A new status for migrant workers: restrictions of the free movement of labour in the EU

Titolo Rivista MONDI MIGRANTI
Autori/Curatori Gabriella Alberti
Anno di pubblicazione 2017 Fascicolo 2016/3
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 17 P. 33-49 Dimensione file 236 KB
DOI 10.3280/MM2016-003003
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Mainstream interpretations of the free movement of labour in the European Union as responsible for a ‘race to the bottom’ for indigenous workers’ conditions fail to consider the multifaceted nature of migration and the benefits of mobility for migrant workers. Starting from the emblematic case of welfare and migration reforms in the United Kingdom and reviewing recent judgments by the European court this article explores ongoing restrictions of the free movement and social rights of internal migrants. The tightening conditionality of worker status, based on the obligation to prove habitual residence and the holding of employment, emerges as a central device in the differentiation of migrants’ access to social benefits in the host state. Interviews with experts and NGOs and analysis of recent case laws across Member States illustrate how jobseekers and precarious migrants are confined to a liminal space where they either prove to have a ‘genuine prospects of work’ or lose their social benefits, and in extreme cases risk expulsion. The argument is that these regulatory restrictions supported by the courts bring about a re-stratification of UE labour citizenship diminishing migrant bargaining power and deepening precariousness for both migrants and citizens.

Letture mainstream della libertà di movimento nell’ Unione Europea come responsabile della corsa verso il basso nelle condizioni dei lavoratori autoctoni non comprendono la natura complessa delle migrazioni e i benefici della mobilita per i lavoratori migranti. Partendo dal caso emblematico delle riforme del welfare e dell’ immigrazione nel Regno Unito e analizzando sentenze recenti della Corte di Giustizia Europea, l’articolo esplora le attuali restrizioni della liberta di movimento e dei diritti sociali dei e delle migranti interni. L’irrigidimento della condizionalità dello status di lavoratore/trice basato sull’ obbligo di dimostrare la residenza abituale e un impiego lavorativo nel paese di immigrazione, emerge come dispositivo principale di differenziazione nell’accesso dei migranti e delle migranti ai benefici sociali. Interviste con esperti e ONG insieme ad analisi di precedenti legali in diversi paesi membri illustrano come i migranti in cerca di lavoro o precari si trovano in uno spazio liminare in cui se non riescono a dimostrare di avere delle prospettive genuine di impiego perdono diritto alle protezioni sociali e in casi estremi rischiano l'espulsione. L’autore sostiene che queste restrizioni normative sostenute dall’attività dei tribunali provocano una ri-stratificazione della cittadinanza lavorativa UE, restringendo il potere contrattuale e approfondendo la precarieta di migranti e cittadine/i.

Keywords:Migranti, libera circolazione, welfare, mobilità, diritti lavorativi, cittadinanza UE.

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Gabriella Alberti, A new status for migrant workers: restrictions of the free movement of labour in the EU in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 3/2016, pp 33-49, DOI: 10.3280/MM2016-003003