The impact of government regulation on recruitment process, rights, wages and working conditions of labor migrants in the Israeli construction sector

AuthorAnda Barak‐Bianco,Nonna Kushnirovich,Rebeca Raijman
Published date01 December 2019
Date01 December 2019
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12169
The impact of government regulation on
recruitment process, rights, wages and
working conditions of labor migrants in the
Israeli construction sector
NONNA KUSHNIROVICH,
1
REBECA RAIJMAN
2
and ANDA BARAK-BIANCO
3
1
Department of Economics and Management, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel
2
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa, Haifa
3
Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel
To determine the impact of evolving forms of governance on migrant workersrights and employment
conditions in Israel we first probe the extensive private recruitment industry that developed in Israel before the
implementation of bilateral agreements, and examine migrant workersemployment conditions and wages. Next
we show the importance of bilateral agreements for the annulment of illicit practices in labor recruitment, as well
as the practical consequences for migrants under the new arrangement. Specifically we scrutinize the impact of
implementation of bilateral agreements in the construction sector on recruitment practices and fees, wage levels,
and work conditions. Implementation of bilateral agreement were accompanied by dramatic decrease in the sums
paid by migrant workers to reach the host country but did not significantly improve workersrights, and their
wages even declined. The mechanisms whereby a pool of precarious workers has emerged in the local labor
market in Israel are highlighted.
Keywords: rights of migrant workers; precarious employment; impact of governance; labor migration; recruitment
Introduction
In the current era of global economic crisis and global
migration challenge, we witness increasing employment
uncertainty in many Western countries. International
economic dynami cs and rising austerity, l egitimized
worldwide by these crises, have put workersrights under
attack (Atasoy,2014; Vassilopoulou et al., 2016).Hardest
hit are the rights of temporary migrant workers, who are
the most vulnerablepart of the labor force in host societies
(Samantroy, 2014).
Labor migrants are vulnerable to abuses in the
recruitment process, such as being charged excessive fees
and deliberately misinformed about working and living
conditions in the country of employment. After arrival,
abuses can also result in late payment of wages, unsafe
working environments, restrictions on freedom of
movement, and in some cases physical or sexual
intimidation (see e.g., Bélanger, 2014; Kushnirovich and
Raijman, 2014; Samantroy, 2014). The precarious
position of labor migrants in many host countries is
worsened by uncertainty, insecurity and vulnerability in
global labor markets. Therefore, in the case of temporary
labor migrants, their exploitation can be doubly acute
due to the intersection between restrictive immigration
policies and precarious labor conditions (Platt et al.,
2017).
In the taxonomy of precarious employment most
studies include social rights, employment conditions and
wages; they often omit recruitment fees paid by migrant
workers for the opportunity to work in another country
as an additional component (Basok and López-Sala,
2015; Castles, 2006; Dauvergne and Marsden, 2014;
Ruhs and Martin, 2008). This disregard is surprising
because high recruitment fees and the need to take loans
to finance migration also make m igrant workers more
vulnerable to exploitation (Bélanger, 2014; Kemp and
Raijman, 2014; Platt et al., 2017). Low wages, poor
Correspondence: Nonna Kushnirovich, Department of Economics and
Management,Ruppin AcademicCenter, Emek Hefer 40250,Israel. E-mail
nonna@ruppin.ac.il
DOI: 10.1111/emre.12169
©2018 European Academy of Management
European Management Review, Vol. 16, 909, (2019)
2
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