British Labour Market and Migrants - Essay Example

Introduction This paper examines key concepts and ideas in human resource management and labour issues amongst a section of migrant communities in London. The paper is based an article which studies the lives of smuggled Pakistani migrants in the United Kingdom. The key concepts in human resource management that are identified in this paper is the contrast between Fordism and post-Fordism. Fordism refers to the era where people in the UK kept 8-5 jobs and were given standard work conditions. However, after the reforms of the UK, mainly under the Thatcher administration, the focus of the work environment has changed. Due to this, Pakistani migrants that come to the UK have to endure tough conditions as hired workers rather than employed persons who can have the old benefits of unionism and negotiations with employers. Ahmad identifies amongst other things, the conditions of these migrants and the causes of those conditions from the side of the employed and the employers. This paper examines Ahmads systems structures, methodology and rationalises the issues raised in the paper. Critique of the Methodology There are several aspects of the research that make the research appear to be a little out of place. First of all, the issue of studying illegal immigrants comes with some inherent difficulties. This is because most of them have illegal links and they are likely to be less opened about certain aspects of the study. This means that the researcher might need to take some subjective steps to make the research more reasonable. This means there might be some judgement issues that affected the outcome. There are also some difficulties in comparing Pakistani migrants with other workers because their backgrounds are undisclosed and it is quite hard to ascertain the truth of claims made by migrants concerning how much they paid and how they actually work. Validation issues are inherent in the research. The interviews were also held in Urdu and Punjabi whilst most of the research was confined in the illegal parameters of the Southern Asian community of the UK. Aside the many translation issues, there is a difficulty in drawing parallels with the British society. Also, there are some issues with the generalisability of the study. All the respondents were male so it is hard to justify a generalisation of the findings for Pakistanis in the UK or the general migrant community. Conditions of Pakistani Migrants In spite of the limitations of the research, it successfully points out some credible elements of the Pakistani community in the UK. First of all, they are mainly illegal immigrants smuggled by certain groups into the UK. Ahmad identifies that they are mostly poor people of poor backgrounds who raise money to pay part of the smuggling costs. Once they enter the UK, they pay the rest of the money. This therefore means that these smuggled Pakistani migrants come to the UK with a lot of debts. They therefore have to settled down and find an income generating activity to pay off the debts owed to their families or sponsors in Pakistan [which is half the price] and the outstanding bill owed to the smugglers. Often the sum total is about £8,000. With such a bill, most of the migrants are willing to do any job that comes their way. Transformation in the British Labour Market According to Jessop & Sum (2006), the Post-World War economy of the UK was marred by serious destructions that were inflicted by the war. This led to a situation whereby the state was called upon to provide assistance and support to the ordinary citizen of the UK. Due to this, the government had the obligation of ensuring high employment levels and the welfare of the citizens of the UK. This privilege was initially conferred upon all citizens of the British Empire and later, the Commonwealth. The end of the Second World War also came with elements of Fordism, which advocated for the institution of efficient and systematic methods of production via structured organisations (Watson, 2008). This meant that employees were required to have day jobs which involved working from 8am to 5 pm from Mondays to Fridays (Jessop & Sum, 2006). To ensure that the working class of Britain got the benefits of the welfare state of the post World War period, employees formed trade unions (Watson, 20008). These trade unions ensured that employees were given benefits and employees were not exploited. At this time, the migrants from British Commonwealth nations like Pakistan were given the best conditions and systems in Britain. This was at its peak in the 1960s and 70s. However, in the era of Margaret Thatcher, most of these welfare based policies were abolished and trade unions were restrained (Evans, 2004). In recent times, the competition from other countries and the collapse of the welfare state system has led to a trend where business owners seek to gain the highest level of returns. This has led to the modification of employment terms from a trade unions guarded system to a system whereby employers hire people as and where the need arises and fire with relative ease (Jessop & Sum, 2006). Another feature of the post-welfare state labour market is that, employers seek to maximise their returns from labour. As such, many employers and managers break the rules where necessary to meet their targets and obligations (Watson, 2008). Constraints on Pakistani Migrants & Causes of Exploitation The main constraints that lead the Pakistani migrants to move into the UK are “global inequality, technological change, social aspirations” amongst others (Ahmad, 2008: 302). Since the Pakistani migrants come to the UK with major financial burdens, they have the zeal and desire to work and pay off their migration debts. Due to the strong desire to make money, most Pakistani illegal migrants offer themselves for work. Many of them are willing to work for several hours for very little pay. This make them preferred candidates for employment. This is because most of them are willing to work for between 12 and 16 hours. Many of them are willing to work for up to 7 days a week just to make enough money to pay off their migration debts. Ahmad notes that some of the migrants take two years to pay their debts of entry into the UK in full. However, this varies with the extent of work that a person will want to do. This means that the more hours a person works, the quicker he can settle his bills and begin to make money for himself. Due to this, the Pakistani migrants have a motivation to work extra hard and accept bad working conditions. Ahmad rightly points out that there is a psychological burden that is placed on these migrants. This is because they know that their stay in the UK is either illegal or potentially illegal. This is because as smuggled migrants, they have no right to remain in the UK. Others who apply for asylum status are often aware that they could be asked to leave the UK at any point in time. Due to this, they work extra hard and seek to break even as early as possible. This make the Pakistani migrants an easy prey for business owners who seek quick profits at the expense of their workers. In most cases, these migrants start off in the South Asian communities in the UK. This is because such communities do not have formal requirements for employment as it might exist in other UK jobs. This is an accurate depiction because most of Ahmads respondents who were mainly butchers and workers at specific community based organisations got easy access to employment. Also the informality of such a job environment gave them the hope of escaping possible deportation. This gave most of the employees revenue as they integrated into the UK society. After gaining some footing, most of these migrant moved on to take other jobs that paid more. Another important point that Ahmad raised was that most of these smuggled migrants seek to get the right to live in the UK when they settle the cost of their migration to the UK. This is because they become more sensitive of the need to remain in the UK and continue to earn more money. Due to this, they are willing to offer themselves for employment to raise sufficient money to pay for their stay in the UK. The Employers & The Pakistani Migrants Although Ahmad does not identify it, the switch from the welfare state made the UK more competitive for businesses. As such, businesses had to do whatever they could to remain operational. Additionally, other UK companies have opened branches in nations like Pakistan where they get extremely cheap labour. So it is logical to infer that if local UK businesses are to stay in competition with these overseas branches, they might need to find ways of cutting costs. One of them is to hire the cheaper services of migrants. Although this has its ethical issues, it is not very different from the establishment of foreign operations where cheap labour can be sourced. The advantage of hiring these Pakistani migrants is that, there is no contract or any legal requirement to provide holidays and other requirements necessary to hire a legally resident employee. As such, the employers make significant savings by hiring the employees Final Reflections Overall, I think that the situation is a kind of win-win case. This is because most of the Pakistani migrants will earn very little if they remain in their home country. The abolishing of the welfare state in the UK meant that there was the need to control immigration as well. This was complemented by the fact that negotiations of trade unions were replaced by negotiations in legislature. Due to this, UK has laws that protects its citizens from exploitation. However, the abolishing of the welfare state also caused employers to remain competitive. Due to that, there was the need to find other ways of cutting costs. On the side of the Pakistani migrants, it is better for them to move into the UK where they can end several folds of what they earn in Pakistan. This means that they offer themselves for employment whilst the employers who seek to cut costs grant them employment. Conclusion In conclusion, Ahmad takes a daring step to look into the life of Pakistani migrants. In spite of the inherent challenges that come with this effort, Ahmad is able to identify important push and pull factors that cause the migration and the hiring of illegal Pakistani migrants. The push factors include the Pakistani migration and desire to make money whilst the pull factors revolve around the fact that British employers seek to cut down cost by hiring these migrants. References Ahmad, A.N. (2008) “Dead men working: time and space in London’s (‘illegal’) migrant economy.” Work Employment Society, 22(2): 301–318 Evans, E. J. (2004) Thatcher & Thatcherism London: Routledge Publications Jessop, B & Sum, N-L (2006) Beyond the Regulation Approach: Putting Capitalist Economies in Place Surrey: Edward Elgar Publishing. Watson, J. T. (2008) Sociology, Work & Industry London: Taylor & Francis Read More