Working for free illegal employment practices, ‘off the books’ work and the continuum of legality within the service economy

Abstract

Illegal employment practices, 'off the books' work and the continuum of legality within the service economy ABSTRACT-Much of the literature on illegal labour focuses on the exploitation of illegal migrants and, by extension, the trafficking and smuggling networks that transport them to destination countries. Using evidence from two projects that investigated working conditions in the formal service economy, the paper presents evidence of 'off the books' work, illegal employment practices such as denial of benefits and the minimum wage, as well as work trials where labour is exploited for free. By considering political economic imperatives, this paper argues that employees in both the formal and informal economy are dispossessed of rights, pay, benefits and security in order for employers to profit by surplus value and the circulation of capital. The real 'organised crime' of illegal labour is neoliberal political economy and its decimation of employment protection.

Labour exploitation as corporate crime and harm: outsourcing responsibility in food production and cleaning services supply chains

“…Volatile industry dynamics, routine subcontracting, and limited regulatory oversight all contribute to a 'race to the bottom' which erodes labour protections and exposes workers to routinised and normalised forms of exploitation. These points relate to assertions in existing work that corporate harm is synonymous with the capitalist model that is dominant in many developed and developing countries (Lloyd 2018;Pemberton 2015;Scott 2017). Nevertheless, there are interesting nuances between the UK and Finnish contexts.…”

Brexit and the working class on Teesside: Moving beyond reductionism

“…Consequently, the post-war’s ‘cosy relationship’ (Radice 2014: 286) between the working class and capital has been eviscerated. Claire, for instance, argued that her son is unable to obtain the signifiers of either a meaningful life or a comfortable standard of living (see also Byrne & Ruane 2017; Lloyd 2018a, 2018b; Shildrick et al 2012; Streeck 2017). Over time, what was once solid, fixed and marked by continuity has become unfixed and unstable.…”

“…The loss of 100,000 manufacturing jobs and the gain of 92,000 jobs in the service economy between 1971 and 2008 exemplifies this shift (Shildrick et al 2012). These employment opportunities are often non-unionised, poorly paid and deny workers’ rights and basic entitlements (see Lloyd 2018a, 2018b). Accordingly, Teesside’s workers were compelled to change their social, economic and cultural outlook.…”

Trata De Seres Humanos Y Explotación Laboral:

“…También en España el porcentaje de víctimas de trata laboral oficialmente identificadas se ha venido incrementando en los últimos años, ascendiendo a 602 de las 2.146 víctimas que hasta el año 2020 reportó como formalmente identificadas el Centro de Inteligencia contra el Terrorismo y el Crimen Oganizado (CITCO), el 28 % del total, representando el 35% del total de las identificadas en 2019 y el 36% en 2020 (CITCO, 2021) En tales circunstancias, aun cuando se ha indicado que la literatura académica que contiene estudios empíricos sobre trata laboral es limitada, fragmentada, de carácter descriptivo y con obtención de evidencias de escaso valor (Cockbain, Bowers y Dimitrova, 2018), no sorprende que de cada vez se le dedique más atención desde la academia. Son estudios que demuestran que la trata y la explotación laboral se producen en multitud de sectores productivos caracterizados por los escasos requerimientos de capacitación profesional y la alta estacionalidad, como la agricultura, la industria alimentaria, la restauración, la construcción, la industria pesquera, la minería, la venta ambulante, los servicios de limpieza o la servidumbre doméstica (Crane et al, 2019;Davies, 2019;Davies, 2020a;Davies, 2020b;Davies y Ollus, 2019;Jokinen, Ollus y Aromaa, 2011;Leotti et al, 2014;Lloyd, 2020;Ollus, 2016;Ollus, Jokinen y Joutsen, 2013;Van Meeteren y Hiah, 2020;Vandekerckhove et al, 2003;Van Meeteren y Wiering, 2019). Y que junto a ello, apuntan a que constituye un fenómeno criminal que debe abordarse desde un punto de vista económico, porque se origina por razones estructurales propias de nuestro mercado de trabajo (Center for the Study of Democracy, 2019; Davies y Ollus, 2019;De Vries, 2019;Lloyd, 2020;Ollus, 2016;Schumann, 2020;Spapens, 2018).…”

“…Son estudios que demuestran que la trata y la explotación laboral se producen en multitud de sectores productivos caracterizados por los escasos requerimientos de capacitación profesional y la alta estacionalidad, como la agricultura, la industria alimentaria, la restauración, la construcción, la industria pesquera, la minería, la venta ambulante, los servicios de limpieza o la servidumbre doméstica (Crane et al, 2019;Davies, 2019;Davies, 2020a;Davies, 2020b;Davies y Ollus, 2019;Jokinen, Ollus y Aromaa, 2011;Leotti et al, 2014;Lloyd, 2020;Ollus, 2016;Ollus, Jokinen y Joutsen, 2013;Van Meeteren y Hiah, 2020;Vandekerckhove et al, 2003;Van Meeteren y Wiering, 2019). Y que junto a ello, apuntan a que constituye un fenómeno criminal que debe abordarse desde un punto de vista económico, porque se origina por razones estructurales propias de nuestro mercado de trabajo (Center for the Study of Democracy, 2019; Davies y Ollus, 2019;De Vries, 2019;Lloyd, 2020;Ollus, 2016;Schumann, 2020;Spapens, 2018).…”