C15 Lecture Outline January 19, 2017

REVIEW 20 MINS
1. Review of Lectures 1 & 2
Sociological imagination
o Definition
Social problematic, social issues of relevance to individual & society
In relation to work & employment
WES Starting point definitions
o Work
Carrying out tasks, expending energy (physical and mental)
o Paid & unpaid work
Paid & Formal: Is about an employment relationship (working in an office or at old
navy). Has a wage.
Paid & Informal: Also, has an employment relationship, but not formally written in a
contract. E.g. Shoveling neighbors driveway for money. Payment is unspecified and
not fixed.
Unpaid & Formal: wage theft
Unpaid & Informal: volunteering, domestic work
o Employment [relationship]
Always exists when youre exchanging your energy for something (for potatoes or for
minimum wage.)
o Classical sociology:
Structural approaches to employment relations and the meaning of work
Marx relations of production, alienation
o Proletariats are the working class and the bourgeoisie own the means of
production and therefore they enter an employment relationship
o Alienation: the worker becomes detached and estranged from their work, from
themselves and the fruits of their labour.
Why is it a structural argument? What determines that alienation, is the mode
of production. The way in which the mode of production (capitalism) is
structured. Alienation is determined by a structure (mode of production:
capitalism)
Durkheim division of labour, anomie
o Anomie: the loss of social bonds. Because of specialization, we do not relate to
others who contribute to the overall product because our specialization is
different than theirs, even though we are both still contributing to the same end
goal/result. Erosion of familiarity in social bonds.
o DoL: societies become more complex and specialized,
Organizational approach to work
Weber class & status, bureaucratic management
Active reading what does it involve
Basok, Tortillas & Tomatoes: Transmigrant Mexican Harvesters in Canada
o What did you learn about book based on TOC
Key terms
Types of data
Argument you think author will develop
CLASS / INSTRUCTOR LEAD 20 MINUTES
2. First Read of Basok Preface & Chapter 1
a. Review TOC & Chapter headings
i. Migrant Workers in the agriculture sector in Leamington Ontario
ii. Captive Labour
iii. Vulnerable Labour
iv. Migrant Syndrome
b. Research questions:
c. Main arguments to be developed in book
d. key concept(s)
3. Second Read of Basok Preface & Chapter 1
a. The origins and development of the research project (Preface)
i. Began when many migrant workers started asking Basok about their rights as season
workers.
ii. She slowly delved into the process and was very aware of the vulnerability of the workers.
iii. She thought that in the interview sessions, she would have many workers that would easily
give her information, but she learned that they were very hesitant and they did not wat to
give out information about their employer due to the fear of getting fired.
iv. Starts out with very general questions and then later hands out a survey.
v. Also interviews the employers (farmers).
vi. She has 2 questions: why is it that these Mexican workers wont talk to her (what is the
mechanism of social control?) What is the relationship between the migrant worker and the
local worker? (are seasonal workers displacing domestic workers?) (citizen vs non-citizen
workers)
b. Chapter 1 arch of conceptual argument
i. Why are Mexican workers doing these jobs? There is a structural necessity for migrant
workers (unfree labour) from the perspective of the agriculture industry. Migrant workers
are captive labour because they depend on this job for the long-term social reproduction of
their families (the perspective of the workers).
ii. Unfree labour: Cant circulate in the labour market. Its not just because they cant circulate
its also because they choose not to circulate because your other alternative are worse.
1. For the most part, if domestic workers are doing a job that is unbearable, they can quit
and find another job that is perhaps more bearable. This is not the case for migrant
workers because they will get deported if they quit. (Ex. Slavery, indentured labour)
iii. 3 Structural explanations for the use of migrant labour:
1. Political economy approach
a. At times of full employment, domestic workers were trained and skilled and
therefore were reluctant towards doing unskilled manual work and they would
pursue lucrative and stable white-collar jobs.
b. However there was still a need for workers in the primary sector that the natives had
abandoned, therefore migrant workers were recruited for these lower, unstable
positions.
2. Segmented labour approach
a. Some economic sectors are more vulnerable than others due to the capitalist nature
of the economic system, thereby the jobs found in these sectors are lower-paying,
and unstable
b. They are unstable mostly due to the seasonal aspect of the work.
3. Global restructuring approach
 a. Due to global restructuring, many jobs in the primary sector
are poorly paid, insecure and unstable, therefore unattractive to domestic
workers with middle-class aspirations.
b. These jobs are as likely to
attract migrant labour as jobs in the traditional secondary sector.
c. There is a downgrading of jobs in the secondary sector to the primary sector

4. First and Second Read of Basok Chapters 2-5

a. Chapter 2 - The Farmer Affliction
i. The Wage Labour Demands in Canadian Agriculture:
1. There were seasonal high-labour demands
ii. Public and Private Labour Recruiting Initiative
1. At first growers tried to hire domestic workers through both private and public means,
but the turnover rate was too high because they would quit if they found a better job.
2. The domestic people they first tried to hire were visible minorites and unemployed
people.
3. They did not stay on the job because of the poor working conditions and poor pay. They
were also people who were weakly connected to the labour market when they started.
iii. Growers Lobbying: The Caribbean Program
1. Therefore, they went on to hire Caribbean workers, however they did not have as many
recruits as they need.
2. Growers put in a lot of effort in making a case. Politics are involved in how this
program came to be.
iv. Expanding the Program
1. When Caribbean workers were not enough, they expanded to Mexican migrant workers
v. Mexican Seasonal Agricultural Workers In Canada
vi. Administration of the Mexican Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programs
1. The Canadian government realizes that it is a very under-regulated program, therefore
they step in and create regulations around how the program should work.
vii. Employment Conditions of Mexican Seasonal Workers: The Official Story
1. The migrant workers dealt with very more conditions in the agricultural seasonal
program
b. Chapter 3- Labour Problems: The Leamington Story
i. Agriculture in Leamington: An Historic Journey
1. There was a labour shortage in Leamington especially since it mainly focused on the
agriculture sector and this was because the domestic workers were highly unmotivated
ii. The Ethnic Composition of Leamington
1. Different waves of immigration to Leamington. Settlers in Leamington were mainly of
British, German, Austrians, Italian decent.
2. Historically, agriculture is a sector in Canada that draws upon very vulnerable workers.
iii. The Mennonite Settlement
1.
iv. Labour Shortages in Leamington
1. Growers experienced many problems while recruiting and retaining reliable workers
because domestic workers often lacked discipline, commitment to employers and would
quit jobs without notice.
2. Seasonal workers were the exact opposite because they needed the job in order to
support their families back in Mexico, therefore they did not quit, Furthermore, since
 their families were back home, they would be able to spend more time at work and take
fewer breaks unlike the domestic workers. Therefore, their availability in a competitive
and time-sensitive sector made them more reliable.
c. Chapter 4 Vulnerable Labour in a Vulnerable Sector
i. The Problem of High Turnover
1. Since they provide low wages, it was hard to find workers
2. If they were local, they were more likely to terminate their employment ( forieign
workers are less mobile and less likely to go home)
ii. Who Is to Blame?
1. Government blames the growers because of the conditions that they provide for their
workers (low paying and poor conditions)
2. Growers blame it on external factors like the competitiveness of the sector
iii. The Vulnerability Thesis
d. Chapter 5 The Greenhouse Industry in Leamington
i. The Importance of Leamington
1. Leamington 1999 was the largest production of vegetables in North America
ii. Production Trends
1. 9 years production grew 190 million
2. Higher demand for labour work
iii. Expanded Markets
1. Captive labour was needed for success for greenhouse
iv. Technological Changes
1.
v. Profitability
1. Highly capitalized
2. There was a structural shift in the sector. The structural necessity of migrant workers
shifted to the structural backbone of a highly lucrative sector

LECTURE
5. Temporary Foreign workers and unfree labour in Canada (20 MINS)
a. Migration-Work-Status Nexus
i. Migration, work and legal status are interconnected in individuals lives
1. From the perspective of the individuals, migration is tied to the search for livelihood
and secure their families future.
2. When you migrate over an international boarder, your legal status changes and
therefore your relationship to work changes. Your rights as a worker change. You go
from a migrant worker seeking livelihood to a non-citizen migrant seeking livelihood.
3. When international boarders are involve, your rights as a noncitizen and as a worker
come into conflict
ii. Project of nation-state formation intersects with the migration-work-status nexus
1. Nations are always trying to figure out the relationship between the population that they
have in their country and their labour needs.
b. The Migration-Work-Status Nexus in Canada
i. Long and short term goals
1. Demographic and labour market planning
2. Industrial projections
3. Employer demand
ii. Two-Track Immigration System, 1890s-1990s
 1. Track 1: Temporary Migrants who have significant restrictions on where they can work
and how long they can stay. Are unfree labour and are deportable. Originally had no
plan of staying in the beginning but most of them did end up staying.
a. Ex: Railway Workers
2. Track 2: Permanent Immigrants who were selected to settle and eventually become
citizens. Used to be the bulk of who came to Canada and who stayed in Canada
iii. Two-Track, Two-Step Immigration System, 2000s
1. Track 1 (temporary migrants) is now the main track. Its deportable (unfree labour)
regardless of skill or program. It defines the nature of the relationship between work
and employment.
c. Precarious Noncitizens
i. Precarious noncitizenship
1. Formal, legal exclusion of precarious legal status
2. In practice differential inclusion
ii. Precarious legal status:
1. Temporary right to be present or to work in a country
2. Limited or no access to state entitlements
3. Deportability

HANDS ON EXERCISE
6. Introduction to quantitative evidence on temporary foreign workers and unfree labour (15
MINS)
Next week January 26
Review
First & Second read of Basok chapters 6-8 * Chapter 9
Continue lecture on Temporary foreign workers & unfree labour in Canada
Introduction to first assignment with some hands-on work in class
Fourth reading of Basok talking to the text