What does labour exploitation really mean? Listening to migrant workers

Dr Maayan Niezna writes...

“The conditions in the hotel where I worked as a cleaner were horrible”, one London cleaner told me. “Normally, we would have to do 18-20 rooms, but in the summer, we might have to do 35-37 rooms with only one additional hour. The same job that they gave me under normal conditions, then I had 37 rooms to clean with only one more hour. At minimum wage, hard work, it was serious exploitation”.

Stories like hers raise a crucial question: what do we mean when we talk about “labour exploitation”? How do we define it? The term is everywhere — in newspaper headlines, union campaigns, and police reports — but it doesn’t always mean the same thing to everyone. A migrant worker, a trade union organiser, and a labour inspector might all use the phrase, but are they really talking about the same problem?

That’s what my research set out to explore. I spoke to police detectives, labour inspectors, and lawyers dealing with cases of “modern slavery.” I also interviewed migrant workers in cleaning and hospitality, many of them members of the IWGB Cleaners and Facilities branch in London. Workers like the one quoted above and like Maritza generously shared their experiences with me: of hard work, dignity, and the meaning of work — but also of exploitation, discrimination, and exhaustion

Members of the IWGB Cleaners and Facilities Branch

The workers I spoke to had very different experiences. Some enjoyed their jobs and took pride in doing them well. Others saw cleaning as a stopgap — a way to earn money until their English improved or they could move into a role they preferred, such as waitressing.

For many, cleaning was not their first job, and they had experience doing different things in their countries of origin or in other countries before coming to the UK. Some had professions such as a cook, a gardener, a painter, or a management assistant. Some had a business or managed other people, experiences that oftentimes helped them when they had to work with others or manage cleaners in the UK.

Like Maritza, many people I spoke to found dignity and pride in what they do – doing a job well, taking care of their colleagues or the workers they manage, and training to improve their skills and acquire new ones. Yet, everyone I spoke to had experiences of exploitation. For some, it was bullying and humiliating treatment. For some, it was shouting and threats. For some, poor conditions and a lack of time to rest. Some workers mentioned discrimination, being treated poorly, or not getting the same conditions as colleagues with different ethnicities or backgrounds. One common form of exploitation that I heard about from every cleaner concerned time.

Cleaners frequently told me they were expected to do more in less time: to complete the same tasks with fewer hours, or to cover more work without any extra time being given. This was exhausting. Cleaning is demanding physical work, and several workers explained how these conditions had left them without the chance to rest properly, or harmed their health, sometimes to the point of requiring medical treatment. The pressure also reduced the time and energy they had for family, friends, and other parts of life that mattered to them. For those working multiple jobs — as many did — the demands were particularly overwhelming.

All of these elements combine to a dehumanising treatment. Workers facing rowing and unreasonable demands are treated not as people, whose physical bodies need rest and who require social interactions and personal time outside work. They are treated as instruments that should provide as much work as possible in the shortest possible time and with the fewest possible resources. This treatment of workers like tools rather than people denies their dignity, even if it is not accompanied by bullying, shouting, or abuse. This is a problem not just for cleaners, but for all of us concerned with human dignity at work and elsewhere.

Understanding the different perspectives on labour exploitation matters. If we want to tackle labour exploitation, we first need to be clear about what it means. Workers’ understanding of what exploitation is, what problems they faced and how they would like to see the sector changes should guide advocacy efforts.

Dr Maayan Niezna is Lecturer in Law at the School of Law and Social Justice at the University of Liverpool. You can find out more about her work here.