Labor scholarship overwhelmingly continues to frame the value of migrants’ social network ties by successful or unsuccessful incorporation into formal sectors of the host economy. Within this context, migrant social network ties are commonly viewed as positive only when they lead to union-building efforts. The current study extends the social network analysis to include informal resistance and struggle. Based on ethnographic research among Mexican migrant drywallers in the San Diego construction industry, I argue that migrant workers draw on social network ties to craft less obvious and complex alternative organizing strategies to resist labor flexibility and casualization. Groups of drywallers, which I term collective cuadrillas, use social network ties not only as an impetus to improve workplace conditions but also to convene collectively on the shop floor to alleviate fierce competition among workmates and rid the production process of hierarchal work structures for more democratically managed job practices.

The European Union has been synonymous with trade or common market; however, on the local scene in Brussels, the institutions of the European Union have begun to influence the city’s business environment, conditioning or assisting the city’s development. In some areas, the presence of European institutions and their buildings has led to important social and economic changes, and the institutions have become essential elements of the local economy. For the present study, the Hotels, Restaurants and Catering (HORECA) sector are addressed as an economic actor in the economic and social dynamics and behavior, as well as the influence in the labor field. To support the analysis of this article, the bases of the work are mainly qualitative sources and, to a lesser extent, quantitative data. The main sources of information are secondary sources, such as studies and reports, written mainly by authors specialized in migration and trade issues in the European Union.