Access to protection, enforcement & redress? Effects of visas for agriculture & care on migrant workers' vulnerabilities in the UK workforce

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• 批准号: AH/X001202/2
• 负责人: Inga Thiemann
• 金额: $ 9.65万
• 依托单位: University of Leicester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FX001202%2F2
• 关键词: Access; protection; enforcement; redress; Effects

Using the agricultural and care sectors as paradigmatic case studies, this research project will examine how immigration rules and labour policies, and specifically their interaction, create the preconditions for modern day slavery. By immigration rules, we mean the conditions imposed on those entering the United Kingdom for work purposes, and include policies about length of stay, the right to be accompanied by family members, and the ability to change employers. Labour policies is a broader term in our conception and includes the norms regulating working conditions by public and private actors, as well as the mechanisms for their enforcement. Determining how these two dimensions interact is key to understanding how modern slavery continues to exist in Britain despite significant government and private efforts to eradicate it. In this project we invoke and develop the concept of 'preconditions' as a way to understand the political economic conditions that produce the environment for gross exploitation to occur. Hence, our project is interested in seeing trafficking, slavery, servitude, and forced or compulsory labour as the result of structural causes beyond the actions of wicked individuals. We have selected the agricultural and care sectors for important reasons. Both are sectors in which labour exploitation has been widely documented. In addition, the government has introduced, or is in the process of introducing, unique immigration pathways for the entry of labour migrants to service shortages of workers in these sectors. Both are also sectors in which current labour laws provide weak protections, which are further undermined by lackadaisical and disjointed enforcement by government agencies. Studying closely the operation of these sectors in relation to the function of immigration rules and labour policies will allow us to carefully test the hypotheses contained in the immigration and asylum, as well as labour market regulation and governance, literatures. The three precise questions that animate this research is: (1) how visa conditions heighten the risk of modern-day slavery for migrant workers; (2) how particular industry features, such as working from private homes in the case of the care sector and seasonality in the case of the agricultural sector, aggravate this risk; and (3) how government enforcement can be improved to alleviate worker vulnerability?This research also hopes to feed into two important contemporary policy discussions. The first discussion concerns the shape of the post-Brexit immigration system. It is clear that the 'points-based' immigration system that came into effect on 1 January 2021 will need to be refined to serve the needs of the British economy. This research hopes to intervene in this discussion and foreground the consequences for those who enter the country for work purposes. The second discussion concerns how the 'single enforcement body' announced by the government operates to ensure that labour market actors comply with current laws and policies. By examining how enforcement operates in relation to migrant workers, this research will not only benefit this population but also non-migrant workers in the labour market. This project will draw on both desk-based research and qualitative research methodology. Working with community partners such as FLEX, Fife Migrant Forum, Kanlungan, Voice of Domestic Workers, and Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, we will conduct in-depth interviews with migrant workers and their representatives in the agricultural and care sectors. This qualitative data will provide fine-grained information on how those who migrate for work in these sectors experience the migration system and Britain's labour market policies. Our findings will be disseminated through a variety of avenues, including the PEC report, academic articles, and public blogs.

该研究项目将农业和护理部门作为范式案例研究，将研究移民规则和劳动政策，尤其是它们的互动，为现代奴隶制创造了前提。根据移民规则，我们的意思是为了工作目的而施加的条件，包括有关住院时间的政策，由家庭成员陪同的权利以及改变雇主的能力。劳动政策在我们的构想中是一个更广泛的术语，其中包括规范公共和私人参与者的工作条件的规范，以及其执行机制。尽管政府和私人努力消除了这两个方面，确定这两个维度如何相互作用是了解英国现代奴隶制如何继续存在的关键。在这个项目中，我们调用并发展了“前提”的概念，以理解为发生严重剥削带来环境的政治经济条件的一种方式。因此，我们的项目有兴趣看到贩运，奴隶制，奴役和强迫或强制性劳动，这是由于邪恶个人的行为以外的结构原因。由于重要原因，我们选择了农业和护理部门。两者都是劳动剥削已被广泛记录的部门。此外，政府已经引入或正在引入独特的移民途径，以使劳动移民进入这些部门的工人短缺。两者也是当前劳动法提供薄弱保护的部门，政府机构的缺乏和脱节的执行进一步破坏了保护。仔细研究这些部门与移民规则和劳动政策的功能有关的运作，将使我们能够仔细测试移民和庇护所中所包含的假设，以及劳动力市场的监管和治理，文献。动画这项研究的三个确切问题是：（1）签证如何增加对移民工人的现代奴隶制的风险； （2）特定行业的特征，例如在护理部门的情况下从私人家庭工作和农业部门的季节性工作，会加剧这种风险； （3）如何改善政府执法以减轻工人的脆弱性？这项研究还希望参与两个重要的当代政策讨论。第一个讨论涉及脱欧后移民系统的形状。显然，将需要精制到2021年1月1日生效的“基于积分”的移民系统以满足英国经济的需求。这项研究希望干预这一讨论，并为那些出于工作目的进入该国的人带来后果。第二次讨论涉及政府宣布的“单一执法机构”如何运作，以确保劳动力市场参与者遵守当前的法律和政策。通过检查执法如何与移民工人有关，这项研究不仅将使该人群受益，而且将使劳动力市场的非移民工人受益。该项目将借鉴基于桌子的研究和定性研究方法。与Flex，Fife移民论坛，Kanlungan，家庭工人之声和移民福利联合理事会等社区合作伙伴合作，我们将对移民工人及其农业和护理领域的代表进行深入的采访。这些定性数据将提供有关那些在这些部门工作的人如何体验移民系统和英国劳动力市场政策的细节信息。我们的发现将通过各种途径进行传播，包括PEC报告，学术文章和公共博客。