Towards ‘Just Access’: A Critical Framework for Analyzing Migrant Labor Governance in the Green Transition

The pursuit of an ambitious green transition in the European Union (EU) risks overlooking the essential needs and contributions of migrant workers. This article proposes the ‘just access’ framework for a systematic, critical assessment of how the transition’s justice is delimited by migration and labor governance, manifested as physical, legal, and social bordering. The framework does this by operationalizing Nancy Fraser’s three-dimensional account of justice – redistribution, recognition, representation – within a three-level model of migrant ‘access’ (state territory, rights, society). Ultimately, this layered analysis reveals that achieving an equitable and sustainable transition rests upon a structural shift, moving beyond treating migrant workers as passive objects to recognizing them as active subjects with effective justice claims. The framework provides scholars and decision-makers with conceptual tools to identify and challenge systemic inequalities concerning non-citizen workers, thereby advancing discussions on just transitions. The article concludes by demonstrating the framework’s application in the EU context.