Living on the Margins by Bloch Alice McKay Sonia

Author:Bloch, Alice, McKay, Sonia [Bloch, Alice, McKay, Sonia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781447319375
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Published: 2017-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

The advantages of good relationships with employers

Relationships with the owner or direct boss were important in decision making and, just as they caused people to leave jobs, they were also a reason to stay, as some people enjoyed good working relations. Li, for instance, worked for a building contractor on a daily rate that he knew was quite low. While others had left for more money, he had stayed with the same boss because he was “a xiangqin”, a close fellow villager. This connection was advantageous for Li because the boss provided him with relatively stable work and he felt secure. While good co-workers were those who helped out, treated workers fairly and with whom it was possible to chat and occasionally share a joke, good managers were seen as those who were nice to their workers, paid on time, didn’t shout, could be trusted – often due to shared heritage – and did their share of work.

Adam (male, from Bangladesh) found his current work in a restaurant to be very good compared to other places simply because the employer “is very nice’” Similarly Nasar said, “he is nice to us and the pay is correct. He isn’t ripping us off. He knows that I am illegal” (male, from Bangladesh). This experience contrasts to that of most others, as noted earlier in the chapter, who felt underpaid as a consequence of their status. Mujib was happy because he was paid every Sunday as soon as the shift finished. Not all employers paid workers on time and some had even withheld wages, so being paid on time and the right amount provided an element of stability. Tanveer said his employer was nice but he did not pay on time, and so workers had to keep asking for money. The employer would say, “I’ll give it today, tomorrow, ok the day after …” (Tanveer, male, from Bangladesh), and for those without status there was nothing that they could do but wait. Lack of action, or what Welat (male, from Turkey) described as “submissive behaviour”, was because people were terrified of losing their jobs.

For Rojda, a shared background with her employers was crucial to her everyday life at work. She was well aware that her pay was low, her hours long and expectations to stay at work unreasonable, but nevertheless she described them “as good to us” because they were from the same country and she said they “speak the same language; same culture; religion” (female, Kurd from Turkey). Like Rojda, Roni also talked favourably about his employer, while at the same time pointing out that pay was low. Roni also referred to the fact that the working relationship transcended the workplace, and this was something that a small minority referred to in terms of help from their employers. Occasionally employers had helped their workers in others areas of their lives, such as immigration, lending money or sorting out bureaucratic problems. Bahar, from Turkey, who worked as a hairdresser and had a young

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