Labor Migration, Trafficking and Border Controls

Ford, Michele; Lyons, Lenore

doi:10.1002/9781118255223.ch25

Cited by 1 publication

(4 citation statements)

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“…In their narratives, the migrant workers place less emphasis on the means of migration (Ford and Lyons, ) than on their total experience and on the conditions of work (and especially on pay). Neither do they use those dichotomies of the migration managers such as ‘regular’ and ‘irregular’, ‘trafficked’, ‘smuggled’, ‘legal’ or ‘illegal’.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neither do they use those dichotomies of the migration managers such as ‘regular’ and ‘irregular’, ‘trafficked’, ‘smuggled’, ‘legal’ or ‘illegal’. Rather, these categories only depict certain phases of ‘temporal dimensions to migration cycles’ (Ford and Lyons, : 439) in their lives. Our cases show that workers can be ‘irregular’ but successful; that they can enter without documentation but ‘legalise’ themselves later on; and that they can enter ‘legally’ but later become illegal.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Heavier regulation of the ‘legal’ half of the system without strengthening workers’ rights, as in the 2004 bilateral memorandum of understanding between Malaysia and Indonesia (Ford, : 241), does not help those trying to survive with the status of an ‘illegal’. As Ford and Lyons argue (: 439), the now predominant ‘criminal justice/ border security framework’ further criminalises migrant workers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On similar strategies of border negotation along the lines of ‘documented but illegal’, see Ford and Lyons (: 445) on the use of aspal papers in the Riau islands.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Precarious lives: Transnational biographies of migrant oil palm workers

Pye

Daud

Harmono³

et al. 2012

Asia Pacific Viewpoint

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Based on ongoing biographical research of Indonesian migrant workers in the oil palm plantations of Malaysia, this paper explores their different strategies of survival in a sector characterised by an ongoing precarity of livelihoods. The life stories of six workers from Sulawesi, Flores, Java and Sumatra are used to illustrate a tentative typology of migration experiences. As the workers set out from their own specific context of 'surplus population' , they are confronted with a migration labour regime that is based on the social and political precarisation of the workers. However, in order to achieve their development aspirations, the workers find different ways of adapting to or circumventing the precarious labour regime. In particular, flight or absconding (lari) is used to change employers, to find better working conditions and to increase wages. Another key strategy is to increase the permanence of their stay, either by choosing illegality or by negotiating retrospective documentation. These strategies lead to the emergence of long-term transnational networks that change the social reality of the migration regime in the oil palm industry.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On similar strategies of border negotation along the lines of ‘documented but illegal’, see Ford and Lyons (: 445) on the use of aspal papers in the Riau islands.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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