Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Migration Intermediaries and Codes of Conduct: Temporary Migrant Workers in Australian Horticulture

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Over recent decades, developments in network governance have seen governments around the world cede considerable authority and responsibility to commercial migration intermediaries for recruiting and managing temporary migrant labour. Correspondingly, a by-product of network governance has been the emergence of soft employment regulation in which voluntary codes of conduct supplement hard (enforceable) legal employment standards. This paper explores these developments in the context of temporary migrant workers employed in Australian horticulture. First the paper analyses the growing use of temporary migrant labour in this industry. It then describes how different types of intermediaries interact with this workforce. The paper then outlines both hard and soft employment regulations, and contrasts them with actual employment conditions, questioning how a network governance approach has affected this vulnerable workforce. The paper concludes that changes in network governance of migration and employment relations have emasculated formal legal regulation, leaving market forces to operate without effective or ethical constraints at the expense of the public good.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agri Labour. (2016). International candidates. Retrieved January 7, 2016, from http://agrilabour.com.au/candidates/international-candidates/.

  • Agunias, D. (2009). Guiding the invisible hand: Making migration intermediaries work for development. United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Research Paper 2009/22. Geneva.

  • Anner, M. (2012, July 2–5). Auditing rights at work in a globalizing economy. Paper presented at the ILERA World Congress, Philadelphia.

  • Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). (2014). Carabooda raids: Numerous charges after WA operation targets organized crime. Retrieved January 16, 2016, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/22014-05-05/ten-charged-aftercarabooda-raids/.

  • Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). (2015). Slaving away. Four corners documentary. Retrieved May 4, 2015, from http://www.abc.netau/tv/programs/four-corners/.

  • Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). (2014). Determination: Application for revocation and substitution of authorisation A91102 lodged by Recruitment and Consulting Services Association Limited (RCSA) in respect of RCSA’s Professional Conduct Regime, Authorisation Number A91388. Retrieved January 7, 2016, from www.accc.gov.au.

  • Australian Government. (2014). Job services Australia: Employment services code of practice. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from www.deer.gov.au/jobservicesaustralia.

  • Barrientos, S. W. (2013). ‘Labour chains’: Analysing the role of labour contractors in global production networks. The Journal of Development Studies, 49(8), 1058–1071.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrientos, S., & Smith, S. (2007). The ETI code of labour practice: Do workers really benefit? (Ethical Trading Initiative). Sussex: University of Sussex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bevir, M., Rhodes, R., & Weller, P. (2003). Traditions of governance: Interpreting the changing role of the public sector. Public Administration, 88(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, M. (1989). Family and personal networks in international migration: Recent developments and new agendas. International Migration Review, 23(3), 638–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brisbane Times. (2011, June 9). Farm guilty of neglect on day of fruit picker’s death.

  • Castle, S. (2006). Guest workers in Europe: A resurrection? International Migration Review, 40(4), 741–766.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CIETT. (2015). CIETT code of conduct. Retrieved January 7, 2016, from www.ciett.org.

  • de Haas, H. (2010). The internal dynamics of migration processes: A theoretical inquiry. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(10), 1587–1617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP). (2014). Working Holiday Maker visa programme report, 30 June 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2015, from http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/pdf/working-holiday-report-jun14.pdf.

  • Department of Immigration and Border Protection. (2015). Working Holiday Maker visa programme report, 31 December 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2016, from http://www.immi.gov.au/pub-res/Documents/statistics/working-holiday-report-dec14.pdf.

  • Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). (2009). Initiatives to combat illegal work in Australia, Media Fact Sheet 87. Retrieved April 18, 2013, from http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/87illegal.htm.

  • Department of Immigration and Citizenship. (2011). Reform of employer sanctions (Howells Review) regulation impact statement. Retrieved April 18, 2013, from www.immi.gov.au.

  • Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA). (1999). Review of illegal workers in Australia, submission of the Northern Victoria Fruitgrowers’ Association Ltd. Canberra: Australian Government.

  • Doyle, J., & Howes, S. (2015). Australia’s seasonal worker program: Demand-side constraints and suggested reforms. Canberra: Australian National University & World Bank Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, P., & Ram, M. (2006). Surviving on the margins of economy: Working relationships in small, low-wage firms. Journal of Management Studies, 43(4), 895–916.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egels-Zandén, N., & Merk, J. (2014). Private regulation and trade union rights: Why codes of conduct have limited impact on trade union rights. Journal of Business Ethics, 123(3), 461–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elrick, T., & Lewandowska, E. (2008). Matching and making labour demand and supply: Agents in polish migrant networks of domestic elderly care in Germany and Italy. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(5), 717–734.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fair Work Commission. (2010). Horticulture Award 2010. Melbourne: Fair Work Commission.

  • Fair Work Commission. (2015a). Mondex Group Pty. Ltd. [2015] FWC 1148, 17 February 2015.

  • Fair Work Commission. (2015b). MP Resources Pty Ltd. [2015] FWC 6820, 2 October 2015.

  • Fair Work Ombudsman. (2010). Horticulture Industry Shared Compliance Program 2010. Final report. Melbourne: Fair Work Ombudsman.

  • Fernandez, B. (2013). Traffickers, brokers, employment agents, and social networks: The regulation of intermediaries in the migration of Ethiopian domestic workers to the middle east. International Migration Review, 47(3), 581–601.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forde, C., & MacKenzie, R. (2010). The ethical agendas of employment agencies towards migrant workers in the UK: Deciphering the codes. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(1), 31–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gammeltoft-Hansen, T., & Nyberg Sorensen, N. (2013). The migration industry and the commercialization of international migration. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin, M., & Maconachie, G. (2007). Unpaid entitlement recovery in the federal industrial relations system: Strategy and outcomes 1952–95. Journal of Industrial Relations, 49(4), 523–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groutsis, D., van den Broek, D., & Harvey, W. (2015). Transformations in network governance: The case of migration intermediaries. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(10), 1558–1576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall & Partners/Open Mind. (2012). A sociological investigation of illegal work in Australia. A report submitted to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Canberra: Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

  • Hanson, J., & Bell, M. (2007). Harvest trails in Australia: Patterns of seasonal migration in the fruit and vegetable industry. Journal of Rural Studies, 23(1), 101–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, S. (2013). Fresh fruit, broken bodies. Migrant farmworkers in the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howells, S. (2010). Report of the 2010 review of the Migration Amendment (Employer Sanctions) Act 2007. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/compliance/review-employer-sanctions/.

  • Kemp, A., & Raijman, R. (2014). Bringing in state regulations, private brokers, and local employers: A meso-level analysis of labor trafficking in Israel. International Migration Review, 48(3), 604–642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korver, T., & Oeij, P. (2005). The soft law of the covenant: Making governance instrumental. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 11(2), 367–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kroon, B., & Paauwe, J. (2013). Structuration of employment in economically constrained firms: The case of Dutch agriculture. Human Resource Management Journal, 24(1), 19–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Y. (2015). Constituting co-ethnic exploitation: The economic and cultural meanings of cash-in-hand jobs for ethnic Chinese migrants in Australia. Critical Sociology. doi:10.1177/0896920515606504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindquist, J., Xiang, B., & Yeoh, B. (2012). Opening the black box of migration: Brokers, the organisation of transnational mobility and the changing political economy in Asia. Pacific Affairs, 85(1), 7–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Locke, R., Rissing, B., & Timea, P. (2013). Complements or substitutes? Private codes, state regulation and the enforcement of labour standards in global supply chains. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 51(3), 519–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macneil, J., Rasmussen, E., & Haworth, N. (2013). The soft regulation of employment relations: Shades of grey. Paper presented at the Association of Industrial Relations Academics, Australia and New Zealand conference, Brisbane.

  • Marks, E. (1957). Internationally assisted migration. ICEM rounds out five years of resettlement. International Organization, 11, 481–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDowell, L., Batnitzky, A., & Dyer, S. (2008). Internationalisation and the spaces of temporary labour: The global assembly of a local labour force. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 46(4), 550–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendes, P. (2009). Retrenching or renovating the Australian welfare state: The paradox of the Howard government’s neo liberalism. International Journal of Social Welfare, 18(1), 102–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mette Kjaer, A. (2011). Rhodes’ contribution to governance theory: Praise, criticism and the future governance debate. Public Administration, 89(1), 101–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Harvest Labour Information Service (NHLIS). (2014). Harvest guide. Retrieved February 13, 2015, from www.harvesttrail.gov.au.

  • National Institute of Labour Studies (NILS). (2009). Evaluation of Australia’s Working Holiday Maker (WHM) Program. Adelaide: Flinders University.

  • Palumbo, L., & Scuibra, A. (2015). Vulnerability to forced labour and trafficking: The case of Romanian women in the agricultural sector in Sicily. Anti-Trafficking Review, 5, 1–9. doi:10.14197/atr.20121556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pena, A. (2010). Poverty, legal status and pay basis: The case of U.S. agriculture. Industrial Relations, 49(3), 429–454.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, M., & Hamilton, J. (2014). Picking on vulnerable migrants: Precarity and the mushroom industry in Northern Ireland. Work, employment and society. Work, Employment & Society, 28(3), 390–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preibisch, K. (2007). Interrogating racialized global labour supply: An exploration of the racial/national replacement of foreign agricultural workers in Canada. The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 44(1), 5–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preibisch, K. (2010). Pick-your-own labor: Migrant workers and flexibility in Canadian agriculture. International Migration Review, 44(2), 404–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Productivity Commission. (2015). Migrant intake into Australia. Draft Report, Canberra.

  • Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA). (2014). RCSA code for professional conduct. Retrieved January 6, 2015, from www.rcsa.com.au.

  • Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA). (2015a). Member directories. Retrieved December 7, 2015, from www.rcsa.com.au.

  • Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA). (2015b). Employment services industry code, round 1 consultation update and discussion paper. Retrieved January 7, 2016, from www.rcsa.com.au.

  • Rhodes, R. (2007). Understanding governance: Ten years on. Organization Studies, 28, 1243–1264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruhs, M. (2013). The price of rights. Regulating international labor migration. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Safe Work Australia. (2013). Work-related injuries and fatalities on Australian farms. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from www.safework.gov.au.

  • Salt, J., & Stein, J. (1997). Migration as a business: The case of trafficking. International Migration, 35, 467–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sisson, K., Arrowsmith, J., & Marginson, P. (2003). All benchmarkers now? Benchmarking and the Europeanisation of industrial relations. Industrial Relations Journal, 34(1), 15–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sporton, D. (2013). ‘They control my life’: The role of local recruitment agencies in East European migration to the UK. Population, Space and Place, 19(5), 443–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taipei Times. (2015). Taiwanese in Australia exploited: ABC, May 7. Retrieved January 6, 2016, from http://taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/print/2015/05/07/2003617705.

  • Triandafyllidou, A., & Maroukis, T. (2012). Migrant smuggling. Irregular migration from Asia and Africa to Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Underhill, E. (2006). The role of employment agencies in structuring and regulating labour markets. In C. Arup, P. Gahan, J. Howe, R. Johnstone, R. Mitchell, & A. O’Donnell (Eds.), Labour law and labour market regulation: Essays on the construction, constitution and regulation of labour markets. Sydney: Federation Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Underhill, E. (2013). A review of licensing arrangements for labour hire firms. Report prepared for the National Union of Workers. Melbourne: Deakin University.

  • Underhill, E., & Rimmer, M. (2015a). Layered vulnerability: Temporary migrants in Australian horticulture. Journal of Industrial Relations. doi:10.1177/0022185615600510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Underhill, E., & Rimmer, M. (2015b). Itinerant foreign harvest workers in Australia: The impact of precarious employment on occupational health and safety. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 13(2), 26–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United WHY. (2015). Vulnerabilities of working holiday makers and policy recommendations. Submission to Productivity Commission Inquiry on migrant intake. Melbourne: Productivity Commission.

  • Van den Broek, D., Harvey, W., & Groutsis, D. (2015). Commercial migration intermediaries and the segmentation of skilled migrant employment. Work, Employment & Society. doi:10.1177/0950017015594969.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voice of Horticulture. (2015). Labour issues threaten growth, media release. Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www.voiceofhorticulture.org.au/20151102-vohmediarelease-labour-issues.php.

  • Wang, H. (2005). Asian transnational corporations and labor rights: Vietnamese trade unions in Taiwan-invested companies. Journal of Business Ethics, 56(1), 43–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, K., Grimshaw, D., Rubery, J., & Beynon, H. (2001). Dilemmas in the management of temporary work agency staff. Human Resource Management Journal, 11(4), 3–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Dr. Underhill received a research grant from the Centre for Sustainable and Responsible Organisations, Faculty of Business and Law, Deakin University, Geelong Australia for this project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Elsa Underhill

  2. University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Dimitria Groutsis & Diane van den Broek

  3. La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Malcolm Rimmer

Authors
  1. Elsa Underhill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dimitria Groutsis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Diane van den Broek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Malcolm Rimmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elsa Underhill.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they do not have a conflict of interest in relation to this project.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Underhill, E., Groutsis, D., van den Broek, D. et al. Migration Intermediaries and Codes of Conduct: Temporary Migrant Workers in Australian Horticulture. J Bus Ethics 153, 675–689 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3351-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3351-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation