Work, Labour & Globalisation Research GroupSo who IS building sustainable development?

Migrant labour and infrastructure projects of the Global South

Aims

The participatory research aims to investigate and begin to transform the increasingly widespread link between:

1. the concentration of migrants in need of humanitarian protection along migration corridors in the Brazilian Amazonia region
2. the requirement of large and flexible workforces for large infrastructure projects including construction and agribusiness
3. exploitative labour conditions in these industries that that are part of ‘sustainable development’ agendas

The project will engage workers from Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and various African states in order to:

1. document the influence of formal and informal agents/contractors on the migrant workers' journey and work destinations
2. identify, via participatory workshops with migrant workers, deficits in decent work; social protection, rights at work, and social dialogue
3. collectively propose and communicate transformative solutions via a range of fora and media
4. facilitate and support social dialogue between migrant worker representatives of the project, project partners and government agencies, industrial representatives, non-profit and labour organisations at state, regional and national level

The project runs for 30 months from September 2018.

Research team

• Brian Garvey: Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, University of Strathclyde
• Francis Virginio: Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, University of Strathclyde
• Department of Geography, Federal University of Acre, Brazil
• People, Organizations and Society Department, Grenoble School of Management

Partners

• Builders and Wood Workers International; Latin American and Caribbean Office
• Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studies (DIEESE), Brazil
• Escola da Cidade, São Paulo
• Observatory of International Immigration (OBMigra)
• Ministry of Labour, Programme for the Eradication of Slavery, Brazil
• Rede Social de Justica e Directos Humanos
• Social Union of Haitian Migrants, São Paulo
• Association of Foreign Residents in Maringá region
• Cubo Socioambiental