The Constrained Times of Migrant Labour in Jordan’s Textile Industry[La exigencia de circulación y sus efectos sobre las temporalidades del trabajo. Tiempos restringidos de la mano de obra migrante en la industria textil de Jordania]

This paper deals with the coerced relationship to (work) time among migrant labour working in the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs) in Jordan. Based on a qualitative survey conducted in production, work and workers' living places, I explore the effects of circular migration on the temporalities of migrants' work. In an export-oriented textile industry dominated by foreign firms, I suggest that the adjustment of residence time to work time tends to reduce these migrants to their sole function as a labour force. Their confinement in dormitory buildings located close to the factories further accentuates their captivity. The paper (1) situates the long-time frame of Jordanian migration policies by linking them to the liberalization movement that presided over the creation of the QIZs; (2) compares the working conditions – and their effects on work time – of both Jordanian and foreign workers in the QIZs; and (3) illustrates how migrant workers, because they are subjects to a coerced time, are more vulnerable to productivity and availability injunctions than their Jordanian counterparts.