Transcript Lamare et al - Keele University

Methodological Issues
Related to Researching OHS
of Migrant Workers:
A Cross-National Comparison
D. Anderson, M. Boocock, Z. Hannif, S. Jamieson, R.
Lamare, F. Lamm, T. Laurenson, C. Martin, N.
McDonnell, C. Robertson, P. Schweder, B. Shulruf
Bournemouth University
November 4, 2010
Introduction
Our study considers both the methodological issues, and potential
solutions to these issues, that have plagued research into the OHS of
migrant workers, and also the currently available information about
this population in five countries, wherein we hope to apply our own
proposed methodology
 We specifically note the influence of cultural and institutional
divergences on this research, and accept that, because of these
divergences, no one “best way” can necessarily apply to the study of
migrant workers
 Our research sits within a number of intersecting concerns, all of
which we can document in our cross-national comparison:
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– Globalisation and the increasing movement of people
– The vulnerability of migrant workers and their tendency to cluster at the
periphery of the labour market
– The precarious and unregulated nature of this peripheral labour market
– The consequent over-representation of migrant workers in data on
workplace illness and injury rates
– The difficulty researchers face in attempting to fully determine the
extent of the problem
– The methodological issues with identifying an “invisible” group
Defining Migrant Labour
Before discussing the literature and methodology on OHS and
migrant labour, we must establish a working definition
 For our research, we use Sargeant and Tucker’s (2009) definition,
which defines migrants as:
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– “…workers who have migrated to another country to take up work but
who currently do not have a permanent status in the receiving country.…
The migrant category …includes both workers who have obtained a legal
right to enter and work, as well as those who have entered and are
working without legal authorisation. It also includes temporary foreign
workers (TFWs) whose right to work is time-limited from the outset, as
well as foreign workers who have a more open-ended right to remain
but have not yet obtained permanent status”
Within their model, there is an understanding of the association
between migrant work and vulnerable work, and a clear relationship
between migrants and both contingency and workplace hazard/risk
 From their model, we can develop four layers of vulnerability for
migrant workers
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Layers of Vulnerability
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Layer 1 – Receiving country factors: Socio-economic conditions
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Layer 2 – Migration factors: Migration security, such as
in receiving country, sectors in which migrant workers are
employed; access to, and strength of, collective representation;
access to, and strength of regulatory protection; social
inclusion/ exclusion; living on employer’s premises; urban/rural
location; role of unions/civil society groups, eg Church and
community groups.
existence of legal status in receiving country; visa or non-visa
status; whether status tied to contract of employment as well
as the duration and conditions of right to remain. Role of
recruitment agents and employers in migration process and the
treatment of migrants.
Layers of Vulnerability
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Layer 3 – Migrant worker factors: Reasons for
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Layer 4 – OHS: management commitment to OHS and
migrating, such as the socio-economic conditions in
home country. The education, language and skill
levels of the migrant. The availability and access to
decent work. Remittances home.
well-being of their staff; level of compliance, effective
OHS management systems, H&S worker
representatives, level of understanding or effort made
to educate in migrant groups first language.
Literature on OHS of Migrant Workers
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The literature shows that the employment of migrant
labour is increasingly common and widespread,
particularly in industries where non-standard, precarious
employment and the use of unregulated, contingent
labour are prevalent
Research indicates that migrant workers often work
longer and more unsociable hours than non-migrants
Studies show that migrants have lower levels of job
security and less access to typical worker entitlements
The literature suggests that migrants are often
marginalised, lacking an economic or social safety net
and falling between the protective cracks of their new
country
Questions related to cultural diversity and OHS often
arise in the literature, though they are complex and
often value-laden
Gaps in the Literature
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Despite growing research interest, OHS of migrant
workers is largely absent from the discourse on
globalisation
– Focus instead is on trade and capital flow, etc.
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Within the international health discourse, many fail
to look beyond strictly medical paradigms to
consider the broader social, economic, and cultural
contexts in which health issues are embedded
Extant research is located in a limited number of
industries (i.e., textile, retail, call centres)
Issues related to well-being and psychological
stress for foreign workers are not often considered
Known difficulties in tracking down respondents
Methodological Issues
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Rather than using a single “best” approach, there is an
emerging consensus that a suite of research methods must
be used to overcome methodological issues of studying
migrant workers, given the following problems:
– Migrant workers are difficult to reach, the employers are often
hostile to intrusion, and the workforce is typically contingent,
mobile and frequently hidden
– Single-method, survey-based or experimental research designs
are unlikely capture sufficient data, particularly when looking at
SMEs
– It is difficult to gauge the extent of occupational illness and injury
amongst migrant workers as government databases are
frequently incompatible and fail to capture the OHS issues of this
group
– Problem of making an “invisible” group “visible” – both ethical and
methodological concerns
– Tension (often cultural) between the researcher and subject
Response to These Issues
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Given these concerns, it is crucial to select an epistemology
that is culturally respectful and gives clear voice to the
participants
– Particularly important given the power dynamic at play in research
(Smith 1999)
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Developing an inclusive social epistemology can overcome
some of these problems by removing the cultural distance
between researcher and participant
– One approach, known as talanoa, is particularly appropriate, and
is increasingly used when looking at South Pacific migrants
– Talanoa is essentially an unstructured or semi-structured
interview, but is considerate of cultural norms and customs, and is
reliant on (a) equality of participants; and (b) a shared dialog
between the participants
– The underlying principles of talanoa can also be found in
environmental health community-based participatory research
approaches, wherein information exchange by all stakeholders
(not just the experts) is key
Response to These Issues
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However, employing solely a talanoa or similar
approach is not necessarily enough
methodologically, given that questions remain over
reliability and validity
– A triangulation method, wherein multiple sources
confirm and support assertions, is also essential
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Combining a social epistemology with a
triangulated approach broadens the research
methods and design palette, allowing the
researcher to explore and construct an appropriate
suite of methods that consider cultural, ethical and
logistical imperatives
International Comparisons: Australia
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Currently, 25 percent of Australians (5.5 mil) originate from overseas
Between 2008 and 2009, 62 percent of population growth was
accounted for by migration
Post-WWII, most migration was from Europe; recently, large scale
migration from Oceania (19%) and Asia (43%) in addition to Europe
(18%)
Immigrants settle largely in urban areas (39% of Sydney population;
35% for Melbourne)
Wide range of working permits, including those for student
immigrants (restricted to 20 hours of work)
Temporary business long-stay visas are criticised as a way for
employers to exploit migrants (illegal wages; little access to basic
OHS rights)
Tremendous number of temporary visa-holders overstay their allotted
time and continue working illegally
Our current research has focused on the experience of international
student migrants in Australia and NZ (Anderson, Lamare and Hannif),
using interviews and data
International Comparisons: France
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Central feature of French discourse on migrant OHS is how to define
“migrant”
– At broadest level, INSEE defines immigrants as those who were not born in
France and whose parents are “foreigners” (i.e., not of French ancestry)
– An individual is considered as belonging to the immigrant population even if he
or she takes French nationality
– Work permits are typically issued to those migrants with trade skills that are
needed in France and restricted to a period of one year and less
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Most migrants (45%) hail from Europe or Africa (39.3%)
Legal migrants constitute 8.6% of the French labour force
However, it is estimated that the number of illegal/undocumented migrants
entering France annually is in the region of 30,000 to 40,000 per year
Unemployment amongst migrants is twice as high as French domestic labour
40 percent are in unskilled jobs
Migrant workers are typically concentrated around the building sector
(14.9%), the business services (10.3%) and private services (15%)
Migrant workers, and in particular new migrants, are exposed to more
hazardous, monotonous and isolated working conditions compared to the
rest of the working population (DARES 2009)
Our research focuses on migrant labour in the construction industry (Martin)
International Comparisons: Kuwait
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Currently, the population in Kuwait is almost 3 million, in which 34% are
Kuwaitis and 66% are expatriate workers employed entirely in the private
sector
Expatriate Europeans tend to be employed in professional occupations, such
as engineering, IT, logistics, human resources and education
The less skilled and manual occupations tend to be dominated by workers
from Middle Eastern, African and Asian countries
A new Private Sector Labour Law is designed to improve the wages and
working conditions of migrant workers, except domestic workers, which
includes cleaners, cooks and male chauffeuses
– Over 36,000 migrants or 19% of the migrant labour force are employed as
domestic workers and that approximately 70% of Kuwait households employ at
least one domestic worker
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The majority of workers involved in occupational injuries and fatalities were
from migrants employed precariously in the construction industry; however,
lack of data and under-reporting lead to unreliable information
Methodological issues -- very difficult to obtain interview data from migrant
workers in the domestic service and construction industries where most are
located, as employers will rarely give permission to interview their workers
Our research addresses migrant labour in the construction industry
(Robertson)
International Comparisons: NZ
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NZ’s migrant population is approx 927,000, in which over 1/3 of the people
born overseas had been living in NZ for four years or less
In NZ migrant arrivals exceeded departures (an excess of 172,290) in 2008
In Auckland, over 60% of the population are now migrants
New Zealand has one of the largest concentrations of Pacific Island workers
in the world
– Samoans constitute the largest Pacific Island ethnic group in New Zealand,
comprising 131,103 or 49% of the resident Pacific population
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Casual migrant workers, most of whom are from the Pacific Islands, make
up a significant proportion of NZ’s primary sector labour force
It is estimated that NZ has 40,000 seasonal jobs with 30,000 of these
located in the forestry and horticulture sectors, and 10,000 in the sheep
shearing industry
– The primary sector has the highest recorded level of occupational injuries and
fatalities in New Zealand
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Recently, a temporary labour migration scheme, the Recognised Seasonal
Employer (RSE), was launched in response to a labour shortage in the
horticultural and viticulture sectors.
– The RSE scheme gives priority access to Pacific workers, and allows for up to
5,000 workers to be employed at any one time
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Our research addresses migrant labour in agriculture, health, and
construction, and also looks more broadly at NZ trends
International Comparisons: USA
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In the US, characterizing migrant workers is difficult, given the
heterogeneity of these workers and their dispersal across a variety of
industries
– Governance and jurisdictional considerations further complicate the issue, as
individual states may be seen as more or less friendly to migrant workers,
depending, for instance, on their specific immigration laws
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Defining the term “migrant worker” is difficult, considering the US often uses
“foreign worker” as a proxy for the type of worker we are studying
There are about 21,239,000 foreign born workers employed in the U.S
– However, it is not clear to what extent these workers are employed legally or
illegally
– Foreign born workers have higher unemployment rates than US workers
– Foreign born workers were more likely than native born workers to be employed
in traditionally blue-collar sectors such as construction, services, maintenance,
production, and transportation
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Latinos are amongst the largest ethnic group of foreign workers; workrelated fatalities for Latinos are far higher than those for non-Latinos
– Considerable suspicion of under-reporting for non-fatal Latino workplace injuries
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Migrant workers are often misclassified as independent contractors when
they are in fact employees, particularly in the construction industry
Our research addresses migrant worker misclassification in construction and
other industries (Lamare)
Conclusions from Country Research
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Several common themes can be identified across the
countries we study:
– Governments have tended to treat migrant labour as a disposable
commodity
– Migrant workers are over-represented in sectors that have a
prevalence of precarious, hazardous employment
– Migrant workers are significantly over-represented in the workrelated injury, illness and fatality rates in each of the countries
– The lack of access or visibility of migrant workers creates
problems for both government agents and researchers alike in all
of these countries
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Although the countries share commonalities, our
methodological position suggests that the best approach in
further researching these issues is to carefully consider
cultural and institutional differences, and to rely less on
data-driven analysis and more on holistic, participatory
interviews, similar to the talanoa method
Next Steps for Our Research
Further refine the methodology, particularly on
a country-by-country basis
 Undertake pilot studies in specific countries
 Identify and apply for sources of research
funding (EU, ILO, etc.)
 Develop a post-graduate cohort around this
topic
 Undertake a study on the perceptions of the
research cluster
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Connecting our Research Interests
OHS in
Diverse
Workplaces
The use of
Psychological
Managing
Migrant Labour
Contracts
Diverse Health
in Precarious
Cultural
Teams
Employment
Diversity
Regulating
Migrant Labour
Migrant Labour
Supply Chains to
in the
In Agriculture
Improve Health Construction
Sector
and Safety
Industry
OHS &
Child Labour
Our Research Agenda and Team
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Migrant Labour in the Construction Industry:
– France: Christophe Martin, Ecole des Mine de Paris
– Kuwait: Cathy Robertson, AUT
Migrant Labour in the Health Sector:
– New Zealand: Boaz Schulruf, University of Auckland
Migrant Labour in the Agricultural Sector:
– Samoa: Tyron Laurenson, Oceania Medical University
– Tonga: Alo Lutu, AUT
Migrant Labour:
–
–
–
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UK: Ryan Lamare, University of Manchester
Canada: Nadine McDonnell, AUT
Australia: Suzanne Jamieson, Sydney University & Zennie Hannif, UTS
New Zealand: Felicity Lamm, Danae Anderson, Peter Schweder AUT