Migrant Domestic Workers in the UK: Enacting Exclusions, Exemptions, and Rights

Abstract

Human rights law has begun to address the inequalities and exclusions that structure the domain of domestic work. The "everyday" of exclusions from employment law and social security, and precarious migration status, had, until recently, attracted only limited attention. This article examines the reforms introduced in the Overseas Domestic Workers (ODW) visa regime in the United Kingdom. The move towards a more precarious migration status for migrant domestic workers marks a rejection of the reforms secured through sustained political activism. It also highlights the contingency and instability of political moments that secure progressive change for migrants, and the enduring limits of human rights law.

Challenging infrastructures of domestic labor: Implications for labor organizing in Lebanon and Belgium

“…Finally, trends toward rendering migrant labor more insecure and precarious by virtue of immigration control regimes are intensifying globally in light of neoliberal policies (Nah, ). In the UK, for instance, previously gained rights and relatively secure migration status for migrant domestic workers have recently been reversed by the introduction of a temporary labor migration system not unlike the often criticized sponsorship system in the Gulf states and Lebanon (Mullally & Murphy, , 410). Again, community organizing and neighborhood organizations play a pivotal role in collectivizing labor struggles.…”

The Role of Domestic Employment Policies in Shaping Precarious Work

“…Numerous studies have examined the employment and working conditions of those working in the domestic service sector, highlighting the widespread insecurity and precariousness which is especially felt by migrant domestic workers, but also by the sector in general (Anderson ; Parreñas Salazar , 2000; Ehrenreich and Hochschild ; Mullally and Murphy ; Anderson ). Studies at the micro level usually concentrate on the employment and working conditions and agency of migrant domestic workers (Lutz ; Anderson ).…”

Unacceptable forms of work: A multidimensional model

“…Precariousness is both an objective condition and a subjective experience. De facto and de jure exclusion from labour and social protection, for example, contribute to making certain forms of work, such as domestic work, objectively precarious and, therefore, unacceptable (Mantouvalou 2012;Mullally and Murphy 2014). In some cases, the broader social context can alleviate workers' experience of insecurity despite the fact their work arrangements are objectively precarious (Working Lives Research Institute 2012, p 83).…”