Migrant Worker Programs Research Articles

Blunt talk or faux outrage? The politics of expanding migrant worker programs under Canada’s former Conservative government (2006–2015)

This paper combines critical antiracist perspectives with Poulantzas’ and Hall’s concepts of authoritarian statism and populism to examine the diminishment of democratic processes and the intensification of social relations of inequality in citizenship, immigration, and the state that accompanied the controversial expansion of migrant worker programs under Canada’s former Conservative government (2006–2015). It also discusses how the party and former government sought to maintain these problematic structures and their later response to the political fallout caused by their approach. The conclusion discusses this policy realm under the subsequent Liberal government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Undocumented, unregistered and invisible”: an exploratory study of the reasons for and effects of migrating to Thailand of Cambodian young people

PurposeThis paper is designed to provide primary research which illuminates both the motivations for Cambodian migration as well as the risks entailed in undertaking migration.Design/methodology/approachThis paper gathered its information through a structured interview with 49 respondents aged between 17–29 years of mixed gender. The questionnaire comprised 18 questions in addition to a demographics section. Findings were subsequently analysed in order to extract commonalities amongst the experiences and perceptions of migrants.FindingsThe present research study found that the migration of Cambodians to Thailand is largely forced in the sense that there is a lack of economic opportunities within Cambodia. Of the respondents, 88% indicated that their preference would be to remain in Cambodia. What is more, the authors found that the migration is fraught with insecurity and risk, with a range of security issues faced by respondents including not being paid, being abused and being overworked.Research limitations/implicationsThis response group is not a representative sample of Cambodians who work in Thailand. The study’s respondents in Cambodia were at a deportation centre, where migrants caught by Thai authorities worked without documentation, which had a clear impact upon migration experience. Additionally, the study’s respondents in Pattaya, Thailand, were accessed via an associate of a colleague, so this too is not a representative sample of Cambodians working in Thailand.Practical implicationsThis can have practical use for a variety of stakeholders by providing quantitative information as well as analysis into the migration of Cambodians to Thailand. Within the Recommendations section, it is illustrated how a temporary migrant worker programme can be beneficial to the host and receiving countries and individual migrants. Individual migrants can benefit from being employed by legitimate, accountable employers and hence result in higher provision of human rights for this demographic.Social implicationsThere is a highly entrenched culture of migration within Cambodia's bordering provinces. Through changes to the personal health, well-being and prosperity of migrants in Thailand because of reduced exploitation and increased pay. Host communities in Cambodia are also likely to receive higher levels of remittances, which can stimulate development in Cambodian communities.Originality/valueDeepened understanding of the motivations for migration and highlighted lack of desire amongst Cambodians to migrate continue to demonstrate the persistent need for effective and substantial development policies within Cambodia. The proposal of a temporary migrant worker scheme is in its short-term nature and reflects the necessity of this demographic to migrate irrespective of whether they can receive official working papers.

WORKING ACROSS BORDERS: THE LIMITS OF LABOUR LAW FOR LOW-WAGE TEMPORARY MIGRANT WORKERS

A temporary migrant worker programme (TMWP) is a collection of laws, regulations and policies through which a receiving state regulates the entry, stay and treatment of low-wage temporary migrant workers. Workers in such programmes are generally undertaking ‘temporary migration projects’, that is, they are working abroad for a finite period of time in order to improve their status and welfare at home. The availability of low-cost labour generally entrenches demand for such workers in the receiving state’s labour market and therefore the receiving state has an interest in continuing to attract them. In order to do so, workers must be able to successfully complete their temporary migration projects. However, TMWP policies often create opportunities for exploitation and disempowerment related to low-wage temporary migrant workers’ precarious residence status, weak financial position and dependence on their employers, that jeopardise the normative defensibility and sustainability of such programmes. This paper argues that conventional labour law remedies are not sufficient to enable workers to successfully complete their temporary migration projects. The underlying purpose of labour law and the limitations of its application to this group of workers is considered along with the sources of their vulnerability in order to assess appropriate policy reforms. This paper concludes that in order to make TMWPs more sustainable and normatively justifiable, receiving states should address the root causes of low-wage temporary migrant workers’ vulnerability when formulating TMWP laws and policies.

Revisiting Social Reproduction: Migrant Care Workers and Their Entitlements in Canada

In this article, I question the temporary/permanent divide insofar as migrant care workers’ legal entitlements are concerned with reference to the Canadian Caregiver Program, which is characterized as one of the best temporary migrant worker programs globally. I problematize the temporary/permanent distinction by critiquing the private market exchange-based relationship on the basis of which the Program is legally formulated. I argue that any caregiver program should see caregivers – irrespective of their national or foreign origin – as fully contributory members of society and thereby entitled to an extensive range of citizenship rights and entitlements. While this proposal is not completely novel, what I offer through this article is a regulatory justification for migrant caregivers’ claim to full socio-economic citizenship rights and entitlements. I develop this justification by drawing on – and reconceptualizing – the economic productivity-focused social reproduction perspective. In this article, then, I make two points: first, I propose a theoretical reconceptualization of socially reproductive work and, second, by evaluating migrant care workers’ status in Canada, I argue that on the basis of social reciprocity, caregivers cannot be considered temporary insofar as their entitlements are concerned.

Competition Between Labour‐Sending States and the Branding of National Workforces

AbstractDrawing from comparative, international field research examining fast food labour migration from the Philippines and Mexico to western Canada, I contrast the Mexican and Filipino migration apparatuses and the corresponding branding of their citizenry. I show that the Philippines, through its migration apparatus, brands the Philippines as a source of “exceptional” labour, in part by deploying college graduates and those with professional work experience to work in entry‐level occupations. In turn, they outpace other labour‐sending states – like Mexico – who are branded in less desirable terms for interactive occupations. The policy decision to deskill (or not) and to produce (or fail to produce) educated and “exceptional” mobile subjects operates either as a conveyer belt or a migratory wall for distinct states in their ability to send more workers overseas. This has broader implications for global race relations and the branding effects that underlie Temporary Migrant Worker Programs.

Pacific seasonal workers: Learning from the contrasting temporary migration outcomes in Australian and New Zealand horticulture

Abstract“Crowding out” is a widely accepted claim in migration analysis, which posits that the preference of profit‐maximising employers for irregular and minimally regulated migrants overregulated alternatives will undermine, if not condemn to failure, well‐regulated temporary migration schemes. In this paper, we test the crowding out hypothesis by examining the experience with well‐regulated seasonal migrant worker programs in the horticultural sectors of Australia and New Zealand. This experience, which in both countries has involved recruitment of workers from the Pacific Islands, has been divergent, despite the two programs being similar in design. Our findings suggest that the relative attractiveness of regulated and unregulated migrant labour sources depends on a range of factors, including the export orientation of the sector, the costs of collective action and regulation, differences in policy design and implementation, and external factors. Depending on industry and economy‐wide characteristics, quality and reputational benefits for employers can offset the cost of regulation.

Migrant worker experiences in Atlantic Canadian fish processing plants

Low‐skilled migrant workers provide an important labour source in Atlantic Canada's seafood industry. This research unpacks the experiences of 22 workers from Thailand and the Philippines working in one Atlantic Canadian seafood processing company. We pay particular attention to migration routes, labour conditions, and worker mobility, along with worker reflections on their experiences landing a Canadian job. We also consider the perceptions of migrant workers among company staff. We argue that despite the various unfreedoms associated with migrant worker programs, migrant workers in this particular facility have demonstrated agency in negotiating the program to their advantages. The success of the workers, however, is contingent on a conjuncture of elements that are not necessarily found elsewhere in the seafood processing industry. Worker experiences, both with other Canadian employers and elsewhere, offer a stark contrast to their current situation: migrant workers often experience significant unfreedoms to gain relatively free working conditions.

The effects of climate change on the geography and timing of human mobility

Human mobility over different distances and time scales has long been associated with environmental change, and the idea of climate change is now affecting movement in new ways. In this paper, we discuss three cases from the South Pacific to explain the ways anticipated climate futures are changing mobility in the present. First, we examine village relocation in response to coastal erosion and inundation in Fiji, drawing on our study of the unfolding experience of Narikoso village in Kadavu Province. In contrast to this spatially constrained process of permanent relocation, we examine the spatially extended yet temporally constrained seasonal migrant worker programme that aims to support economic development in the Pacific Islands by providing temporary work visas in Australia and New Zealand. Finally, we examine the likely effects of proposed open labour markets as a means to promote climate change adaptation, through a study of the analogous example of Niuean migration to New Zealand which has resulted in both permanent migration and a slow circulation of people between both countries. Across these examples, we highlight emerging and potentially constructive ways in which climate change is altering the spatio-temporal patterns and rhythms of mobility.

Legal but Deportable: Institutionalized Deportability and the Limits of Collective Bargaining among Participants in Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program

This article explores how model temporary migrant worker programs (TMWPs) that permit seasonal return can institutionalize deportability or the possibility of removal among participants with legal status. It draws on the cases of two groups of workers who participated in the British Columbia–Mexico Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) and who managed to unionize and secure collective agreements (CAs). The author argues that the design and operation of SAWP constrains workers’ capacity to see out fixed-term contracts and to realize the promise of seasonal return. These inherent constraints lead to a form of institutionalized deportability, even among participants covered by CAs crafted to mitigate the possibility of unjust termination and premature repatriation and to address workers’ precarious transnational situation. Focusing on how deportability operates, the article analyzes immigration and labor laws and policies, CAs, key informant interviews, and testimony before British Columbia’s labor relations tribunal along with the decisions of that tribunal.

The politics of consent in the casino economy

Purpose Accompanying the casino liberalization in Macau has been the massive increase in the importation of migrant workers to drive the labour-intensive, service-oriented economic growth there. Nevertheless, the employment of migrant workers has become an intensely contentious issue. The traditional pluralist approach to migration policy has highlighted a mismatch between restrictive policy pronouncements and actual expansive outcomes. This mismatch has resonated strongly in Macau, where the number of migrant workers skyrocketed in the last decade in spite of repeated guarantees from the government of the adoption of a protectionist labour policy. The pluralist approach has attributed the mismatch to strong constituencies supporting more immigration. The purpose of this paper is to dispute this and maintain that the Macau Government is a capitalist state committed to increasing labour importation to facilitate wealth accumulation. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a qualitative approach based on extensive research of news and media reports, facilitated by a close observation of political developments. Findings The Macau Government started, in 2005, to talk about reforming its labour importation programme by adding a migrant worker levy, a ratio mechanism and a six-month waiting period. This paper investigates how the capitalist state navigated the reform process by promising changes and building consent with the working classes. The author maintains that “a game of protection” has been constructed and played to secure the consent of the local working classes for the migrant worker programme. Originality/value Very little literature is available that has studied the changes made to the migrant worker system in Macau. This paper will help to close this gap.

Making the case for Temporary Migrant Worker Programmes: Evidence from the UK's rural guestworker (‘SAWS’) scheme

The UK has had a Temporary Migrant Worker Programme (TMWP) for agricultural ‘guestworkers’ since 1943. Most recently referred to as the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS), SAWS accommodated 25,000 workers per annum by its 2004 peak. However, the UK government then announced the scheme's closure (initially for 2011, but then delayed until 2014). This paper examines employers' response to this closure and, specifically, juxtaposes the academic critiques of TMWPs with the very strong employer preference for them. This preference, the paper concludes, is about the way in which TMWPs allow labour to be more readily and more extensively controlled, and, also allow employers access to ‘better quality’ workers. Considering these benefits of quality and control, alongside the academic critiques, the paper concludes that SAWS should be retained, but with major changes and safeguards.

Making Temporary Permanent: The Silent Transformation of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

During the mid-2000s the number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) present in Canada increased dramatically, more than tripling in eight years. The bulk of the increase was due to an expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to include lower-skilled occupations. The stated reason for the expansion was to address short-term labour shortage s. Contrary to expectations, upon the onset of the economic downturn in 2008, the number of TFWs did not decrease significantly, and appears to be increasing again in 2010 and 2011. This paper tracks the evolution of the TFWP from a stable program designed to address short-term labour needs in high-skilled occupations into a broader labour market tool. The paper examines the most recent available statistical data for the TFWP and other documentary evidence to argue the role of the TFWP in Canada’s labour market has quietly shifted, becoming a permanent, large-scale labour pool for many industries, reminiscent of European migrant worker programs. The paper also examines the potential labour market implications of an expanded, entrenched TFWP.

Pick-Your-Own Labor: Migrant Workers and Flexibility in Canadian Agriculture

This paper explores the structures and practices of temporary migrant worker programs (TMWP) as they operate in Canadian agriculture. Acting within highly competitive, globalized markets, agri-food employers rely on the availability of migrant workers to achieve greater flexibility in their labor arrangements, drawing on employment practices beyond those possible with a domestic workforce. Most recently, changes to Canada's two TMWP schemes have provided employers with greater scope to shape the social composition of their workforce. The paper analyzes these changes while exploring their implications for workplace regimes in agriculture.

Nanay (Mother): a testimonial play

We present here fragments from a script that we co-wrote, a testimonial play entitled Nanay. The play draws on research that Pratt has done over the last 15 years on Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) in collaboration with the Philippine Women Center of BC (PWC of BC). It takes conventional research materials and turns them into a performance installation, with the objective of bringing academic research to a wider public in an immediate, engaging way. It is designed to get people to care and think more deeply about the LCP, and to initiate a public conversation about the massive expansion in this program over the last decade, and of temporary migrant worker programs more generally.

The Other Side ofel Otro Lado: Mexican Migrant Women and Labor Flexibility in Canadian Agriculture

Abstract Global restructuring is dramatically reshaping how women and men around the world relate to agriculture. While gender analysis has been central to research on labor‐intensive, corporate agriculture in the global South, it is rarely invoked in the literature exploring these trends in the North. Moreover, research on gender in agriculture in high‐income countries has tended to focus on women in family farms, despite extensive restructuring of the sector that has increased demands for waged laborers. This article speaks to these limitations by tracing the incorporation of Mexican women into the Canadian agricultural sector as temporary migrant workers. In exploring the lived realities of these women, it reveals workplaces characterized by highly gendered, racialized employment relations and illustrates how temporary migrant worker programs further entrench existing structures of labor segmentation in agriculture. While temporary migrant worker programs have brought greater flexibility into the Canad...

International labour recruitment: Channelling Bangladeshi labour to east and south-east Asia

International labour migration in Asia has experienced the most rapid growth in the last few decades. There are two major destination regions for labour migrants in Asia: Middle East and East and South-East Asia. In addition to countries of the Middle East, since the early 1980s we observe a sustained growth of foreign manpower in the prosperous countries of East and South-East Asia, particularly Singapore, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea and Japan. Those countries have followed specific temporary migrant worker programmes in recruiting foreign workers although the name and nature of the programmes vary. One can identify two types of temporary labour migration programmes implemented in the region – the “work permit” and the “trainee” programmes. Each migrant worker programme offers different rights and privileges to migrants. Malaysia and Singapore hire foreign workers under the “work permit” system, which provides special benefits to them as workers. But the Republic of Korea and Japan pursue a conservative policy with regard to the admission of foreign workers. They hire foreign workers mainly under the “trainee” system, which restricts benefits as trainees are not formally recognized as workers. In general, labour migration policies in the receiving countries in Asia can be broadly summarized as follows: limiting labour migration, limiting the duration of migration and limiting integration (Piper, 2004: 75).

Guestworkers in Europe: A Resurrection?

Around 1974, most Western European countries abandoned migrant labor recruitment, and introduced restrictive entry rules. Today, policymakers are reexamining temporary migrant worker programs. This article examines demographic, economic, and social pressures for labor recruitment, discusses temporary migrant worker programs in Germany and the United Kingdom, and examines the European Commission's 2005 Policy Plan for Legal Migration. Current approaches differ significantly from the past and there is no question of a general return to labor recruitment policies. However, today's policies do share some common features with past guestworker programs, and may lead to negative social outcomes in both receiving and sending countries.

Low-skill emigration from Mexico to the United States. Current situation, prospects and government policy.

Low‐skill labour migration from Mexico to the US is a dominant aspect of general Mexico‐US migration. It is of even greater importance in undocumented migration in general and in undocumented border flows, and as such has become a growing source of concern and initial coordination and collaboration between the two governments. Its visibility made it a primary target for the recent Immigration Act of 1996, and is by far over‐represented in apprehension and deportation statistics.At once unwanted and needed, low‐skill Mexicans in the US have been at the core of immigration "problems", and are beginning to receive the kind of policy attention that might, in the medium‐term, change the face of migration in North America.The prospects for Mexican low‐skill migration to the US will be determined, to a large extent, by the following:– Changing Mexican demographic dynamics means that the US‐Mexico demographic gap will become less significant as a factor in supply‐side migration pressure in the medium‐term.– Mexico’s crises and its process of restructuring were significant factors fostering emigration in the eighties. Currently, growth of formal, paid jobs is becoming a more significant factor in labour force expansion. This could help diminish emigration pressure, but will at best be a gradual process, subject to the continuation of steady economic growth.– In the US, the restructuring of employment was a force behind the growth of immigration during the eighties; during the nineties sheer labour force growth seems to have been the dominant factor underlying labour immigration.– Due to the growth of migration and the spread of social networks in the eighties, labour migrants today are likely to respond faster and more efficiently to changing conditions in supply, demand and policy factors, such as border enforcement and restrictions on immigrant rights. Should market factors persist, migration will do likewise but for significant changes in policy and enforcement, mainly at the employment level.Migration has continued to grow during the nineties and deportations and expulsions of Mexicans are massive. But the two governments are now systematically discussing migration and other bilateral issues. Specifically, the process by which undocumented Mexicans are returned to their country is now carried out in an orderly fashion and with remarkable improvements in their treatment. There are improvements in the treatment of complaints, and reports of abuses have dropped. However, such programmes involving undocumented migration are of little significance. There are working examples of programmes that may provide lessons on possible legal alternatives to the large undocumented flows.The article recommends that any large‐scale migrant worker programme be bilateral in nature. There are two reasons for this. First, bilateral enforcement is likely to better protect migrant rights. Second, Mexican involvement in the process of return (and prolonged stay) in Mexico is likely to minimize the conversion of temporary, circular migration into other, more permanent kinds.