Funnels of Unfreedom: Time-Spaces of Recruitment and (Im)Mobility in the Trajectories of Trafficked Migrant Fishers

Abstract

The recruitment and deployment of migrant fishers in distant waters (DW) fisheries has emerged as a significant site for the production of unfree labor relations. We trace the recruitment and deployment geographies of migrant fishers from the Philippines to the vessel, conceptualizing the time-spaces of the journey as a significant site for producing unfree labor. We argue that labor brokerage not only establishes the conditions of the labor contract and financialization of migration in the migrants’ home country but is also an ongoing process that intensifies unfreedom through the journey to deployment across multiple sites and temporalities. We conceptualize this movement into exploitative laboring situations as “funnels of unfreedom.” The production of unfreedom through the geographies of recruitment, harboring, and transportation to the destination is one strategy by which DW fleets can reduce costs. The relevance of this discussion extends to other sectors where complex labor brokerage geographies constrain migrant worker choices and fortify unfreedom in labor relations.

远洋渔业招聘和派遣移民渔民, 已经成为建立不自由劳动关系的重要场所。我们追踪了从菲律宾到船舶的移民渔民招聘和派遣的位置, 将活动路线的时空概念化为建立非自由劳动力的重要地点。我们认为, 劳务经纪不仅确立了劳工合同的条件和移民祖国的移民金融化, 还通过跨地点跨时间的派遣路线而持续加剧了不自由。我们将这一活动理解为剥削性的劳务状态, 即, “不自由的漏斗”。通过招聘、停泊和运输的地理位置来建立非自由, 是远洋船队降低成本的一种策略。本文的论述可以延伸到其它行业：复杂的劳工经纪地理位置限制了移民劳工的选择, 强化了劳动关系中的不自由。

El reclutamiento y el despliegue de los pescadores migrantes en pesquerías de aguas distantes (DW) ha surgido como punto significativo para la construcción de relaciones laborales no libres. Seguimos las geografías del reclutamiento y despliegue de los pescadores migrantes desde las Filipinas hasta el barco pesquero, conceptualizando el tiempo-espacio del viaje Argüimos que la intermediación laboral no solo establece las condiciones del contrato laboral y la financiación de la migración en el país de origen del migrante, sino que es también un proceso continuado que intensifica la falta de libertad por medio del viaje hasta el despliegue, a través de múltiples sitios y temporalidades. Conceptualizamos este movimiento dentro de situaciones de explotación laboral como “embudos de la inexistencia de libertad”. La producción de no libertad a través de las geografías del reclutamiento, acogida y transporte hasta el destino laboral es una estrategia por medio de la cual las flotas de las DW pueden reducir costos. La relevancia de esta discusión se extiende a otros sectores donde las complejas geografías de la intermediación laboral restringen las opciones de los trabajadores migrantes y fortalecen la falta de libertad en las relaciones laborales.

Key Words:

• distant water fisheries
• human trafficking
• labor recruitment
• migration trajectories
• the Philippines

关键词:

• 远洋渔业
• 人口贩运
• 劳工招聘
• 移民轨迹
• 菲律宾

Palabras clave:

• Filipinas
• pesqueras de aguas distantes
• reclutamiento laboral
• tráfico humano
• trayectorias migratorias

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sallie Yea

SALLIE YEA is a Tracey Banivanua Mar Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Social Inquiry, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 3086, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]. She is currently engaged in three research projects examining neglected aspects of justice and protection for trafficked persons and forced laborers in the Asia-Pacific, including a study of restorative justice for trafficked migrant fishing crew.

Christina Stringer

CHRISTINA STRINGER is an Associate Professor in the Center for Research on Modern Slavery, University of Auckland Business School, Auckland, 1142 New Zealand. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include modern slavery in the fishing industry and the exploitation of temporary migrant workers in New Zealand.

Wayne Palmer

WAYNE PALMER is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Sociology of Transnationalization and Social Anthropology Department, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld 33501, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]. His primary research interest is in the legal employment rights of migrant workers.