Labour Law Limited to the Citizen? Considering Labour Migrants in the UK

Abstract

The use of the term ‘migrant’ supports a particular construction of the legal subject of labour law, whereby the exclusion of some from recognition as ‘citizen nationals’ justifies exclusion from a formal employment relationship. Being outside of a formal employment relationship renders ‘migrants’ useful and necessary as precarious labourers in the current globalised economic market. This paper examines UK labour and migration law to raise theoretical questions underpinning a current crisis of labour law.