Wage theft is business as usual in many industries that are reliant on migrant workers. Employers know that most unpaid migrant workers will never recover their wages through government and court processes. With the pandemic leaving even more migrant workers unpaid, the need for effective justice mechanisms has never been more urgent.
Migrant Workers’ Access to Justice for Wage Theft, a new report from Migrant Justice Institute Co-Executive Directors Bassina Farbenblum and Laurie Berg, charts a path forward. Pointing to promising examples from around the world, the report illuminates how the barriers that impede migrant workers’ access to justice can be overcome. These innovations shift risks and burdens of wage recovery away from workers and onto government and business, and disrupt employer expectations of impunity.
The report draws on a year of global consultations and analysis across all regions, in partnership with The Solidarity Center and the ILAW Network. It proposes specific, practical reform targets that can underpin global, national and local wage theft campaigns, and support greater coordination among a community of practice working to achieve effective change.