Environment and Planning A 2011, volume 43, pages 2934-2952 doi:10.1068/a4412 Toward a new countermovement: a framework for interpreting the contradictory interventions of migrant civil society organizations in urban labor markets Nina Martin Department of Geography, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 224 Saunders Hall, Campus Box 3220, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; e-mail: ninam@email.unc.edu Received 10 January 2011; in revised form 31 May 2011 Abstract. Low-wage migrant workers in the United States confront a perilous labor market, where wages are low, the risk of injury on the job is high, and the fear of apprehension by immigration authorities is widespread. There is increasing empirical evidence that civil society organizations are becoming involved in mediating labor-market problems, but work remains to be done in developing a robust theoretical conception of why such organizations are involved in this arena and how we might evaluate the impacts of their interventions. This paper presents a framework for interpreting the role of migrant civil society organizations as labor-market intermediaries, by extending Karl Polanyi's theory of the 'double movement' and more recent writing to neoliberalism and precarious work. On the basis of data collected from migrant nonprofit organizations in Chicago, I theorize migrant civil society organizations as part of the creation of a new countermovement that protects the interests of both workers and employers from the destructive nature of an unregulated labor market, as predicted by Polanyi. I catalogue organizations' responses to precarious work and create a generalizable frame- work for evaluating the contingent outcomes of their strategies. Organizations' work is interpreted as complex and sometimes contradictory: the potential to shield workers and advocate for progressive change is in constant tension with the neoliberal patterns of state and economic restructuring that such organizations can support. Introduction Migrant civil society organizations^'^—nongovernmental organizations that share a mission of improving the lives of migrants—have been on the forefront of addressing workers' vulnerability through social services, advocacy, and organizing (Carré and Heckscher, 2006; Fine, 2005; 2006; Gordon, 2005; Jayaraman and Ness, 2005; Ness, 2005; Theodore and Martin, 2007; Theodore et al, 2009; Wills, 2008). Voluntary organizations have aided vulnerable migrant^^' workers at least since the settlement house movement of the 19th century (see Cordero-Guzmán, 2005; Fabricant and Fisher, 2002; Katz, 1996; Moya, 2005; Salamon, 1992). However, the political, social, and economic environments that confront both organizations and migrants have been reconfigured over the last thirty years, leading to new philosophies and practices of nonprofit organizing and service provision in the arena of workforce issues. Given the shifting constellation of institutional actors involved in workplace concerns, there is a new mandate to study civil society actors as gatekeepers to the labor market, influenc- ing and shaping workers' experiences (Brenner and Theodore, 2002; Jessop, 2002; Peck, 1996; 2001). There is increasing empirical evidence of civil society organizations' <'' Migrant-serving nonprofit organizations are defined as having registered 501(c)(3) tax status, a minimum revenue of $25 000 per year, an office, and paid staff. They have a client base that is at least 30% foreign born, and a mission of assisting those in need (whether migrant or not) in the place where the organization is located, through a combination of services, programming, and advocacy. (•^* Throughout the paper, I use the term 'migrant' rather than 'immigrant' to refer to people born outside of the United States, to stress the "movement, intrinsic incompletion, and consequent irresolution of social processes of migration" (De Genova, 2005, pages 2-3).