Offers a wide range of new grassroots perspectives on global migrant labour organising today. From diverse workers' organisations in South Africa to migrant worker resistance in the Gulf, from forest workers in the Czech Republic to domestic workers' unions in Hong Kong, this book brings together a wealth of lived experiences and hidden struggles for the first time. Just Work? proves that migrant workers are finding innovative ways of resisting exploitation and challenging neoliberal immigration measures, both within traditional labour orgnaisations and beyond.
Gateway into ILO expertise and knowledge on the regional priority area of protecting migrant workers. It explains in a brief and user-friendly manner why this is a regional priority, the issues it addresses and how the ILO can help its social partners, detailing the available approaches, strategies, tools and possible partnerships. Where applicable, examples of good practices or adaptable projects are included.
Introduction: migrant workers in Pacific Asia / Yaw A. Debrah -- The 'host' state and the 'guest worker' in Malaysia : public management of migrant labour in times of economic prosperity and crisis / Christine B.N. Chin -- The role of low-skilled foreign workers in Taiwan's economic development / Joseph Lee -- The unwilling hosts : state, society, and the control of guest workers in South Korea / Won-Woo Park -- The political economy of migrant worker policy in Singapore / Linda Low -- Foreign workers and labour migration policy in Japan / Yasushi Iguchi -- Rural migrants in urban China: willing workers, invisible residents / Kenneth D. Roberts
PurposeVarious forms of precarious employment create barriers to the integration and inclusion of migrant workers in receiving countries. The purpose of this paper is to review extant research in employment relations and management to identify key factors that contribute to migrant workers' precarious employment and highlight potential avenues for future research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a narrative literature review drawing on 38 academic journal articles published between 2005 and 2020.FindingsThe authors' review suggests that macro- and meso-level factors contribute to the precarious employment conditions of migrant workers. However, there is a limited articulation of successful practices and potential solutions to reduce migrant work precarity and exclusion. The literature on migrant workers' precarious employment experience is primarily focused on low-skilled sector (e.g. agriculture, hospitality, domestic care) jobs. In addition, few studies have explored the role of worker characteristics, such as gender, class, ethnicity, race and migration status, in shaping the experience of migrant workers in precarious employment.Practical implicationsThe results of this research highlight the importance of engaging multilevel actors in addressing migrant employment precarity, including policymakers, employers and employment agencies.Originality/valueThis research contributes to a growing conversation of migrant employment precarity by highlighting the heterogeneity of migrant groups and calling for the use of intersectional lenses to understand migrant workers' experiences of precarious employment.
