Workers and Trade Unions for Climate Solidarity: Tackling Climate Change in a Neoliberal World, by Paul Hampton. Routledge, London, 2015, 212 pp., ISBN: 978‐1‐13‐884142‐0, $140.00, hardback.
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12221 |
884 British Journal of Industrial Relations
laws are designed are against the background of protecting national security and
sovereignty. For example, Engblom in chapter 18, and Davies in chapter 5 point to
the trend of criminalizing migrants in Sweden and the UK, respectively. In cases of the
tracking of migrants or forced labourthe legal framework in these countries benefits
all workers irrespective of nationality. This is important because these chapters show
instances in which the legal frameworkfacilitates the prosecution of an immigrant who
is caught breaking the law ratherthan enabling the person to seek recourse for labour
rights violation.
Moreover, migration law is also closely linked to an increase in triangular labour
relations because of the shift towards labour broking within labour supply chains.
While the purpose of labour law is to protect workers’ rights Anderson argues in
chapter 2 that it equally creates an ‘ultra-flexible’ precarious workforce. Migration
law combined with less formalized migratory processes helps to produce ‘precarious
workers thatcluster in particular jobs and segments in the labour market’ (p. 7). Other
chapters then explore how resistance can evolve in these precarious workspaces. For
example, Bogg and Novitz in chapter 19 discuss how the mechanism of collective
complaints have the potential to alleviate individual diculties faced by migrant
workers.
The volume also addresses the skill level of labour migrants under the auspices of
the division between migration and labourlaw. In chapter 13, Ryan examines the skill
levels of migrants in relations to migration law with the result of the legal situation
benefitting highly skilled migrant workers and their employers rather than temporary
migrants. The latter are often employed by employers that wish to cut their social
security responsibilities in order to maximize profitsas pointed out by Ruhs, Dewhurst,
Engblom and Ryanin dierent chapters.
The overall conclusion of the chapters is similar: while migration law facilitates
the smooth movement of individuals across borders, it mainly safe-guards migrants
against very dire practices, such as human tracking. In doing so, it creates division
between native and migrant workers, but also between dierent groups of migrant
workers that areoften precarious.
Even though the book’s case studies focus mainly on European countries, it is
unique in its attempt to bridge the empirical, theoretical and policy gap between
immigration and labour law. The book is written in an accessible way and legal
concepts are defined clearly for non-legal scholars, even though the authors assume
readers to be knowledgeablein both migration and labour law.The edited volume will
be of interest to students and scholars of migration, industrial sociology, politics and
law. Besides its scholarly contribution, the book also provides insightful knowledge
that would be valuablefor policy makers on labour and migration legislation relevant
for policy formulation.
INES WAGNER
Institute for Social Research Oslo
Workers and Trade Unions for Climate Solidarity: Tackling Climate Change in a
Neoliberal World, by Paul Hampton. Routledge, London, 2015, 212 pp., ISBN:
978-1-13-884142-0, $140.00, hardback.
Paul Hampton’s Workers and Trade Unions for Climate Solidarity tackles the issue of
how organized labour can and should be engaged in climate politics. Using Richard
C
2016 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.
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