Deutsches Institut für Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung invites you to their joint workshop on “Spaces of Migration: Living – Articulating – Organizing”. The number of foreign workers has more than doubled in the la 10 years but the German labour market is far from being saturated. Migrant workers are overrepresented in precarious employment, in the sectors of cleaning, construction, meat processing, and logistics, which are notorious for their poor working conditions and non-observance of protection standards. These jobs usually exist in the ‘grey’ area of the law, combining a number of legalised and informal practices through which employers withhold labour rights, undermine workers’ bargaining power and enforce different forms of dependence. Furthermore, migrant workers need to negotiate multiple contingencies beyond work, such as limited access to welfare benefits, suboptimal housing situations or fragile residence rights.
The aim of this workshop is to create space for exchange between intellectual, practice-based and first-hand perspectives that can carve out a common frame for understanding the current constellations of labour and migration in Germany and beyond and outline the political tools to address these.
What are the different faces of precarious work across sectors, groups and regions? What is the role of temporary employment agencies, intermediaries and subcontractors in the organization of migrant labour? How do such forms of organization of migrant labour contribute to the normalization of different forms of hyper-exploitation? What are the effects of migrant governance technologies in the spheres of rights, welfare, housing, etc. on the stratification of the workforce and the reproduction of migrant precariousness? How can we learn from past and present experiences of organization and struggle for promoting collective interests and improving working conditions?
The workshop will be held in German and English. Translation will be provided.
The organizers kindly ask you to register for the workshop until May 21: https://eveeno.com/185243094
VENUE
University of Duisburg-Essen, Gerhard Mercator House (LR building),
Lotharstraße 57, 47057 DuisburgTIME
May 24, 2024, 9:00 a.m. - May 25, 2024, 1:15 p.m