ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the experiences of global, migrant laborers like Emmet. The chapter examines the global market in cheap, disposable, temporary labor crossing international borders. These laborers are maids and nannies, houseboys and gardeners, construction workers, agricultural workers, factory workers, staff in restaurants, bars and hotels, taxi drivers, security guards, store clerks, and sex workers, among others. Working-class female migrants are often more vulnerable than men at work. Maids are often subject to a great deal of physical and mental abuse, rape, wage theft, and sometimes nonpayment of wages. Part of this vulnerability is because they are women, and part of it is due to their work being behind closed doors. Human trafficking became a highly visible issue with the passage of the United States Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. This law established the US Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIPR), which ranks countries on their work to end human trafficking.
