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2021, Political Studies Association Annual Conference
The paper focuses on the Pick for Britain public appeal (spring 2020) that aimed at encouraging young people, as well as furloughed and laid-off workers to take up seasonal employment in UK farms in order to ensure the sustainability of supply chains. The paper argues that the failure of the campaign is a result of three distinct, yet interrelated discourses: i) increasingly restrictive migration policies, ii) lack of investment in the automation of agricultural production, and iii) a growing sense of entitlement on the part of the British public that abundant and inexpensive produce should be available all-year-round. The paper brings these discussions together theoretically - by drawing on the work of Foucault, Polanyi, Dardot and Laval, and Isin, and empirically within the contextual intersection of COVID-19 and Brexit. By critically overviewing testimonies from recruitment agencies, as well as recent think tank reports, and policies on automation and immigration, the paper demonstrates that current aspirations and appeals to automate work seek to depoliticise the economy whilst legitimising a specific kind of governmentality focusing on re-training, self-realisation, and ever increasing growth and productivity. Automation is presented as an unstoppable, irreversible force whose mission is to tackle low productivity and make the economy less dependent on cheap migrant labour. Yet, the discourse of automation and technological displacement allows us to distinguish not only the lack of resources or dependence of workers on state and corporate welfare, but also to identify the ways in which the workforce is categorised and fragmented according to the binaries of competent and incompetent, trained and untrained, skilled and unskilled, educated and uneducated, flexible and inflexible, male and female, young and old.
Making Sense of the Brexit Referendum: writers on the crisis ‘Let’s Take Back Control’ was the slogan that won the UK’s EU Referendum. But what did those words mean to campaigners and voters? Control of what was being wrested from whom and why? And in whose interest was this done? The Brexit Crisis gathers together some of the most insightful and provocative reactions to this moment, from the UK and abroad, examining what happened on the 23 June and what this might mean for the UK and the EU as a whole. It looks at the ruptures, false promises and ingrained racism revealed during the campaign and afterwards. As the UK heads towards the exit, what is to be done? Authors include: Étienne Balibar, William Davies, Akwugo Emejulu, John R. Gillingham, Peter Hallward, Laleh Khalili, Stathis Kouvelakis, Sam Kriss, Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi, Lara Pawson, Wail Qasim, Salvage Editors, Wolfgang Streeck, Antonis Vradis
2017 •
The implications of Brexit for food are potentially enormous. This verdict applies, whether there is a ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ Brexit. The UK food system, consumer tastes and prices have been thoroughly Europeanised. This will be impossible to cut out or back by March 2019 without enormous consequences. The UK food system faces real challenges on food security. This paper summarises 15 major issues on which Food Brexit has the potential to threaten UK food resilience and security: 1. Vision. What goals would any new post-EU food system have? Will these address the looming sustainability challenge which is a mix of ecosystems, social and public health challenges? 2. New food legislation will be needed. Will this be a transfer of EU legislation followed by the Secretary of State sitting with his or her 'delete’ button? 3. Food security. The UK’s home production has been steadily declining. The UK food system ought to be improving its resilience. It isn’t. It’s like the rabbit caught in t...
London has been a leading knowledge economy, high-tech and financial services hub and a prime destination of highly-qualified EU migrants. For example, the City of London and associated financial, professional and business services have acted as a key pull factor for highly-skilled young migrants from the EU. Indeed, London attracts a large number of EU migrants, more so than the rest of the UK’s regions. Its high skilled/knowledge economy sector is large, with 29% of its workforce employed in high-skilled jobs. London’s significant migratory inflows have also been underpinned by the fact that during and after the global financial crisis the UK’s economy has grown reasonably quickly in relation to other European countries. For example, over one third of all active movers in the period 2008-2012 came to the UK because of better employment opportunities. As part of this trend, the UK in general and London in particular were the recipients of large numbers of highly-qualified EU nationals from Southern Europe – which was hardest hit by the crisis. However, Brexit and its implications for free movement of labour is likely to have a substantial adverse impact on London and its future as a leading knowledge economy, high-tech and financial services hub and a prime destination of highly qualified EU migrants. There are already signs of talent flight among EU nationals living and working in the UK in general, and London in particular. Brexit is also expected to exacerbate skills and labour shortages in a number of sectors which employ both highly- and low-skilled workers (as well as medium-skilled ones). Indeed, the UK (and London) is already experiencing increased skills and labour shortages in a number of sectors – both low- and highly-skilled ones – due to a fall in the number of EU nationals who either choose not to come to work here or have left (or plan to leave). Crucially, as a recent survey found, 47% of highly-skilled EU workers were considering leaving the UK in the next five years (Deloitte, 2017). Brexit has also called into question the future of the City of London as one of the world’s leading financial centres. The employment and skills-related implications of Brexit will depend on the actual nature of the final Brexit agreement, including notably the limits on freedom of movement which, at present, seem to be absolute, i.e. ‘hard’ Brexit.1 However, even in this case, there are various options in relation to migration policies vis-à-vis EU nationals, each of which will have different implications in relation to labour and/or skills shortages. Since London employs by far the largest number of highly-skilled EU migrants, it will be disproportionately (and adversely) affected, albeit to varying degrees, depending on the form of final Brexit deal. The official Brexit negotiations started only recently and are accompanied by a high degree of uncertainty, which is already having a negative impact on the UK’s (and London’s) economy.
2017 •
University of Nairobi
Strategy of Franchise Subcontracting and Sustainability of Small and Medium Enterprises in Selected Counties in Kenya2016 •
This paper compares the extent to which two similar pro-migrant organizations succeed or fail in their goal of a collective action and migrant mobilization of domestic workers It presents a comparative case study of two NGOs namely the Mission for Migrant Workers in Hong Kong and INTERCEDE in Canada. They face similar struggles in fighting for the migrant rights, including better-working conditions, however, they use different strategies to resist. Specifically, this paper asks: why are NGOs advocating for the rights of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong much more successful in mobilizing domestic workers in comparison to similar NGOs in Canada? What strategies do they use to mobilize effectively? To answer these questions, it applies theories of social movements, including the political process, resource mobilization, and framing process. Findings show that strategies determined whether they are more successful in their mobilizing effort in accordance with the political, social, and economic context of the territory/state they are operating in. It concludes that NGOs like the Mission in Hong Kong are more successful in collective action and mobilization because of greater political opportunities, greater organizational strength, particularly its close proximity to the Philippines, and frame migrant issues effectively, garnering broad-based and inter-ethnic coalition. NGOs in Canada like INTERCEDE started to mobilize strongly in the 1980s. Yet, due to the nature of civil society, lack of support, and Canada’s framing of immigration in economic terms, they are less effective in their mobilization and collective action. Overall, this paper problematizes the struggle for recognition, citizenship, membership, and the ‘rights to have rights’ for migrants and the state’s hegemony to assert its sovereignty on migrants.
Class Matters: Inequality and Exploitation in 21st Century Britain
Class Matters: Inequality and Exploitation in 21st Century Britain2018 •
Social class remains a fundamental presence in British life in the twenty-first century. It is woven into the very fabric of social and political discourse, undiminished by the end of mass industry; unaugmented despite the ascendancy of 'ordinary working people' and other substitute phrases. Absent from this landscape, however, is any compelling Marxist expression or analysis of class. In Class Matters, Charles Umney brings Marxist analysis out of the 19th century textiles mill, and into the call centres, office blocks and fast food chains of modern Britain. He shows how core Marxist concepts are vital to understanding increasing pay inequality, decreasing job security, increasing routinisation and managerial control of the labour process. Providing a critical analysis of competing perspectives, Umney argues that class must be understood as a dynamic and exploitative process integral to capitalism - rather than a descriptive categorisation - in order for us to better understand the gains capital has made at the expense of labour over the last four decades.
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