Cultural Impediments in the Labor Integration of Migrants: An Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). Comparative Perspective for Greece and Cyprus

The migration issue has gained great prominence both in security and integration terms, ever since the outbreak of the Refugee Crisis of 2015. Since then, a great number of initiatives and strategies have been implemented and articulated EU wide, tackling mainly security concerns of the host states. Albeit the tilting in security and securitization practices, integration measures have also been put in place for migrants that meet host states’ criteria to integrate in their socio-economic fabric. One crucial aspect of integration is labor integration, whereby a safe labor environment is conceptualized as a place where all individuals, regardless of background or ability, have equitable access to employment opportunities and are valued for their contributions within the workforce. Migrants both in Greece and Cyprus have been (relatively) well integrated in the labor market. Yet, preliminary research sheds light in a crucial aspect that relates to their safety at work: Currently there does not exist a legislative or administrative framework to provide for migrants of diverse cultural background (mainly Muslims) as regards occupational and safety hazards (OSH) at work. This fact is worrisome and raises several concerns both for the safety of the working populations involved as well as for the way Greece and Cyprus handle such an issue in a context of rapid changing geopolitical landscape. The aim of this paper, as such, is to investigate the reasons behind this lack of OSH strategies in Greece and Cyprus and to make evidence based policy recommendations and proposals. A mixed method approach is used, namely semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (qualitative method) in Greece and Cyprus regarding OSH policy making (Ministries of Labor and Social Affairs, Labor Inspectorates, Trade Unions, Employers’ Associations, Research Institutions) and structured questionnaires to quota based integrated migrants in Greece and Cyprus respectively (quantitative method).