Many Chains to Break: The Multi‐dimensional Concept of Slave Labour in Brazil

Abstract

This article examines the concept of slave labour through two case studies from Brazil. One involves internal migrant workers and the other cross-border migrant workers. There have been accusations of slave labour in both cases. I argue that slave labour is a multi-dimensional concept and that cognate notions (eg forced and unfree labour) could also be reconceived as multi-dimensional. Recent works have proposed that a continuum viewing labour relations as more or less free should replace dichotomies such as free vs unfree. I argue for taking this further to recognise, first, that workers may be more or less free in different ways, and second, that the resulting conditions of employment can be characterised as more or less degrading, also in different ways. This multi-dimensional approach allows for a better understanding of the heterogeneity of apparently unfree labour relations and for greater recognition of the agency of workers labelled as slaves.

Migration, vulnerability and the complexity of violence: Experiences of documented non-EU migrants in Slovakia

“…There is very little literature on the patterns of abuse and violence in spaces where household intersects with the workplace (see McGrath 2013). Our findings suggest the need to expand the focus of the developing debates on migration and labour-related violence (Waite et al 2015) beyond the workplace and towards other spaces of migrant workers' lives.…”

“…This includes various patterns of social exclusion, marginalisation or discrimination that often create a pillar or framework for violence themselves (Reed et al 2010;Rafferty 2013), but the focus of the paper is also on experiences of violence not necessarily related to migrants' socio-legal status, as how they are mitigated reflects back on the patterns of inclusion and exclusion experienced by documented migrants in Slovakia. This is also why the paper explores relations between violence and migration without looking at where violence is likely most prominent: experiences of displaced persons, victims of human trafficking or refugees (Huang and Yeoh 2007;McGrath 2013). Whereas the relations of vulnerability and exploitation are more obvious in these contexts, the paper intentionally looks also at perhaps more subtle forms of violence, abuse and exploitation as a way to shed light on patterns of injustice associated with documented migration, and often overlooked, particularly in the context of ECE.…”

“…Other forms of violence are often embedded in, or interrelated with, these two areas presented, including domestic (Fernandez-Esquer and Diamond, 2013;McGrath 2013), symbolical (Bryan, 2009;Moukarbel, 2009) or institutional violence (Jácome, 2008;Alvarado and Massey, 2010;Barbeiro and Spini, 2011), and while these could not be included in the paper for the lack of space, they will be reflected where relevant connections emerge.…”

New Zealand's turbulent waters: the use of forced labour in the fishing industry

“…Lerche (2007: 430) issues a caution about conflating the terms human trafficking and forced labour, for it 'tends to take away the focus from the incidence of forced labour among non-trafficked migrants'. Notwithstanding scholarly debates, there is consensus that 'restrictions on workers' freedom' underpin such terms (McGrath 2013(McGrath : 1007. McGrath (2013McGrath ( : 1006 suggests that each term in reality 'represents a multi-dimensional concept' and that we should approach them all in this way.…”

“…Notwithstanding scholarly debates, there is consensus that 'restrictions on workers' freedom' underpin such terms (McGrath 2013(McGrath : 1007. McGrath (2013McGrath ( : 1006 suggests that each term in reality 'represents a multi-dimensional concept' and that we should approach them all in this way. While, we use the term unfree labour as an encompassing category (Strauss 2012), we use 'trafficking for forced labour' specifically to operationalize the category's core set of practices, as the ILO/EC indicators propose.…”