ABSTRACT
This chapter unravels the employment relationships in Dhaka’s construction projects and the role of recruiters in shaping them. It examines the migrant construction workers’ experiences of working with their recruiters. It is particularly focussed on how the workers deal with the recruiters and their extended layers in their workplace. Given the complex structures of recruitment practices, the workplace experiences of Dhaka’s migrant construction workers are determined by the employment relationships that they go through. The chapter therefore examines the migrant construction workers’ own views and lived experiences regarding the prevalent structure of the employment relationships that they find themselves in. It explains how the recruiters flexibilise migrant labour through their individualised labour management practices. Probing into these practices, it explains the workers’ own views that help them continue their work with their recruiters. Empirical evidence and contextual discussions presented in this chapter reveal an all-embracing role of the individual recruiters in mediating the migrant construction workers’ employment relationships in Dhaka. The wider social context of the employment relationships makes the workers highly dependent on their recruiters.
