JOBS TO RENT

"Migration and Temporary Agency Work in the EU welfare, tourist and agricultural sectors"

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Migrants constitute the most significant pool of workers at the disposal of the EU member states that wish to expand flexible forms of labour in order to meet the demands of their increasingly ageing and diverse population. They usually fit best the profile of the poor and vulnerable segments of society that would readily take the low status, low pay jobs, yet their freedom of movement towards (and within) the EU labour markets is restricted by inflexible migration policy regimes leaving the space open to a wide array of social networks to construct pathways of entry.

Interdisciplinary research touching on the issue of the migrants’ integration in host societies has indicated so far that the ways migrants enter the host country are somehow related with the work opportunities and conditions they experience. This project aims to systematically investigate the factors determining the forms of temporary agency work in specific economic sectors.

The key contribution of the proposed study from a conceptual perspective is that it tackles issues having to do with the socioeconomic context of work and its organisation as well as questions related to the socio-political framing of the (migrant) worker’s mobility. From an empirical and policy-related perspective, the significance of this research project consists in addressing the question of temporary agency work in a comparative setting across labour markets with different settings of work and across two EU countries experiencing different and managing differently migration flows.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

An EU team studied the circumstances of migrant workers, recommending policy change. Industries in Greece and the United Kingdom that rely on agency workers are effectively unregulated, often operating illegally while exploiting and mistreating vulnerable people.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Large numbers of migrant workers are often available and willing to take low-status, low-pay jobs. Yet, such people's movement towards and within the EU labour market is restricted, hence social networks often create back-door pathways to entry.

The EU-funded JOBS TO RENT (Migration and temporary agency work in the EU welfare, tourist and agricultural sectors) project aimed to investigate. The study documented the different forms that flexible migrant labour may take, plus factors affecting temporary agency work in certain economic sectors. Data were taken from two countries very different in terms of legislation concerning agency work: Greece and the United Kingdom. A further goal was to produce an informed policy analysis. The two-year project concluded in September 2014.

Greek firms using temporary labour may be subjected to a stricter legal framework than their United Kingdom counterparts. Yet, the employment conditions of agency workers were almost unregulated. Agencies often exploited workers, and created sector monopolies for themselves despite laws.

In the United Kingdom, regulations have been largely circumvented by businesses and agencies, particularly in the food industry. Companies and agencies switched workers to contracts offering worse pay and conditions, and routinely discharged employees before they reached the 12-week equal pay qualifying period. However, in certain sectors, including agriculture, employers used a greater number of non-agency workers. Nevertheless, the recruitment of such workers may still involve agencies abroad and various illegal practices. The study concluded that in this country's case, monitoring may be more effective than further legislation.

Other European countries demonstrated social and financial support for agency workers, and illustrated the role of collective bargaining above the company level for worker protections.

The JOBS TO RENT project revealed the situation regarding labour migration in the EU. The outcomes have policy implications, and the project team offered four recommendations.