Globalization, the economic crisis and related policies of austerity have led to a growth in extreme exploitation at work, with migrants particularly vulnerable. This book explores the lives of the growing numbers of severely exploited labourers in the world today, questioning how we can respond to such globalized patterns of extreme inequality.
Reviews / Votes
"This wide ranging volume explores the relation between migration, exploitation and globalisation from multiple perspectives, bringing together diverse experiences from the global north and the global south. It exposes the structural underpinnings of the production of vulnerability through the lack of global governance of labour relations, and the stringency of global citizenship regimes. Setting ethnographic and qualitative studies of migrants alongside political economic analysis of neoliberal capitalist development it provides fascinating analysis of how global capital impacts on daily lives, and offers some examples of how to fight back." - Bridget Anderson, University of Oxford, UK
"Read this book. It is a work of solidarity and is both urgent and unique. Urgent because it engages directly with the structural reasons why migrant workers are especially likely to face work-place exploitation. It is thus a call for action in dangerous times. Unique because of its breadth in encompassing both analysis of migrant workers' own strategies to manage harsh working and living conditions across contrasting global contexts and understanding of the neoliberal policies and business practices that create those conditions. Clear in its overall message, the book rightly steers readers towards the diversity of migrant workers' experiences, and to an appreciation and respect for the agency of migrants themselves, even in conditions where victories may only be small, and changes fleeting." - Ben Rogaly, University of Sussex, UK
"Neoliberal globalisation is exacerbating inequality, and creating new forms of exploitation on the basis of race, gender, origins and - above all - legal status. This invaluable book explores the special vulnerability of migrant workers and asylum seekers. It examines the political economy of the production of vulnerability, while case studies from Europe, Latin America and Asia reveal the everyday reality of exploitation and precarity. But the authors do not simply lament such abuses: they map out strategies to fight for the rights of vulnerable workers and to build global citizenship." - Stephen Castles, University of Sydney, Australia
Nicola Phillips, University of Sheffield, UK
John Smith, Kingston University, UK
Rossana Cillo, University of Venice Ca' Foscari, Italy
Lucia Pradella, University of Venice Ca' Foscari, Italy
Kendra Strauss, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Matej Blazek, Loughborough University, UK
Alex Balch, University of Liverpool, UK
Tom Vickers, Northumbria University, UK
Maja Sager, Lund University, Sweden
Donghyuk Park, University of Paris Diderot, France
Louise Waite, University of Leeds, UK
Hannah Lewis, University of Leeds, UK
Stuart Hodkinson, University of Leeds, UK
Peter Dwyer, University of York, UK
Eliana Ferradás Abalo, School for International Training, USA
Jerónimo Montero Bressán, Ministry of Labour, Argentina
Rebecca Lawthom, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Sue Baines, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Carolyn Kagan, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Mark Greenwood, Wai Yin Chinese Women Society, UK
Sandy Lo, Wai Yin Chinese Women Society, UK
Lisa Mok, Wai Yin Chinese Women Society, UK
Sylvia Sham, Wai Yin Chinese Women Society, UK
Scott Gaule, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Alice Bloch, University of Manchester, UK
Sonia McKay, University of the West of England, UK
Leena Kumarappan, London Metropolitan University, UK
Ismail Idowu Salih, Middlesex University School of Law, UK
Domenica Urzi, University of Nottingham, UK
Ana Lopes, University of the West of England, UK
Tim Hall, University of East London, UK
AnnieDelaney, Victoria University, Australia
Jane Tate, Homeworkers Worldwide, UK
Joanna Ewart-James, Walk Free Partner Network, UK
Neill Wilkins, Institute for Human Rights and Business, UK
Editorial Introduction. Vulnerability, exploitation and migrants: Insecure work in a globalised economy; Louise Waite; Gary Craig; Hannah Lewis; Klara Skrivankova I. THE GLOBALISATION OF VULNERABILITY 1. Private governance and the problem of trafficking and slavery in global supply chains; Nicola Phillips 2. The political economy of outsourcing; John Smith 3. Labour, exploitation and migration in Western Europe: an international political economy perspective; Lucia Pradella and Rossana Cillo II. MIGRANT WORKERS, UNFREEDOM AND FORCED LABOUR 4. Social reproduction and migrant domestic labour in Canada and the UK: Towards a multi-dimensional concept of subordination; Kendra Strauss 5. Precarious labour in Slovakia: patterns, implications and intersections with other forms of abuse; Matej Blazek 6. Understanding and evaluating UK efforts to tackle forced labour; Alex Balch III. THE VULNERABILITY OF ASYLUM SEEKERS 7. The contribution of UK asylum policy 1999-2010 to conditions for the exploitation of migrant labour; Tom Vickers 8. Precarity at Work. Asylum rights and paradoxes of labour in Sweden; Maja Sager 9. Bangladeshi fruit vendors in the street of Paris: Vulnerable asylum seekers or elf-imposed victims of exploitation?; Donghyuk Park 10. Refused asylum seekers as the hyper-exploited; Louise Waite; Hannah Lewis; Stuart Hodkinson; Peter Dwyer IV. HIDDEN FROM VIEW: THE MOST EXPLOITED WORKERS 11. Sweatshop workers in Buenos Aires: The political economy of human trafficking in a peripheral country; Jeronimo Montero Bressan; Eliana Ferradas Abalo 12. Experiences of forced labour amongst UK based Chinese migrant workers: exploring vulnerability and protection in times of Empire; Rebecca Lawthom; Carolyn Kagan; Sue Baines; Sandy Lo; Sylvia Sham; Lisa Mok; Mark Greenwood; Scott Gaule 13. The Working Lives of Undocumented Migrants: Social capital, individual agency and mobility; Alice Bloch; Sonia McKay; Leena Kumarappan 14. Slavery in the 21st century. A review of domestic work in the UK; Ismail Idowu Salih V. INTERVENTIONS: TACKLING LABOUR EXPLOITATION 15. Global citizenship: the need for dignity and respect for migrants; Domenica Urzi 16. Winning a living wage: the legacy of living wage campaigns; Ana Lopes; Tim Hall 17. Forced labour and ethical trade in the Indian garment industry; Annie Delaney; Jane Tate 18. The staff wanted initiative - preventing exploitation, forced labour and trafficking in the UK hospitality industry; Joanna Ewart-James and Neill Wilkins
