Editorial: Trade Unions and Migrant Workers
Luc Triangle opens this edition of IUR journal with recognition that around the world migrant workers “perform essential work that keeps societies functioning”. The “structural conditions that exclude migrant workers from labour rights” he argues, “are the same conditions that allow precarious work and union-busting to flourish”, and the alignment of interests between migrant workers and trade unions is so strong that “organising migrant workers is central to the future of democratic trade unionism”. The challenge, as Triangle says, is thus one that cuts across all areas of trade union activity, but one of the most challenging and high-profile areas concerns the role of migrant workers in construction projects for mega-sporting events. Global union engagement in this area hasn’t all been plain sailing (to say the least). But unions still have serious work to do in this area. Global construction union BWI is one of those at the forefront of this challenging intersection. Ambet Yuson explains how BWI has engaged with the international football body FIFA, and discusses strategies for promoting labour rights compliance in the run up to the 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Over in the US, Trump’s ICE raids on migrant communities were global news. David Bacon looks at what is happening and goes behind the headlines to explain a system in which powerful interests seek to take advantage of a continual rotation of labour, “Growers complain of a labour shortage to provide an excuse for recruiting H-2A workers, but local workers are still available to work, living in the same communities as always. If growers want to attract workers, they should pay higher wages. But the real intent is to lower wages”. In Europe Jan Buelens examines a recent trafficking case from Belgium and looks at overlaps between labour migration and exploitation, where corporations are driving the overseas recruitment of migrants (through subcontractors), and are doing so as a strategic choice, and where the State is playing an ambivalent role as regulator. Blackburn and Jeffries discuss the UK’s current obsession with flag-waving amid a rising national panic about migration and look back at a project ICTUR worked on 16 years ago, when dire warnings about social collapse proved hollow, and the naturalisation of many Moroccan migrant workers in Gibraltar occurred calmly in an economy that continued to thrive.
With perspectives from Asia, Erlinda Joseph and Lucia Fernandez explore the situation of migrant domestic workers (mainly in Malaysia), and discuss a sector in which digitalisation “is not just changing how informal workers find jobs; it is restructuring informality”. Stirling Smith examines internal migration in India, on a vast scale. Despite shared nationality, India’s diversity often means that these migrants face similar cultural and linguistic barriers to those who move between countries. Smith frames the challenge as one of “identity”, and says that among migrant workers this is still typically “based on their caste, state of origin, religion”, rather than work. This lack of identification with work, with trade unions, and a sense of belonging, seems to be contributing to a situation under which “the efforts of trade unions so far have not resulted in large numbers of migrant workers being organised”.
Daniel Blackburn, Editor
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IUR journal brings together the latest news, views and information on trade union rights worldwide, covering key issues from varied perspectives. IUR has an accessible format that is appreciated around the world by an audience of trade unionists, legal practitioners and academics. The journal is available in print and digital formats, with an online archive dating back to 1993.
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