Everyday multiculturalism in union: power construction in migrant domestic workers’ unionism

ABSTRACT

Migrant domestic workers are often excluded from government policies due to their lack of citizenship. Such exclusion positions migrant domestic workers at the bottom of the social and political power structure. However, research has found that, with the establishment of unions, everyday interactions among local and migrant domestic workers have strengthened; which has not only enhanced understanding between locals and migrants, but also broken the ethnic and migration status power structures. The reconstruction of power coincides with the concepts of power in everyday multiculturalism. Through exploring the involvement of Nepalese migrant domestic workers in the union movement, this paper seeks to uncover how everyday multiculturalism reconstructs power structures for local and migrant domestic workers and builds a community of interdependence among domestic workers. This discovery gives insights into the role of union and labour activists in facilitating everyday multiculturalism, which has not been previously explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Everyday multiculturalism
• migrant worker
• labour union
• multiculturalism
• gender
• ethnic minority

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Raees Begum Baig http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4008-7764