Regimes of mobility control and intensification of labour: the case of migrant workers from South Asia in the Slovenian logistics sector

• In Event: Criminology of Mobility. Panel 1. Immigration processes and mobility control

Abstract

The use of migrant labour, particularly from South Asian countries, has become more widespread in Europe in response to labour shortages in various sectors. This paper explores the case of Slovenia and its logistics sector, where the organisation of warehouse work, in some cases, almost exclusively depends on different forms of migrant labour, increasingly on workers recruited from South Asian countries. These workers mostly hold a single work and residence permit, which links the legality of their residence to a valid employment contract. In criminology, labour and migration have been key topics for neo-Marxist criminologists (e.g., De Giorgi), who have explored how border regimes produce 'insecure legal statuses' for migrants, such as the one described above, which essentially gives employers the power to manage the legal permanence of migrants in the territory (Cuppini). In this paper, I will focus on how disciplining mechanisms inside 'the factory' – or the warehouse – such as the target system or performance norms, interact with external forms of control, such as border regimes, to intensify work. The research is based on semi-structured interviews with migrant workers from South Asian countries, who recently came to Slovenia and work in the logistics sector.

Author

• Živa Šketa, Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law Ljubljana