TY - JOUR
T1 - Occupational Health and Safety for Migrant Domestic Workers in Canada
T2 - Dimensions of (Im)mobility
AU - Hill, Nicole S.
AU - Dorow, Sara
AU - Barnetson, Bob
AU - Martinez, Javier F.
AU - Matsunaga-Turnbull, Jared
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - This study examines the occupational health and safety experiences of migrant workers employed as live-in caregivers in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Interviews with and surveys of caregivers identify four categories of common occupational hazards, including fatigue, psychosocial stress, physical hazards, and exposure to harassment and abuse. These hazards are systemically perpetuated, made invisible, and rendered irremediable by intertwined (im)mobilities. At the macrolevel, they include highly circumscribed and precarious conditions of transnational care migration such as indenturing to private and underregulated recruiters, federal policies that tie status to employers and employment, and changeable, rule-bound pathways to permanent residency. At the mesolevel, we find a volatile mix of mobilities and immobilities associated with employment in the oil economy of Fort McMurray, such as high population mobility and turnover, long work and commuting hours, and remoteness. And, at the microlevel, we find the everyday immobilities and highly circumscribed conditions and complexities of working and living with employers in private homes.
AB - This study examines the occupational health and safety experiences of migrant workers employed as live-in caregivers in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Interviews with and surveys of caregivers identify four categories of common occupational hazards, including fatigue, psychosocial stress, physical hazards, and exposure to harassment and abuse. These hazards are systemically perpetuated, made invisible, and rendered irremediable by intertwined (im)mobilities. At the macrolevel, they include highly circumscribed and precarious conditions of transnational care migration such as indenturing to private and underregulated recruiters, federal policies that tie status to employers and employment, and changeable, rule-bound pathways to permanent residency. At the mesolevel, we find a volatile mix of mobilities and immobilities associated with employment in the oil economy of Fort McMurray, such as high population mobility and turnover, long work and commuting hours, and remoteness. And, at the microlevel, we find the everyday immobilities and highly circumscribed conditions and complexities of working and living with employers in private homes.
KW - Alberta
KW - Canada
KW - domestic work
KW - migrant workers
KW - occupational health and safety
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071085690&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1048291119867740
DO - 10.1177/1048291119867740
M3 - Journal Article
C2 - 31399008
AN - SCOPUS:85071085690
SN - 1048-2911
VL - 29
SP - 397
EP - 421
JO - New Solutions
JF - New Solutions
IS - 3
ER -