In many European countries, labour market segregation has intensified since the early 2000s, based on the multiple residence and social security status of new migrants. In some sectors and in many occupations, the fragmentation of the labour market has progressed to such an extent that – as in large parts of the mail order business, the food industry, and the care sector – almost exclusively people are employed who do not hold a passport of the respective nation state.
This talk will present the consequences of this constellation in terms of working conditions and the enforcement of labour rights based on empirical research projects carried out at the Sociological Research Institute Göttingen – specifically, it will focus on migrant labour and migrant-influenced labour disputes in the German meat industry and in distribution centres for online mail order companies.