Abhishek Yadav
April 13, 2021
COVID-19 has affected millions of migrant labourers and their livelihoods adversely through its various repercussions. Its challenges are local as well as global demanding collective solidarity. To address these significant issues, seven global and regional civil society organisations, including MFA, GRFDT, CCRM, CSAC, AlianzaAmericas, PICUM, and CMDP, have collaborated to conduct the series of five webinars. To provide the civil society perspectives and to bring forward the crucial agendas in the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF),that is scheduled in 2022 for the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), an important webinar titled “Migration, COVID and a New Social Contract” was organised on April 13, 2021. This webinar called for a “New Social Contract with a floor of a Universal Labour Guarantee”, thereby attempting to ensure decent jobs for all workers with minimum living wages, universal social protection, access to justice/remedy, and social dialogues. The webinar was more inclusive because simultaneous translation was done in four languages, namely English, Arabic, French, and Spanish. The webinar was moderated by William Gois from Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA).
William Gois, Migrant Forum in Asia
Emphasising the need for immediate attentionto the burning and unresolved issues of migrant workers, William Gois called for a grassroots approach for its implementation. He asserted that the webinar series is meant to trigger conversation building into grassroots preparations and grassroots mobilisation to engage with the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) next year and engage with international forums where migration governance is discussed through the process of building and moving forward.
William argued that there is a need for data which can provide details about the countries which allow migrant workers to join union so that pressure can be asserted on those countries which have been neglecting it for so long. He stressed that domestic workers haveplayed a key role in looking after families and communities in the destination countries. William posed the question to the respective governments and international organisations- can domestic workers see that the world recognises them not only as essential workers but also as regular workers under full labour code of the country?
There is a need to recognise and bring migrant workers under the decent work agenda as vulnerabilities of migrant workers have been increasing over time.
William observed that there is a need to recognise that the present labour paradigm is systematically deficient of labour and human rights. Therefore, the whole kind of temporary labour migration programmes and guest worker programmes have largely exploited the labours of individuals that are brought across. Respective governments often forget that these individuals have been pulled out or have left homes and communities living in precarious conditions. On a positive note, William said that “we can shape the future of the society and become a part oft his agenda of transformation and change”.
Albert “Ambet” Yuson- General Secretary, Building and Wood Workers (BWI)
Asserting the focus on migrant workers, Yuson argued that everybody has been talking about post-pandemic recovery, building back better, new normal- infrastructure, investment in green jobs, which will lead to economic recovery without prioritising the recovery of migrant workers. He highlighted that during ‘normal times’, migrants were left out and during the ‘new normal’ after the 2008 financial crisis, migrants were left behind again. In ‘building back better’, migrants were again left behind as migrant workers were not given equal respect and protection.
Yuson pointed out that there is a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration(GCM), but specifically, there is no Global Compact with Migrant Workers as the issue of migrant workers is only being seen through a narrow nationalistic frame. There is a need to understand that migration is not an issue of one country! In times of crisis, migrants are left out, and hence he demanded four crucial policy changes globally. Firstly, “rights for all migrants workers” as they must be treated equally like every worker around the world with the right to organise collectively or in the form of unions. Secondly, the issue of ‘wage-theft’, where respective governments should pay what is due to the migrants as it must be non-negotiable. It should not be even fought in Courts as it is a migrant’s fundamental right. Non-payment of wages is stealing from workers, and therefore governments must impose sanctions.
Governments should create a “Compensation Fund/Workers fund” and recruiting companies should provide a certain amount of fund if they want migrant workers.
Thirdly, there is a need for “Global Social Protection for Migrants” as ILO, World Bank, and UN agencies are talking about social protection, but specifically, migrant workers are not being mentioned that they will also be part of the social protection schemes. Fourthly, the “narrative of inclusion” needs to be prioritised where issues like low wage leading to social tensions where migrants are accused of stealing jobs need to be resolved. The pandemic has clarified that migrant workers are essential workers- health workers, drivers, grocery workers, taxi drivers, construction workers etc.
Yuson pressed on the need for a multilateral approach with the help of multilateral agencies to resolve the issues of migrant workers. He also asserted that migrant workers are being seen as beneficiaries and not as actors with immense power. Hence, there is a need for migrant workers to organise and build power globally so that a new global migrant movement can be build up.
Bariyah- Field Organizer, Persatuan Pekerja Rumah Tangga Indonesia Migran (PERTIMIG)
Bariyah mentioned that Malaysia is a living country for around 400,000 domestic workers, including many undocumented workers. They have been facing lots of pressure as their members have either lost jobs or are facing COVID-19. Additionally, a lot of exploitation is taking place in terms of unpaid salaries, and they are also facing discrimination as they cannot go to legal offices because they are undocumented.
The right to freedom of association for migrant domestic workers is being violated over the years. The policy gap also exists because of the non-recognition of migrant domestic workers in Malaysia. They lack the freedom of joining associations and they do not have any union which they can join.
Give migrant domestic workers the rights to association and freedom to speak.
She highlighted that the domestic migrant workers data is not available in Malaysia. Bariyah urged that all countries should ratify the Domestic Workers Convention (C189) and argued that “IDWF is representing over 500,000 domestic workers around the world and hence they need to be given a place in the policymaking”.
Ryszard Cholewinski- Senior Migration Specialist in the ILO Regional Office for Arab States
Ryszard mentioned pertinent policy inputs by referring to the article written by Vani Saraswathi titled “Protecting migrant workers in the Gulf: don’t build back better over a poor foundation” for the OECD to ensure the protection of the migrant workers in the Gulf.
Ryszard raises doubt over the existence of social contract ever in history for migrants because social contract implies the agreement between the ruler and the ruled or the government and the governed. In the Gulf context, he stated that a quintessential temporary migration regime exists, and there is a high need to make it fairer by rethinking the paradigm on temporary labour migration. There has been this paradigm for the last two decades, and it is linked to systemic issues and decent work that have been magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He highlighted some of the shortcomings which need to be overcome. Firstly, excessive dependence of migrant workers on their employers. For example, kafala system in the Gulf and other restrictive sponsorship exist in other regions of the world. Secondly, there is a mismatch between regulation in place and actual demand for migrant workers in the labour market, specifically in Europe. In the EU, effective facilitation for admission of highly skilled migrants is done, while very restrictive rules are imposed for low-skilled or low-income workers. Regulations around these admissions are very complex and increase the risk of irregularity. He admired and recommended the PICUM report “Designing Labour Migration Policies to Promote Decent Work” and the MFA report “Crying Out For Justice: Wage Theft Against Migrant Workers during COVID-19”.
There are other abuses in the temporary labour migration agenda- temporary labour migrant workers are particularly prone to not have social protection, particularly in the event of unemployment, occupational injury, pension provision, very little or no opportunities for a family reunion. There has also been the issue of limited voice, limitation on freedom of association, right to organise and collective bargaining.
As there is an absence of social dialogue, there is a need for a ‘social contract’ not only involving governments and employers but also including migrant organisations and CSOs in the design, implementation, and monitoring of the migration programmes, thereby involving these stakeholders in shaping these policies.
In terms of institutional perspective, deep inequality at work is being discussed by ILO, and the pandemic has highlighted it. There is a need of reassessing temporary labour migration as these programs are prone to being fundamentally flawed in terms of protection of rights, and hence there is a need for stocktaking of temporary labour migration programmes. There are lots of solutions in international labour standards, human rights standards which are already existing for workers. Some good solutions are there in GCM, particularly Objective 5 and 6. However, there is a need for political will for the implementation.
Leticia Ishibashi- Networks Officer at Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)
Leticia described that after Brexit, one of the key challenges had been the increased risks of irregularity. In the new immigration system, generally, what is lacking is a general immigration policy for the low paid work. She highlighted that the only way of showing that we value essential workers is to recognise them under the Decent Work Agenda. According to her, moving out and the free movement has been one of the things that have been lacking US federal immigration.
She described a need to have some threshold of how much one earns, which is above the minimum wage, to understand that people are low paid workers, so they can first have a pathway to migrate in the UK. There are sectors that are heavily reliant on European and non-European migrants for social care, and sectors that are heavily affected by the pandemic like hospitality because they are heavily dependent on migrant labour. The only alternative visa pathway for low paid migrant workers is temporary migration schemes. So, currently, the UK has one scheme in agriculture that is six months long and domestic workers visa regime that is also six months long. She believes that the post-Brexit immigration system is not what the country needs – facing labour shortages – to but rather, it has been done in a way that is counterproductive to that. The demand for low paid work is a lot while there are no avenues for people to come in and fill in these labour shortages.
Leticia pointed out that irregularity does not just come from people that have come into the country that are not regular, but sometimes people also come into the country with a visa, and they might have some issues with visas that make them irregular. If they go beyond the working conditions that are defined, they also become vulnerable. For example, students who come into the UK can work up to 20 hours; if they work for 21 hours, they are already becoming irregular. It has been observed that employers push students to work for longer hours, especially during the COVID-19 when former do not have access to people who can work for longer hours. Therefore, students become an extension for longer hours. Additionally, people are coming into the country with tourist visas and then start working through that because that is the only way to come into the country and employers ask the same labour to fill in shortages.
When it comes to migrant workers’ vulnerability, both irregularity and exploitation are not intrinsic for being a migrant; however, it is constructed. It is a political choice to design and limit the people’s rights, making it harder for them to report the violation of rights.
She reported that increasing exploitation is one of the major issues. Employers start exploiting migrant workers once they come to know of their undocumented status, or they know that workers can not easily switch to other sectors rendering them more vulnerable. It is important to note that before Brexit, in the UK, there was an immigrant system that was hostile towards migrants. Essentially, the key feature is to make the pay hard and say for those that are not complying with immigration policy.
The introduction of illegal working offence in 2017 in the UK started to criminalise those who are in the UK without proper documentation or if one is working or doing what one isnot allowed to. It has resulted in the scenario where even documented workers are so scared of potential immigration consequences like arrest, potential removal from the country.As such,they feel unable to provide the record of the place and exploitation network. The police and other family services including healthcare, and local authorities, can help immigration authorities, identify people that have immigration offences creating an environment where there is no trust in the authorities that are supposed to protect and support migrant workers.
Leticia described that many people lost their job or are in higher need of employment-related support. They are not under any type of social safety net, and therefore they have become heavily reliant on their jobs, and they become more vulnerable to exploitation because of it. It seems that “vulnerability is constructed to limit people’s choices”. There is a need to recognise the power structure and where migrant workers sit in it. Governments need to deviate from the immigration control system.
Maria (“Mari”) Perales Sanchez- Elizabeth Mauldin Advocate for Migrant Women (EMMA), Centro De Los Derechos Del Migrante, Inc. (CDM)
Maria conveyed that they work primarily with low wage migrant workers, those who work under temporary visas and guest worker programmes. Many migrant workers are commonly recruited by a recruiter or a third-party agent hired by the employer in their home communities and Mexico and migrate to work in the US in the season time. Though workers visa and immigration are the toughest that is being conditional on the employment to a single employer, their immigration status depends on that job and on that employer, and these programmes have expanded tremendously in the last decade. It is also seen in the US context, but protections have not been extended.
She argued that even before the pandemic, migrant workers already faced grave vulnerability and abuse in these programmes, which are largely unregulated and privatised in their structure in ways that lead themselves to systemic worker abuse. For years they have documented violations and occupational health and safety, forced labour, trafficking, wage theft, recruitment fraud and abuse, discrimination, and retaliation. All of these were already being considered for migrant workers prior to the pandemic, and, something we see across our guest worker programmes, class definitely poses further susceptibility for each of us.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the CDM team have urged local and state officials and the Federal US government to implement emergency measures such as a temporary emergency standard to put in place for protection for workers during the pandemic. It included COVID-19 preparedness plans at the workplace, access to PPE, vaccination, treatment, paid sick leave, stronger protections against retaliation.
Maria mentioned that essential workers and migrant workers served in essential industries such as agriculture, seafood, poultry, healthcare, and others. However, certain issues reflect a bigger structural problem, and those require a complete overhaul. For that, they have advocated and continue to advocate for a labour migration model based on a value system that prioritises experiences, the voices, and the dignity of migrant workers. With the coalition of workers’ rights organisations, academics, and unions, they have been pressuring the government officials to advance labour migration systems that reflect the humanity of migrant workers that we call the alternative labour migration model, which we will examine till we have more extensive protections finding value such as freedom of movement, family reunification, access to justice, self-determination.
There is a need to affirm our commitment to the social contract that ensures workers access to benefits and permanent residency, rather than the more temporary labour programmes that have been our solution to a lot of the migration issues we face today.
According to her, the introduction of the US Citizenship Act provides citizen a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented people. It also includes certain workers in temporary programmes such as those that are agricultural workers in nature to a programme in the US. The position has always been to really make sure that these programmes are structured in ways that reflect the dignity of migrant workers and families. Maria hoped that with the current administration, there needs to have more discussions to advance certain changes and policies.
The webinar involved eminent speakers providing action-oriented policy recommendations to fill the policy gaps, thereby envisioning a better and humane world acknowledging and appreciating the valuable role of migrant workers across the globe. When the entire humanity is grappling with the current pandemic, such webinar becomes highly relevant. It has presented comprehensive migratory discourse advocating a new social contract based on mutual recognition and respect, acknowledging the immense contribution of migrant labourers.
Abhishek Yadav, PhD Candidate and Senior Research Fellow at Centre for South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.