Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Temporary labour migration'

Depuis quelques générations, la libéralisation des échanges et des marchés facilite considérablement les mouvements transfrontaliers de biens, de services, de capitaux et d’informations. Ce processus d’intégration est porteur de gains de bien-être inédits pour la population mondiale. Des perspectives importantes s’ouvrent aussi pour les pays en développement, dont la croissance pourrait tirer de nouvelles stimulations de la mise en œuvre de réformes favorables aux échanges et à l’ouverture des marchés. Mais un pan de l’édifice de la mondialisation est demeuré en grande partie étranger à ce processus de libéralisation : les mouvements de capital humain, qui restent soumis à un contrôle et à des restrictions sévères. Il y a lieu de le déplorer, car la libéralisation des migrations temporaires de main-d’œuvre pourrait constituer un moteur de croissance économique et de développement plus efficace que tout autre levier d’action politique. Nombre de pays en développement sont doués d’un important capital humain. C’est un facteur de production et un mode de prestation de services où ils sont nombreux à jouir d’un avantage comparatif. Nous avons circonscrit notre champ d’étude à la migration temporaire de main-d’œuvre qualifiée des pays pauvres vers les pays riches. Notre exposé est axé sur trois études de cas poussées, celui de pays figurant parmi les principaux exportateurs de main-d’œuvre au monde – l’Égypte, l’Inde et les Philippines – dont nous examinons quelques-unes des activités de services les plus saillantes, à savoir respectivement : l’éducation, la santé et les technologies de l’information
More than half a century of trade and market liberalisation have greatly facilitated the movement of goods, services, capital and information across borders. This integration process has brought unprecedented welfare gains to the wor1d's population and there is much scope to stimulate further economic growth in developing countries through market and trade friendly reforms. One piece in the globalisation puzzle has largely been excluded from the liberalisation process: the movement of human capital remains highly controlled and restricted. This is regrettable since the liberalisation of temporary labour movement could have a greater impact on economic growth and development than any other single policy. Many developing countries are well endowed with human capital and it is a factor of production and a mode of service delivery in which many developing countries enjoy a comparative advantage. This dissertation focuses on temporary migration of skilled workers from poor to rich countries. The underlying assumption-based on economic models and empirical findings-is that a more liberal environment for temporary labour mobility would bring substantial welfare gains by stimulating economic growth and development. Consequently, the focal point is on trade rather than immigration (or so called 'brain circulation' rather than 'brain drain'). The dissertation is centred on three in-depth studies of some of the world's leading labour sending countries: Egypt, India and the Philippines; and some of their most prominent services sectors: education, IT, and health services

The policy discourse surrounding low-paid labour migration is driven by economic utility approaches. In this thesis, I adopt an ethics-centred, justice-oriented approach in assessing temporary low-paid labour migration, a politically divisive issue in many countries, including Singapore. I argue that a labour justice approach demands shared political responsibility to ensure that managed labour migration programs are ethically robust, rather than merely economically beneficial. This thesis situates itself as value-full, politically motivated research, and adopts activist ethnography as its primary methodology. Structural inequalities are explicitly acknowledged and academic objectives are aligned with broader imperatives for social change. Extensive fieldwork was carried out in Singapore over several periods between 2006 and 2010. The central case study involves migrant construction workers from China embroiled in labour disputes with their company, Hai Xing Construction. The workers complained of withheld wages, unfair deductions, excessive work hours and underpayment in terms of overtime and rest day pay. Hai Xing Construction, a subcontractor, employed hundreds of construction workers who were sent to the building sites of two high-profile casino developments backed by large gaming companies and supported by the Singapore government. Sustained empirical work contributed to an exploratory framework for assessing migrant workers' precariousness - what I term term precarity package. This framework considers the various dimensions of labour insecurity experienced by low-paid migrant workers as well as two key interdependent features of low-paid labour migration: deportability and dependency. Collectively, these mutually reinforcing dimensions and features constitute what can be conceived of as a precarity package - a confluence of factors and relations that contribute to a heightened state of precariousness, and leave migrant workers vulnerable to abuse at all stages of their employment experience. I argue that atomistic interventions that address isolated aspects of this complex, collective experience have limited effectiveness and often result in further unintended negative consequences. This thesis argues against conceptions of justice obligations that are narrowly legalistic, deceptively apolitical and unrealistically spatially-bound. A labour justice framework recognizes that attempts to achieve workplace democracy cannot be divorced from the concurrent need for a broader conception of work participation. It is not merely policy reform, but a radical reorganization of decision-making processes and the democratization of institutions and regulatory regimes at the national, regional and international scale that is required. Otherwise, genuine empowerment will remain implausible and ad-hoc gains from policy modifications will operate as concessions that appear progressive while entrenching the status-quo.

This dissertation explores the shift from local to global recruitment practices in western Canada’s low-waged service sector, with fast food and Tim Hortons serving as the industry and case study for this project. By examining the recent expansion to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, I show how a market-driven immigration program is resulting in new flows of workers entering Canada for low-waged occupations like fast food service. These workers are primarily young, educated, eager and able-bodied male and female migrant workers recruited disproportionately from the Philippines. They are new in the sense that they are part of a highly qualified flow of migrants who no longer have the opportunity to permanently immigrate and become full members of the Canadian polity. They enter Canada in pursuit of the classical immigrant dream only to discover that the context of reception has changed. They are recruited through a labour migration program that offers migrants few if any opportunities to transition from temporary to permanent residency status, and one that encourages migrants to compete for permanent residency within the worksite, at improbable odds. This study draws from 62 semi-structured interviews, ethnographic field research conducted in Canada and the Philippines, and freedom of information data gathered on Tim Hortons’ recruitment practices of migrant workers in Alberta and British Columbia. I show how: the tourism and hospitality industry was instrumental for institutionalizing an employer-friendly market driven immigration program; how the Filipino migration apparatus seeks to deliver culturally appropriate workers to foreign employers; how the turn to migrant labour by fast food is providing employers with young, able-bodied and an industry-preferred workforce; and how the Canadian dream operates to enlist the consent of migrant workers within the worksite. This study has implications beyond fast food and western Canada given the proliferation of migrant worker programs on a global scale, and the status of Canada and the Philippines as model immigration and labour programs.

Temporary migrant workers and circular migration constitute a growing global phenomenon as the management of migration becomes increasingly important to policymakers. This thesis takes academic discussions on citizenship and migration as its starting point, and examines the role of employers in terms of defining temporary migrant workers and their role in the Swedish labour market. The concept of moral economy is applied in particular to analyse the justifications and negotiations through which working conditions of migrant workers, and their role in local and transnational economies, are established and contested. The role of capital in migration management is studied through ethnographic fieldwork and through interviews with managers in the Swedish wild berry and IT industries; two very different industries that are, however, both shaped by particular structures of seasonal labour and international outsourcing and that increasingly rely on temporary foreign workers from Thailand and India respectively. The conceptualisation of supply chains in these industries offers a particular framework through which relations, as well as management discourses, can be analysed. The study explores how notions of circularity, nation, cultural difference, and transnational economic difference, are managed by private sector actors. It also explores how managers relate to public discourse and emotions in the face of global economic restructuring and changing citizenship, which situates temporary migrants as part of, yet different from, Swedish labour.
Temporära migrantarbetare och cirkulär migration utgör ett växande globalt fenomen till följd av intresset bland regeringar och myndigheter att styra genom sk ”managed migration”. Denna avhandling tar avstamp i forskning om medborgarskap och migration för att undersöka vilken roll arbetsgivare får när det gäller att definiera tillfälliga migrantarbetare och deras roll på den svenska arbetsmarknaden. Begreppet moralisk ekonomi används för att lyfta fram och analysera de praktiker genom vilka migrantarbetarnas arbetsvillkor förhandlas och rättfärdigas, samt hur deras roller i lokala och transnationella ekonomier befästs eller förändras. Ekonomins roll i migrationshantering studeras i denna avhandling genom etnografiskt fältarbete och intervjuer med chefer inom den svenska bärindustrin samt IT industrin; två mycket olika industrier som dock båda struktureras av säsongsarbete respektive internationell outsourcing, och som alltmer använder tillfällig utländsk arbetskraft från Thailand respektive Indien. Genom begreppet utbudskedjor (supply chains) möjliggörs en analys av de relationer, samt de managementdiskurser, som påverkar dessa industrier. Avhandlingen utforskar hur föreställningar om cirkularitet, nation, kulturella skillnader, samt transnationella ekonomiska skillnader, förhandlas av aktörer inom näringslivet. Vidare diskuteras hur chefer relaterar till de diskurser och emotioner som en global ekonomisk omstrukturering och ett förändrat medborgarskap ger upphov till, vilket positionerar tillfälliga migrantarbetare som en del av, men ändå annorlunda än, svensk arbetskraft.

This thesis is concerned with the ways in which the laws and policies governing labour migration shape the relationship between migrant workers, employers, and labour markets in advanced industrialised countries. Specifically, it elucidates the intersections of immigration and labour market regulatory norms, structures, and processes that have salient implications for migrants’ work relations. The notions of ‘hyper-dependence’ and ‘hyper-precarity’ are developed as the main analytical and normative lenses in this thesis for examining the particular vulnerabilities associated with migrants’ precarious statuses under contemporary labour migration regimes. Hyper-dependence refers to an acute dependence that transcends the immediate context of an employment relationship, where other aspects of a worker’s life critically depend on that employer. For migrant workers, hyper-dependence may arise where their legal statuses is tethered to a specific employer sponsorship, accompanied by other de jure and de facto restrictions on their labour mobility. Hyper-precarity seeks to capture the multifaceted insecurities and uncertainties in migrants’ work relations and their broader migration projects, which are linked to their exclusion, in law and in practice, from a wide array of social, economic, and civil rights in the host state. Engaging with the various and often competing goals and concerns of immigration law and labour law, the two concepts of hyper-dependence and hyper-precarity are developed and applied through an in-depth comparative analysis of the legal and regulatory architectures of two contemporary temporary migrant workers’ programmes (TMWPs): Australia’s Temporary Work (Skilled) Subclass 457 Visa (‘457 visa’) scheme and the United Kingdom’s Tier 2 (General) visa scheme. In recent years, TMWPs in advanced industrialised countries have been touted by global and national policymakers as a desirable labour migration instrument that delivers ‘triple wins’ for host states, home states, and migrants and their families. I situate the normative concerns of the legally constructed hyper-dependence and hyper-precarity in the ethical debates on TMWPs in liberal states. I also consider how the worst extremes of the two ‘hyper’ conditions combined in highly exploitative work relations could be ameliorated, and in doing so propose some ideas for reforming key features of current TMWPs to enable migrants to exit any employment relationship and to resort to a range of voice mechanisms in the workplace.

Skilled and educated workers are somewhat of a rarity for many rural and peripheral communities. The global migration trend where younger residents of these communities tend to leave for more populated areas leaves the communities with an older population that struggles to find new employees to replace those who retire. However, this does not mean that rural and peripheral communities are unattractive areas. Second-home owners verifies how these areas are attractive for certain individuals for various periods. More importantly, previous research show how second-home owners are often highly educated within their fields, they invest time in their host community, and they can potentially become permanent members of the society. Thus, this study aims to explore second-home owners potential of acting as a recruitment resource for the local labour market of the host community. This is done by using Vilhelmina municipality in Västerbotten county, Sweden, as an example. By using quantitative methods, the findings of this study suggest that the occupational background of second-home owners causes them to be a potential recruitment resource for the local labour market. However, the findings for the study suggest that the willingness to contribute to the local labour market is a mixed bag. Nevertheless, this study contributes to the current understandings of labour recruitment in rural and peripheral areas by confirming the possibility for extension of second-home owners as a resource.
Part of a research project at the Department of Geography at Umeå University called: Is the temporary population a resource?

Cuando se presentan años de sequía, los campesinos de temporal son los primeros en resentir pérdidas en sus cosechas obligándoles a buscar nuevas alternativas de sustento para adquirir en el mercado los granos que no pudieron producir para su consumo. La baja pluviosidad de los años 2009-2012 −y la declaratoria de desastre natural en 2011− llevan a formular las siguientes preguntas: ¿cómo los campesinos de temporal percibieron y resolvieron la insuficiente producción del maíz necesario a la alimentación de su familia y de sus animales? ¿Se han modificado los patrones migratorios a raíz de este fenómeno climatológico adverso? Formular esta posible estrategia de adaptación responde a la larga historia migratoria prevaleciente en la región desde varias décadas y al incentivo a migrar que representan las redes migratorias preexistentes. El texto inicia con una revisión de los diferentes tipos de sequía y sus efectos; también examina y discute la complejidad del concepto de migración ambiental: sus dimensiones, aspectos legales y proyecciones numéricas ante la mayor frecuencia de los eventos naturales extremos y el crecimiento demográfico. Los estudios de caso realizados en diversos contextos de sequía permiten identificar, en la decisión de migrar, un mayor peso de las variables políticas, socioeconómicas, culturales y demográficas que de las variables ambientales. Por este motivo, las diferentes dimensiones de contexto del área de estudio son ampliamente descritas en el trabajo. La presente tesis da cuenta del estudio realizado en 11 localidades de la cuenca del río Silao (estado de Guanajuato, México) situadas entre 2400 y 1830 msnm; dichas localidades están interconectadas por el río en un territorio natural y socialmente articulado aunque diverso en cuanto a sus características naturales y sociales. Al abarcar una reducida extensión territorial, el estudio privilegia la observación detallada de una realidad que es acercada desde la interdisciplinariedad. Con ello, las ciencias naturales y sociales, sus datos e instrumentos de investigación propios, permitieron identificar y analizar la relación entre los cambios ambientales –la baja pluviosidad y sus efectos− y las respuestas sociales aportadas por la población. Mediante la aplicación de entrevistas semi estructuradas y visitas a campo, se ha documentado que las transformaciones ambientales que obligan los campesinos de temporal a buscar otras formas de sustento, no resultan de la variabilidad climática natural sino que responden ante todo a modificaciones antrópicas del medio natural. En otras palabras, la reducida capacidad productiva de las tierras sembradas de maíz y de las huertas frutales resulta más del empobrecimiento progresivo del suelo (por el uso de fertilizantes químicos) y de la alteración de la dinámica hidrológica (a consecuencia de la deforestación y de la extracción de arena del río), que de la baja pluviosidad percibida y asumida por los campesinos como una constante inevitable de la agricultura de temporal. El reducido rendimiento agrícola y la consecuente necesidad de diversificar las fuentes de ingresos dan lugar a una creciente sobreexplotación de los recursos naturales (mayor extracción de leña, carbón y humus en la cuenca alta) y motivan la incorporación laboral de las mujeres y de los jóvenes de la cuenca media y baja a las empresas del sector industrial −agro y automotriz− instaladas en áreas cercanas. En cuanto a la eventual respuesta migratoria, las conclusiones del trabajo plantean que la migración interna es considerada como poco atractiva porque los bajos salarios pagados no permiten realizar proyectos personales fuertes como la construcción de vivienda y la compra de camioneta; estas adquisiciones, que llaman la atención en las localidades de la cuenca media y baja, han sido posibilitadas por la intensa migración internacional de estas partes de la cuenca. El estudio concluye que la migración internacional sigue alentada más por los factores estructurales y la fuerte tradición migratoria regional que por los factores ambientales. En conclusión, el fenómeno climático considerado en el estudio de caso no parece haber influido en la reorganización espacial y sectorial de las actividades de sustento de los habitantes de la cuenca ni en una modificación de su dinámica migratoria la cual sigue siendo más económica que ambiental.
In times of recurring drought, the peasants practicing rainfed agriculture are the first to suffer the consequences, and are forced to look for alternative means of acquiring the grains they have not been able to produce for their own consumption. The scarce rains of 2009-2012 – and the 2011 declaration of natural disaster – invite the following questions: · How did rainfed agriculture peasants perceive and resolve the insufficient production of maize needed to sustain their families and farming animals? · Have migratory patterns been modified by these adverse meteorological circumstances? This hypothesis has been put forward due to the long-standing history of migration prevalent in the region, which could favour future migration, facilitated by the existing migrant networks. This work begins with a review of various types of droughts and their implications. It also examines and discusses the complexity of environmental migration: its dimensions, legal aspects and numerical predictions in light of the increasing frequency of extreme natural phenomena and population growth. The case studies that have been undertaken in various drought contexts have identified, in relation to the decision to migrate, the importance of political, socio-economical, cultural and demographical variables, rather than environmental causes. Therefore, these non-environmental factors, which affect the area of study, are described in detail in this paper. This thesis accounts for a study carried out in 11 small rural areas of the Silao Basin (State of Guanajuato, Mexico), located between 1830 and 2400m above sea level. These sites, despite the diversity in their natural and social characteristics, are connected through the river, forming an articulated territory. Given that this study focuses on a small geographical area, this has allowed for detailed observations and has facilitated an interdisciplinary approach. Therefore, the natural and social sciences, with their respective data and research instruments, have helped identify and analyze the relationship between environmental changes – the low rainfall and its consequences – and the social responses brought forward by the population. Semi-structured interviews and fieldwork have revealed that the environmental changes that force rainfed agriculture peasants to seek other means of survival do not result from climatic changes, but rather are the consequences of anthropic changes to the natural environment. In other words, the relatively low production of corn fields and fruit orchards are a consequence of the progressive impoverishment of the soil caused by a continuous use of chemical fertilizers. Likewise, the alteration of the hydraulic dynamic caused by deforestation and the extraction of sand from the river bed are having a greater impact on the crop than the decreasing rainfall that the peasants consider inevitable. As for the eventual migratory response, this paper comes to the conclusion that internal migration is considered less attractive because the low salaries do not allow for the completion of personal projects, such as building a home or acquiring a van, something that international migration is able to provide, as seen in the middle and lower basins. In addition, this study concludes that this international migration is driven to a greater extent by structural factors and the strong tradition of migration, rather than by environmental factors. In sum, the climatic phenomenon considered by this study does not seem to have affected the spatial and sectorial reorganization of the subsistence activities of the rainfed farming communities, nor did it modify the migratory dynamic that remains more economic than environmental.

ABSTRACT: Temporary migration, especially men moving to their place of work, was an intrinsic feature of the former Apartheid system in South Africa. Since the demise of Apartheid an increasing proportion of women have also been migrating to their place of work, and oscillating between work place and home. Temporary migration can be defined as oscillating migration between a home base and at least one other place, usually for work, but also for other reasons like education. This study demonstrates that in the Agincourt study population, in the rural northeast of South Africa, adult female temporary migration is an increasing trend. By conducting a survival analysis, the study evaluates the mortality outcomes, specifically infant and child mortality rates, of children born to female temporary migrants compared with children of non-migrant women. Based on the findings presented we accept the null hypothesis that there is presently no discernable impact (positive or negative) of maternal temporary migration on infant and child mortality. There seems to be a slight protective factor associated with mother’s migration when tested at a univariate level. However, through multivariate analysis, it is shown that this advantage relates to the higher education status of migrating mothers. When women become tertiary educated there is a survival advantage to their children and these women are also more likely to migrate. The study highlights greater child mortality risks associated with settled Mozambicans (former refugees) and unmarried mothers. Both of these risk factors reflect the impact of high levels of social deprivation.

Thesis (M.P.H.), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009
Background: The rural South African population is characterised by high and stable levels of male temporary migration and rapidly rising levels of female temporary migration, with approximately 60% of men and 20% of women between the ages of 20 and 60 years absent from the home for more than 6 months of the year. Despite the magnitude of this social phenomenon, limited research exists analysing its effect on child care and children’s residence patterns. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine temporary labour migration patterns as a household coping strategy in rural northeast South Africa in 2002 and 2007, describe characteristics of the children left behind, and to assess the effect of temporary migration on child care patterns, specifically analysing household variation in child care and residence by sex and refugee status of the migrant. Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted on approximately 83,000 individuals in 14,000 households in 25 villages of the Agincourt sub-district of the Bushbuckridge region of Limpopo Province. Data was collected in a special module on temporary migration incorporated into the annual Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System census update in 2002 and 2007. Secondary analysis of the data utilised descriptive statistics and Pearson Chi2 tests of association. Results: The proportion of temporary migrants in the population rose between 2002 and 2007 and now constitutes nearly one-fifth of the population. Nearly three-quarters – 13% of the total population – are labour migrants. A slight increase in the proportion of female and Mozambican descent migrants is observed. Today, three-quarters of temporary labour migrants are male and one-quarter female, three-quarters are South African descent and more than one-quarter are Mozambican descent. Temporary labour migrants with children constitute nearly 6% of the total population. Temporary labour migrants overwhelmingly rely on a single care strategy. Complex care arrangements are far less common, constituting the response of only 5% of migrants. Highly complex care arrangements are rare, but do exist. Child care strategies are becoming increasingly complex over time for all migrants. Female migrants and migrants of South African descent are more likely than male and Mozambican descent migrants to rely on complex care arrangements. The overwhelming majority of migrants keep all children in the same household, maintaining relative stability in care and residence, 10% move children with them, 2% move children elsewhere for care and less than 1% move a childcarer into the household while they are away for work. Less stable child care arrangements are increasingly utilised over time. If the migrant is male, children are more likely to remain in the same household; if the migrant is female, children are more likely to move with the migrant. Approximately one-fifth of children in the population are effectively left behind by temporary labour migrants today, a decline from nearly one-third in 2002. There is significant variation in child care, residence and decision-making authority among relatives: mothers and stepmothers provide the majority of care in the absence of a migrant, with grandmothers a secondary and female siblings and aunts a tertiary source of child care.

This report examines the influence of parent’s migration status on childhood mortality in sending households in the South African rural sub-district of Agincourt. A survival analysis of a cohort of children born in Agincourt between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2003 was conducted using the Cox proportional hazards model to estimate the influence of parent’s migration status on under-5 year mortality. Starting with a baseline census in 1992, the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (AHDSS) data are collected and updated every 12 months wherein fieldworkers visit each household at the site to record the vital events, including births, deaths, and migrations that occurred since the previous census. Results of the survival analysis show that children born in households where the father was a temporary migrant while the mother remained at the rural household had a 35% lower risk of death compared to children in households where both parents were non-migrant (RR=0.647, 95% CI 0.439-0.954). The results also reveal that, controlling for parent migration status, children in single-parent (mother only) households had about 28% higher death hazard than children in two-parent households (RR=1.284, 95% CI 0.936-1.673). The findings suggest that temporary labour migration could be a means to improving household incomes and quality of life for children, particularly where the father is a temporary migrant while the mother remains behind taking care of the children. At the same time, children whose fathers are not indicated appear to be worse off whether their parents are temporary migrants or not.

Au Canada, le nombre de travailleurs étrangers temporaires est en forte hausse et ce, depuis 2003. Les travailleurs étrangers temporaires ne disposent ni de la citoyenneté politique, ni de la résidence permanente; leur mobilité professionnelle est restreinte et leur durée de séjour est limitée et prédéterminée. Sur le plan formel, ces travailleurs bénéficient des protections prévues par le droit du travail nonobstant leur statut migratoire. Toutefois, plusieurs travaux ont démontré que les travailleurs étrangers temporaires occupant des emplois qui requièrent un niveau réduit de formation sont généralement moins enclins à dénoncer la violation de leurs droits au travail. Le droit du travail constitue-t-il un rempart utile pour ces travailleurs? À l’aide d’une méthodologie mixte impliquant notamment une enquête de terrain auprès des acteurs-clé, la présente thèse poursuit deux objectifs distincts. Sur le plan empirique, elle permet de mettre en lumière l’incidence du système d’emploi singulier dans lequel s’insèrent les travailleurs étrangers temporaires sur leur usage des ressources proposées par le droit du travail. Le recours à ces ressources n’est pas contingent et prédéterminé; il est inextricablement lié aux opportunités et aux contraintes avec lesquelles ces travailleurs composent. Cette recherche révèle également que les stratégies échafaudées par différents acteurs qui ne sont pas, sur le plan juridique, des parties au rapport salarial, ont une incidence significative sur l’usage du droit par ses destinataires ; leur impact dépend largement du pouvoir dont ces acteurs disposent dans le système d’emploi. Sur le plan théorique, cette thèse s’inscrit dans le champ plus large des études portant sur l’effectivité du droit; elle propose de distinguer entre l’étude des effets du droit et l’analyse de son usage. Elle présente, à cette fin, un cadre analytique permettant de saisir le rapport qu’entretiennent les destinataires avec le droit.
In Canada, the number of temporary foreign workers has been steadily increasing since 2003. Temporary foreign workers have neither political citizenship nor permanent residency; their professional mobility is restricted and their length of stay limited and predetermined. Formally, these workers can benefit from the protection of labour law despite their migratory status. Many studies have however shown that “low-skilled” temporary foreign workers are generally less likely to report the violation of their labour rights. Does labour law constitute a useful buttress for these workers? Using a mixed methodology involving a field study with key actors, this study pursues two objectives. On the empirical level, it allows to shed light on the impact of the singular employment system of these workers on their mobilization of labour law’s protections. Such mobilization is neither contingent nor predetermined; it depends on the constraints and on the opportunities arising from the employment system. Our research also reveals that strategies elaborated by actors who are not, from a legal perspective, parties to the employment relationship, also have a significant impact on the way these workers take advantage of labour law's ressources ; such impact largely depends on the power these actors have in the employment system. On the theoretical level, this study is situated in the broader field of studies concerning the effectiveness of law. It purports to distinguish between the study of the effects of the law and the analysis of its use. It elaborates an analytical framework addressing the relationship between the law and its recipients.

碩士
銘傳大學
國際事務研究所碩士班
99
ABSTRACT In 2001, the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Interior of Spain launched a four-year program called GRECO (Global Program for Regulating and Coordinating Emigration and Immigration), which aimed to resolve immigration management. This initiative marked the first time in which Spain considered implementing temporary circular labor migration as a way to promote legal immigration and with the agreement’s signing between Ecuador and Spain on May 29, 2001, its policies were legally put into effect. Due to limited information, a limited number of Ecuadorian temporary circular workers in Spain and insufficient previous studies, this research uses a qualitative approach to describe temporary circular labor migration from Ecuador to Spain. Interviews to authorities who are directly involved in the application of the bilateral agreement between Ecuador and Spain were conducted and their outcome was compared with statistical data in order to obtain significant results. By analyzing this research topic, a series of facts have revealed the small participation of this agreement in the immigration management between these two countries. For example, according to the Ministry of Labor and Immigration of Spain (MOLI), from 2006 to 2007, due to of the agreement’s implementation, 4,682 temporary residence permits were granted to Ecuadorians; however, during the same period of time MOLI granted to Ecuadorians the total number of 439,725 temporary residence permits. This study has determined that the limited Spanish labor offers received by the Migrant Workers Union; other bilateral agreements signed between Spain and African, European and other Latin countries; and the lack of agreements between Ecuador and Spanish agrarian unions were the obstacles preventing the agreement from realizing its original vision. Finally, it must be noted that beginning in 2008, immigration from Ecuador to Spain began decreasing as a result not of the agreement’s policies, but due to the downturn of the Spanish economy. Keywords: Temporary circular labor migration, bilateral agreement.

Ce mémoire présente une analyse comparative exploratoire de la non-utilisation de l’appareil juridique étatique trinidadien en cas de conflit de travail pour les travailleurs migrants temporaires et les travailleurs trinidadiens au sein de French Touch Construction, filiale d’une entreprise française de construction à Port of Spain (Trinidad et Tobago). C’est à travers une perspective foucaldienne que sera examinée la question de la non-utilisation de l’appareil juridique étatique trinidadien en cas de conflit de travail. Cette non-utilisation de l’appareil juridique étatique est étudiée comme un effet des migrations internationales de travail, et ce, à l’encontre des travailleurs migrants (Sud et Nord) et des travailleurs locaux trinidadiens. Ainsi, je propose que nous assistons à une transformation des conditions de travail et des droits accordés aux employés trinidadiens et non pas uniquement à l’encontre des travailleurs temporaires migrants. En effet, le phénomène des migrations internationales de travail dégrade également le statut social de l’employé local qui est concurrencé par cette main-d’oeuvre étrangère, en provenance des pays du Sud ou du Nord et qu’il doit lui aussi être plus flexible et moins exigeant sur ses droits pour être inclus dans cette nouvelle économie du travail.
This research focuses on an exploratory comparative study on the non-accessibility to justice in labor dispute for temporary migrant workers and local workers, based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Port-Of-Spain (Trinidad and Tobago) in a French construction company named French Touch Construction. Building from Foucault's thought, I analyze the non-accessibility to justice as a negative effect of the international labor migrations on temporary migrant workers (North and South) and Trinidadian workers. As a result, I argue that the transformation of work and workers’ rights are not only an issue for temporary migrant workers but also for Trinidadian workers. Effectively, international labor migration involve competition between employees and thus deteriorate the social status of Trinidadian employees in the French Touch Company. Indeed, employees have to be more flexible and less demanding of their rights to be included in this new work economy. To sum it up, I suggest that the international labor migrations, which encourage the worker to perceive himself as a holder of limited rights, also favor a managerial conflict resolution that is unfavorable for the employee.

La mobilité rurale-urbaine est sans contredit l’un des phénomènes les plus marquants que la Chine a connus depuis ses réformes des années 1980. D’une ampleur colossale, elle a constitué un fondement essentiel de sa transition et de son développement économiques. Or, si l’impact social de cette mobilité a été abondamment étudié dans les villes où séjournent les paysans, il demeure peu connu dans leur communauté d’origine, et encore moins en contexte de « nationalité minoritaire ». Reposant sur une enquête de terrain de plus d’une année, cette thèse en géographie sociale examine la (re)construction sociale dans une communauté rurale et minoritaire (c.àd. Hmong ou Miao) de Chine en lien avec le phénomène de la mobilité de travail. D’une intensité croissante, la pratique de la mobilité de travail par les membres de cette communauté est double. Les migrants sont soit des herboristes ambulants dans les villes de l’espace régional, soit des travailleurs salariés dans les villes orientales du pays. L’utilisation d’une approche du changement social intégrant les sphères du réel et de l’imagination et prenant en compte les dimensions territoriale et économique du phénomène migratoire est originale. De même, l’importance égale portée aux discours et aux actions des migrants et des non-migrants dans le processus de transformation sociale se veut novatrice. Dans ses résultats, cette thèse fait état, premièrement, d’une refonte des logiques territoriales et économiques de la communauté étudiée sous l’effet du phénomène migratoire. De toute évidence, les fondements géographiques de son territoire se sont récemment complexifiés et multipliés. Désormais, une variété de lieux, de frontières, de réseaux sociaux et d’échelles se dessine dans les configurations territoriales de ses membres. Les implications économiques sont tout aussi patentes. Outre la forte dominance des transferts d’argent des migrants dans les budgets familiaux, les questions du développement et des inégalités aux différentes échelles de la communauté renvoient aujourd’hui essentiellement au fait migratoire. Deuxièmement, cette thèse montre la forte empreinte laissée par la mobilité dans la sphère sociale. Nécessitant soutien aux extrémités de leur parcours, les migrants sollicitent de plus en plus l’aide de leurs réseaux lignagers, claniques, villageois et matrilinéaires. Et dans ce processus, il n’est pas rare qu’ils enfreignent consciemment les principes hiérarchiques traditionnels de leurs rapports familiaux. Aussi, au travers de la mobilité, des groupes longtemps marginalisés, tels les femmes et les jeunes adultes, ont acquis estime, autonomie et pouvoir décisionnel. Parallèlement, l’ordre social s’est bouleversé. Ce n’est plus le volume de la production agricole, mais le nombre de travailleurs migrants qui détermine aujourd’hui les différentes classes sociales de la communauté. Finalement, dans le contexte plus large des populations rurales et minoritaires de Chine et du Massif sud-est asiatique, cette thèse fait ressortir l’importance d’aborder la question de l’impact social de la mobilité au-delà des paradigmes de la modernisation et de l’intégration. Contrairement à la plupart des écrits touchant à cette question, il ne suffit pas de porter le regard sur l’influence que les urbains et leur mode de vie soi-disant moderne exercent sur les migrants. Il est également nécessaire de reconnaître les capacités d’initiative et d’innovation sociale des membres de ces populations, migrants et non-migrants. Mais aussi, cette recherche démontre que la question identitaire se doit d’être prise en compte. Les sentiments de marginalité et de subordination demeurent vivaces au travers du phénomène migratoire. Et de tels sentiments semblent se traduire, le plus souvent, par un renforcement des liens sociaux et intracommunautaires au sein même de ces populations minoritaires.
Rural-urban mobility is unquestionably one of the most striking phenomena that China has experienced since the wide-ranging reforms of the 1980s. Besides its unparalleled magnitude, it has been an essential foundation of its economic transition and development. But if the social impact of mobility has been extensively studied in cities where ‘peasants’ (as farmers are called in China) sojourn, little is known of the effects of mobility in their community of origin, and even less when the community belongs to a ‘minority nationality’. Based on fieldwork conducted over an 18-month period, this dissertation examines the impact of labor migration on the social (re)construction of a Hmong (Miao) community in rural China. Practices of mobility for work purposes are twofold in the studied community: migrants are either itinerant herbalists in close-by cities or factory workers in the eastern cities of the country. An original approach to social change has been used, integrating the spheres of imagination and practice, and takes into account the economic and spatial components of the migration phenomenon. Moreover, this research proposes an innovative theoretical model, by giving equal importance to the discourses and the actions in the process of social change of both migrants and non-migrants. First, this study reveals the recent remodeling of the spatial and the economic foundations of the studied community. It shows that places, scales, social networks and borders all structure the community’s territory – in both real and imaginary spheres – and that they have become more complex and numerous as a result of the unprecedented circular migration of its inhabitants to and from their village. At the economic level, besides confirming dominance of remittances at the household level, it also appears that development and inequality issues are now addressed by members of the community primarily through the phenomenon of migration. Second, the results expose the strong imprint of mobility in the social sphere. In need of support, migrants and left-behinds are increasingly seeking help within their lineage, clan, village, and matrilineal networks. In this process, it is not uncommon for them to consciously go against the traditional family hierarchies. Through mobility, long marginalized groups such as women and young adults, have now gained esteem, autonomy and decision-making power. Meanwhile, the social order has shifted. It is no longer the volume of agricultural production, but the number of migrant workers, which now determine the social classes within the community. Finally, in the broader context of minorities in China and the Southeast Asian Massif, this dissertation addresses the debate about the social impact of mobility beyond the paradigms of modernization and integration. Unlike most of the literature pertaining to this issue, this research provides evidence that it is not enough to focus on the changes experienced by migrants through contact with urban dwellers and their so-called modern way of life. It shows that it is necessary to recognize the capacity for initiative and social innovation of all the members of these minorities, migrants or non-migrants. It also stresses the centrality of the question of identity. Feelings of marginality and subordination remain strong and they do not seem to fade as a result of migration. On the contrary, these feelings seem to most often result in a strengthening of social and community bonds within these minorities.