Temporary Migrant Work and Social Justice
Temporary migrant work – work carried out by those on temporary visas – is increasing in Australia. This development raises challenging questions for social justice:
- What rights and obligations should temporary migrant workers have?
- How should such rights and obligations be balanced against the needs of employers and local workers, and the broader interests of Australia?
Focussing on the experiences of temporary migrant nurses in Victoria, this project will be the first of its kind to explicitly examine these questions from an inter-disciplinary perspective. It is also the first study of its kind to explore these issues in detail in the nursing sector (notably the health and community services sector is one of largest employers of temporary migrant workers).
Project Team
The project team is made up of researchers from three different faculties - Law, Medicine and Dentistry, Arts/Social Sciences:
- Associate Professor Joo-Cheong Tham, (Melbourne Law School)
- Dr Martina Boese (School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne)
- Dr Kate Macdonald (School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne)
- Dr Winsome Roberts (Melbourne School of Health Sciences, University of Melbourne)
- Dr Michael McGann, (Social Justice Initiative, University of Melbourne)
- Ms Paula O’Brien ( Melbourne Law School)
- Dr Iain Campbell (Global Studies, Social Science &Planning, RMIT)
Melissa Philips, a doctorate student in the School of Social and Political Sciences (University of Melbourne), and Clara Jordan-Baird, student at Melbourne Law School, are providing research assistance to the project team.
For more details about this project, or if you are a temporary
migrant nurse and would like to take part in the reseach, please email:
JTW-project@unimelb.edu.au
Temporary Migrant Work and Social Justice Workshop
On April 7th, 2010, a workshop on 'Temporary Migrant Work and Social Justice' was held at the MelbourneLaw School. The aim of the workshop was to bring together scholars, practitioners and policy-makers to discuss issues of social justice arising from temporary migrant work schemes. The workshop was convened by Dr Martina Boese, Dr Kate McDonald, Dr Michael McGann, Dr Winsome Roberts and Dr Joo-Cheong Tham and supported by the Social Justice Initiative. For further information about the workshop see here.