Migrant workers navigating the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK: Resilience, reworking and resistance

Miles, L., Freeman, T., Capucci Polzin, A., Reitz, R. and Croucher, R. 2024. Migrant workers navigating the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK: Resilience, reworking and resistance. Economic and Industrial Democracy. 45 (3), pp. 653-673. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X231199874

TitleMigrant workers navigating the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK: Resilience, reworking and resistance
TypeJournal article
AuthorsMiles, L., Freeman, T., Capucci Polzin, A., Reitz, R. and Croucher, R.
Abstract

Drawing on qualitative data, we apply Katz’s conceptual framework of agency as resilience, reworking and resistance practices to theorise UK migrant workers’ responses to worsened employment conditions, stress of unemployment and reduced incomes during the pandemic. We draw attention to the range of micro practices they adopted to survive and rework existing conditions to their advantage - actions which rarely feature in academic writing, yet which recognise those who do not ‘resist’ as conscious agents who exercise power. Meanwhile, although outright oppositional responses to deteriorating employment conditions are rare, we demonstrate the nature of workplace union representation as a central factor in resisting managerial control. We extend Katz’s framework by considering the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind migrant workers’ responses, to understand better their dynamic choices of resilience, reworking and resistance practices in the chaotic circumstances of the pandemic.

Keywordspandemic
migrant workers
precarious employment
agency
networks
unions
unions
resilience
reworking
resistance
Journal Economic and Industrial Democracy
Journal citation45 (3), pp. 653-673
ISSN0143-831X
Year2024
PublisherSage
Publisher's version
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X231199874
Publication dates
Published online30 Sep 2023
Published in print2024

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