Migrants at Work and the Division of Labour Law

Chapter 1 of C Costello & M Freedland Migrants at Work: Immigration and Vulnerability in Labour Law (Oxford University Press 2014)

Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 39/2015

28 Pages Posted: 30 Jun 2015

See all articles by Mark R. Freedland

Mark R. Freedland

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

Cathryn Costello

University College Dublin (UCD); University of Oxford - Faculty of Law; University of Oxford - Refugee Studies Centre; Hertie School

Date Written: 2014

Abstract

This is the opening chapter of the edited collection Costello & Freedland (eds) Migrants at Work: Immigration and Vulnerability in Labour Law (OUP, 2014). Drawing on the wide-ranging contributions to that collection, it identifies the intersection between migration law and labour law, and explores the analytical and normative significance of that intersection. The fact of immigration, and more particularly the various kinds of status which migration law accords to immigrants, are a source of divisiveness in labour law. Existing divisions within labour law, both between labour law’s objectives and its subjects, are exacerbated, and new divisions created. We do not posit the figure of the migrant as vulnerable, but rather identify how migration law creates vulnerability by distorting the employment relationship. In particular, migration law often increases the dependency between worker and employer, and exacerbates the precariousness of the relationship. We identify the unresolved normative tension between the objectives of expanding employers’ access to migrant workers; protecting the employment prospects and conditions of local worker; and acknowledging the importance of migration for the life chances and even, in some instances, survival of migrants. Various regulatory strategies to overcome these tensions and heal these divisions are explored, across migration, human rights and labour law.

Suggested Citation

Freedland, Mark R. and Costello, Cathryn and Costello, Cathryn, Migrants at Work and the Division of Labour Law (2014). Chapter 1 of C Costello & M Freedland Migrants at Work: Immigration and Vulnerability in Labour Law (Oxford University Press 2014) , Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 39/2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2623929

Mark R. Freedland

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law ( email )

St. Cross Building
St. Cross Road
Oxford, OX1 3UJ
United Kingdom

Cathryn Costello (Contact Author)

University College Dublin (UCD) ( email )

Belfield
Belfield, Dublin 4 4
Ireland

HOME PAGE: http://https://people.ucd.ie/cathryn.costello

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law ( email )

St. Cross Building
St. Cross Road
Oxford, OX1 3UJ
United Kingdom

University of Oxford - Refugee Studies Centre ( email )

Oxford Department of International Development
32 Mansfield Road
Oxford, OX13TB
United Kingdom

Hertie School ( email )

Berlin, 30123
Germany

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