Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe: Law and the Construction of Vulnerability

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Description

This book explores the often neglected, but overwhelmingly common, everyday vulnerability of those who support the smooth functioning of contemporary societies: paid domestic workers. With a focus on the multiple disadvantages these often migrant workers face when working and living in Europe, the book investigates the role of law in producing, reinforcing or, alternatively, attenuating vulnerability to exploitation. It departs from approaches that focus on extreme abuse such as modern slavery or trafficking, to consider the much more widespread day-to-day vulnerabilities created at the intersection of different legal regimes. The book, therefore, examines issues such as low wages, unregulated working time, dismissals and the impact of migration status on enforcing rights at work. The complex legal regimes regulating migrant domestic labour in Europe include migration and labour law sources at different levels: international, national and, as this book demonstrates, also EU. With an innovative lens that combines national, comparative, and multilevel analysis, this book opens up space for transformative legal change for migrant domestic workers in Europe and beyond.

Reviews

Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe is an insightful contribution to the literature, which effectively utilises a comparative methodology to illustrate the laws exacerbation of vulnerability. Its exhortation to push towards a more inclusionary reading of EU law should be taken up as part of a toolkit to bring migrant domestic workers within the comprehensive regimes of protection that they, like all workers, deserve. -- Natalie Sedacca * Modern Law Review *
Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe exemplifies the benefits of rigorous comparative and multiscalar socio-legal analysis for understanding how law can both constitute and transform structures of vulnerability. It will inspire researchers and activists to continue to find ways to achieve decent work for migrant domestic workers. * Judy Fudge, Professor in Global Labour Studies, McMaster University, Canada *
Through meticulous, detailed and smart comparative legal analysis, Vera Pavlou shows us the range of regime options states have both in migration and labour law and exposes the very rich policy toolbox available to policy makers and activists in this area. * Hila Shamir, Professor of Law at Tel-Aviv University, Israel *

Author Bio

Vera Pavlou is Lecturer in Labour Law at the University of Glasgow, UK.