and their largely neoliberal approaches to immigration. To address this inequity, proactive action that recognizes and targets these structural determinants at play is essential.

The relationship between migrant workers’ migratory moves and their fertility is complex. The literature on international migration contains three main explanations of the relationship—the disruption hypothesis, the adaptation hypothesis, and the selectivity hypothesis. The research reported in the literature has so far focused on international migrants, many of whom have the prospect of becoming legal immigrants, while there is little research on the relation between migration and fertility for Southeast Asian labor migrants who are on employment contracts and cannot gain permanent residency. Of the three hypotheses, only the disruption hypothesis is relevant for temporary migrant workers, yet its findings have been mixed. This research note aims to fill in the gap by focusing on the disruption hypothesis in an examination of Filipina and Indonesian migrant domestic workers’ migration and fertility trajectories, using the 2017 survey of Filipina and Indonesian migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. The findings from the analysis suggest a disruptive effect of migration on fertility for the women in their earlier reproductive years from both Indonesia and the Philippines but not for the women in their later childbearing ages, thus shedding light on the divergent disruptive mechanism of migration on fertility.

Existing research on transnationalization of labor documents split labor markets between less-skilled (im)migrant workers and native workers in the host countries. But there is little research on how labor relations take shape when relatively skilled workers migrate from more developed countries to work temporarily in less-developed countries in the Global South. Based on ethnographic research on a Chinese state-sponsored construction project in Ecuador, this article explicates an understudied case. Although the temporary migrant Chinese workers come from a more developed country and hold higher status jobs, they are compensated at a lower rate and have fewer labor rights compared to their lower status Ecuadorian counterparts. By comparatively examining workers’ everyday interactions and boundary-making practices, this study develops a twofold argument. First, the development strategies and political interests of the home and host states interact to shape divergent recruitment processes and labor policies, which gives rise to disparate working conditions and labor rights between migrant and native workers. Second, the foreign migrant and native workers cope with labor disparities by invoking national stereotypes to draw social boundaries, which exacerbates their labor market splits. This analysis has theoretical implications for understanding labor relations under transnational state capitalism, workers’ strategies against labor control, and the future of labor solidarity in the Global South.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of belonging and wellbeing among temporary migrant agricultural workers (TMAWs) in a rural setting in the interior of British Columbia, Canada.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative narrative approach informed by participatory action research principles was employed. In total, 12 migrant workers participated in two to four one-on-one interviews and/or focus group conversations.FindingsThe analysis revealed an over-arching theme of Marginal Living encompassing stories of always on the outside, mechanisms of isolation and exclusion; struggling for the basics, realities of worrying about daily bare necessities; and “nothing but a worker’s,” experiences of being reduced only to one’s labor. These storied experiences each impacted workers’ wellbeing and typically limited their ability to feel a sense of belonging. Yet, workers exerted agency and resilience through storied experiences of “one family and for those who come next.” Their efforts contributed to building a sense of community through mutual support and advocacy.Originality/valueVery few studies have focused on the day-to-day experiences of this population and its influence on their sense of belonging and wellbeing. This study is also the first to examine this topic within this particular region (the rural BC interior). These findings can provide a starting point for improved program planning to address challenges faced by TMAWs in rural Western Canada. Further, they expand the understanding of concepts such as partial citizenship and structural exclusion as they apply in the day-to-day realities of migrant workers in rural BC.

This paper analyses the experiences of Venezuelan migrant workers in Colombia as Rappi couriers. Rappi is a “work-on-demand via app,” founded in 2015 in Colombia, that links clients with nearby restaurants and stores through a couriers’ network. Drawing on STS (Science and Technology Studies) scholarship on labor and infrastructures, we explore the ways in which migrant workers interact with Rappi algorithmic, material and legal infrastructures, the coercion and violence they experience, and the tactics and solidarities that they create to make a living. We understood migration as a domination relation within gig workers, an approach that allows us to identify specific exclusions that migrant couriers suffer in an already precarious local labor market. Methodologically, we have developed an Ethnography for the Internet conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic through three different sources and interaction layers: WhatsApp and Facebook non-participant observation and exploratory interviews with Rappi migrant workers. In what follows, we offer a theoretical analysis of the intersections between migration and the gig economy infrastructures based on the Colombian case. Navigating the experiences of migrant gig workers with Rappi, we discuss the dynamics of inclusion-exclusion they live in their interaction with the platform and the infrastructures that support and constitute their work.

This chapter examines what moves migrants in the Global North to take up gig work and stick with it for various periods of time despite its by now well documented precarious conditions, by investigating the role that gig platforms play in their life-building trajectories. It offers a discussion of how the topic of precarity has been taken up in the gig economy literature and brings this research into conversation with some recent scholarship on migrant workers’ precarity and agency. The chapter analyses a series of ethnographic vignettes that narrate the experiences of six migrant gig workers. It discusses the main findings and introducing the notion of ‘liminal precarity’ to rethink the ambiguous space between precarity and agency in these workers’ lives, followed by some broader concluding reflections. The agency of low-wage migrant workers has received less scholarly attention than their precarity.

The consistent innovations and applications of information technology drive the vigorous development of the gig economy, and generate gig workers such as food delivery workers and couriers, and make a great contribution to stabilizing employment and increasing income. Gig workers, mostly made up of migrants, and suffer from job and status difficulties. Research on the well-being of migrant gig workers can reveal the practical problems and provide suggestions for narrowing the wealth gap to promote social fairness and justice. Taking Hangzhou city in China as an example, this paper explores the well-being of food delivery workers, couriers, and online car-hailing drivers as representatives of migrant gig workers. Firstly, the relevant data are acquired through the questionnaire. Secondly, the characteristics of this group are analyzed through descriptive analysis, namely: most of them are migrant workers aged between 20 and 39 with low occupation satisfaction due to insufficient social security coverage and limited well-being, despite relatively high income. Based on the analysis of differences in demographic variables and structural equation modeling, the factors affecting the well-being of migrant gig workers are studied, which mainly are occupation satisfaction, social interaction, and social security. The results show that occupation satisfaction is positively affected by family characteristics, social interaction, and social security. In addition, family characteristics and social security positively impact social interaction, but the former has no significant effect on well-being. Finally, this paper enriches the research on the well-being of specific migrant gig workers and gives policy suggestions for enhancing the well-being of migrant gig workers in Hangzhou city from the perspective of optimizing the mechanism, pilot construction, and platform provision.