scholarly journals Essential Farmworkers and the Pandemic Crisis: Migrant Labour Conditions, and Legal and Political Responses in Italy and Spain

2021 ◽  
pp. 145-166
Author(s):  
Alessandra Corrado ◽  
Letizia Palumbo
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Food System ◽  
Vegetable Production ◽  
Migrant Farmworkers ◽  
Labour Demand ◽  
Migrant Labour ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Supply Chain Dynamics ◽  
Working And Living Conditions

AbstractThe agri-food system across Europe relies heavily on migrant labour. Border lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic immobilised thousands of foreign farmworkers, giving rise to fears of labour shortages and food production losses in EU countries. Farmers’ organisations sought institutional interventions to address this labour demand. Although migrant workers have become a fundamental component of core sectors in recent decades, it is only in the current health emergency that they were recognised as ‘essential’ workers. The chapter analyses the working conditions of migrant farmworkers alongside national debates and institutional interventions in Italy and Spain during the pandemic. It provides a critical comparative analysis of legal and policy interventions to address migrants’ situations of vulnerability. Both countries depend on important contingents of EU and non-EU migrant farmworkers, especially in fruit and vegetable production; moreover, they present common aspects in supply chain dynamics and labour market policies, but also specific differences in labour, migration and social policies. Both adopted measures to face the condition of irregularity of migrant workers in order to respond to labour demand in the agri-food sector and to provide these workers with safe working and living conditions during the pandemic. However, these interventions reveal shortcomings that significantly limit their impact and outcomes, calling into question to what extent migrant workers are really considered as ‘essential’ in a long-term perspective and, therefore, to what extent the current pandemic constitutes an opportunity for a new push to enforce labour and migrant rights.

scholarly journals Migrant Labour during the Pandemic: A Political Economy Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 001946622110212
Author(s):  
Deepak K. Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Migrant Labour ◽  
Cheap Labour ◽  
The One

This article aims to analyse the plight of the migrant workers in India during the Covid 19 pandemic from a political economy perspective. While taking note of the disruptions and uncertainties during the drastic lockdown that was announced suddenly, it is argued that the vulnerabilities of the migrant labour force are deeply embedded in the long-term changes in the political economy of development in India. These changes, on the one hand, have resulted in the gradual weakening of state support to the working classes, and on the other, have resulted in the normalisation of ‘cheap labour’ as a legitimate objective of neoliberal capitalist development. Locating the conditions of the migrant working class on the specificities of the manifold restructuring of the Indian economy under neoliberal globalisation, the study attempts to emphasise the structural dimensions of the current crisis faced by the migrant labourers. JEL Codes: J46, J61, O15, O17, P16

scholarly journals A food policy for Canada, but not just for Canadians: Reaping justice for migrant farm workers

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-284
Author(s):  
Anelyse M. Weiler
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Foreign Worker ◽  
Farm Workers ◽  
Migrant Farm Workers ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Permanent Resident ◽  
Migrant Farm ◽  
Core Features

In this policy commentary, I highlight opportunities to advance equity and dignity for racialized migrant workers from less affluent countries who are hired through low-wage agricultural streams of Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Core features of the program such as 'tied' work permits, non-citizenship, and workers' deportability make it risky for migrant farm workers to exercise their rights. I discuss five federal policy interventions to strengthen justice for migrant farm workers in Canada: 1) permanent resident status; 2) equal access to social protections; 3) open work permits; 4) democratic business ownership; and 5) trade policy that respects community self-determination. To realize a food system that enables health, freedom and dignity for all members of our communities, a Food Policy for Canada cannot be for Canadians alone.

Passing the Buck? Neoliberal Restructuring and the Transformation of the Live‐in Caregivers Program to Keep “Women’s Work” Undervalued and Out of Sight in the Canadian Workforce

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine (Kate) Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Societal Issues ◽  
Migrant Labour ◽  
Government Interference ◽  
Government Involvement ◽  
Neoliberal Restructuring

In recent years, Canadian policies have reflected global trends towards neoliberal restructuring and a determination to participate in globalization processes. The emphasis is now on less government “interference” in order to encourage greater flows of capital, goods, and labour. At the same time, Canada has become increasingly dependent on migrant labour in order to fill “labour shortages;” in particular, the number of temporary Filipina migrant workers in Canada has risen dramatically over the last thirty years. While rhetoric states that government cutbacks in social spending, services, and regulation will benefit us all, questions arise about whose labour and spending will fill in these gaps left by a lack of public services. My research, based on a comprehensive overview of related literature, will demonstrate that in the end, these cutbacks in government spending have far‐reaching and profoundly gendered effects; Canadian women are greatly impacted by these reductions in government involvement. Furthermore, a disturbing trend is arising. Many women are now using the Live‐in Caregivers Program as a means of using their privilege to buy their way out of their gender subordination through the purchase of migrant labour. In the end, I conclude, that this is neither a sustainable nor appropriate means of dealing with Canadian household insecurity. Furthermore, the vulnerability of these workers and the restrictions on their opportunities while within Canadian borders is a true testament to long‐term societal issues in Canada that must be addressed in order to create a more just Canadian society.

scholarly journals On the Social Sustainability of Industrial Agriculture Dependent on Migrant Workers. Romanian Workers in Spain’s Seasonal Agriculture

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1062
Author(s):  
Yoan Molinero-Gerbeau ◽  
Ana López-Sala ◽  
Monica Șerban
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Industrial Agriculture ◽  
Temporary Migration ◽  
Agricultural Work ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Migrant Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
Migration Program ◽  
The Eu

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Romanian migrants have become one of the most significant national groups doing agricultural work in Spain, initially coming via a temporary migration program and later under several different modalities. However, despite their critical importance for the functioning of Europe’s largest agro-industry, the study of this long-term circular mobility is still underdeveloped in migration and agriculture literature. Thanks to extensive fieldwork carried out in the provinces of Huelva and Lleida in Spain and in the counties of Teleorman and Buzău in Romania, this paper has two main objectives: first, to identify some of the most common forms of mobility of these migrants; and second, to discuss whether this industrial agriculture, hugely dependent on migrant work, is socially sustainable. The case of Romanian migrants in Spanish agriculture will serve to show how a critical sector for the EU and for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, operates on an unsustainable model based on precariousness and exploitation.

Language competence, identity construction and discursive boundary-making: Distancing and alignment in domestic migrant worker narratives

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (262) ◽  
pp. 97-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans J. Ladegaard
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Migrant Worker ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Boundary Making

AbstractMany people in developing countries are faced with a dilemma. If they stay at home, their children are kept in poverty with no prospects of a better future; if they become migrant workers, they will suffer long-term separation from their families. This article focuses on one of the weakest groups in the global economy: domestic migrant workers. It draws on a corpus of more than 400 narratives recorded at a church shelter in Hong Kong and among migrant worker returnees in rural Indonesia and the Philippines. In sharing sessions, migrant women share their experiences of working for abusive employers, and the article analyses how language is used to include and exclude. The women tell how their employers construct them as “incompetent” and “stupid” because they do not speak Chinese. However, faced by repression and marginalisation, the women use their superior English language skills to get back at their employers and momentarily gain the upper hand. Drawing on ideologies of language as the theoretical concept, the article provides a discourse analysis of selected excerpts focusing on language competence and identity construction.

Clubroot in Brassica: Recent advances in genomics, breeding and disease management

Genome ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Jakir Hasan ◽  
Swati Megha ◽  
Habibur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Host Resistance ◽  
Molecular Basis ◽  
Host Plants ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Plasmodiophora Brassicae ◽  
Genetic Resistance ◽  
Vegetable Production ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Clubroot Disease

Clubroot disease, caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae, affects Brassica oilseed and vegetable production worldwide. This review is focused on various aspects of clubroot disease and its management, including understanding the pathogen and resistance in the host plants. Advances in genetics, molecular biology techniques and ‘omics’ research have helped to identify several major loci, QTL and genes from the Brassica genomes involved in the control of clubroot resistance. Transcriptomic studies have helped to extend our understanding of the mechanism of infection by the pathogen and the molecular basis of resistance/susceptibility in the host plants. A comprehensive understanding of the clubroot disease and host resistance would allow developing a better strategy by integrating the genetic resistance with cultural practices to manage this disease from a long-term perspective.

Quiet struggles: Migrant farmworkers, informal labor, and everyday resistance in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 141-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Cohen ◽  
Elise Hjalmarson
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Migrant Labor ◽  
Migrant Farmworkers ◽  
Agricultural Worker ◽  
Informal Labor ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Community Organizers ◽  
Strict Regulation ◽  
Everyday Resistance

Utilizing James C. Scott’s germinal concept of everyday resistance, we examine the subtle, daily acts of resistance carried out by Mexican and Jamaican migrant farmworkers in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. We argue that despite finding themselves in situations of formidable constraint, migrant farmworkers utilize a variety of “weapons of the weak” that undermine the strict regulation of their employment by employers and state authorities. We also argue that everyday forms of resistance are important political acts and as such, they warrant inclusion in scholarly examinations. Indeed, by reading these methods neither as “real” resistance nor as political, we risk reproducing the same systems of power that de-legitimize the actions, agency, and political consciousness of subaltern and oppressed peoples. After a brief discussion on the concept of everyday resistance, we provide an overview of Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), establishing the conditions that drive migrant workers to resist and drawing connections between the regulatory framework of the SAWP, the informality of the agricultural sector, and migrant labor. Finally, we examine specific instances of resistance that we documented over 3 recent years through ethnographic fieldwork and as community organizers with a grassroots migrant justice organization. We assert the importance of situating migrants’ everyday acts of resistance at the center of conceptualizations of the broader movement for migrant justice in Canada and worldwide.

scholarly journals Long-term impact of West African food system responses to COVID-19

Nature Food ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (12) ◽  
pp. 768-770
Author(s):  
Zakari Ali ◽  
Rosemary Green ◽  
Robert B. Zougmoré ◽  
Siyabusa Mkuhlani ◽  
Amanda Palazzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
West African ◽  
Long Term Impact

scholarly journals Assessing the Influence of Living and Working Conditions on Alcohol Consumption in Migrant Farmworkers in Mexico

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-21
Author(s):  
Luis A. Valdez ◽  
Melanie L. Bell ◽  
David O. Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Ordinal Logistic Regression ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
Migrant Farmworkers ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Working And Living Conditions ◽  
The U.S

Background and Purpose: Inadequate working and living conditions are associated with alcohol consumption in farmworkers in the U.S. However, the influence of these factors on alcohol consumption patterns in migrant farmworkers in Mexico remains unclear. The purpose of this analysis was to assess the influence of housing and working conditions on alcohol use in migrant farmworkers in Mexico. Methods: We used logistic and ordinal logistic regression to examine the association of living and working conditions on alcohol consumption and frequency in 3,132 farmworkers in Mexico with data from a Mexican national farmworker’s survey. Results: Living in inadequately built homes (OR=0.84; 95% CI=0.72, 0.98; p

scholarly journals Capital Structure and The Profitability of Listed Retail Firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1(J)) ◽  
pp. 171-181
Author(s):  
Jason Stephen Kasozi
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Order Theory ◽  
Debt Financing ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Return On Assets ◽  
Pecking Order Theory ◽  
Policy Interventions

The South African retail sector continues to experience a decline in sales and returns amidst growing external competition and a drop in consumer confidence stemming from the recent credit downgrades in the country. Yet, firms in this sector appear to maintain high debt to equity levels. This study investigated whether the capital structure practices of these firms influence their profitability. A Panel data methodology, using three regression estimators, is applied to a balanced sample of 16 retail firms listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) during the period 2008-2016. The analysis estimates functions relating capital structure composition with the return on assets (ROA). Results reveal a statistically significant but negative relationship between all measures of debt (short-term, long-term, total debt) with profitability, suggesting a possible inclination towards the pecking order theory of financing behaviour, for listed retail firms. Additionally, retail firms are highly leveraged yet over 75% of this debt is short-term in nature. Policy interventions need to investigate the current restrictions on long-term debt financing which offers longerterm and affordable financing, to boost returns. While this study’s methodology differs slightly from earlier studies, it incorporates vital aspects from these studies, and simultaneously specifies a possible model fit.  This helps to capture unique but salient characteristics like the transitional effects of debt financing on firm profitability.  It therefore delivers some unique findings on the financing behaviour of retail firms that both in form policy change, while stimulating further research on the phenomenon. 

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