State, Union and Unauthorized Migrants: <i>A case study of deportation policy in Sweden</i>

Abstract

During the 1990s the number of unauthorized migrant workers increased in Sweden. The Building Workers' Union (BWU) reacted restrictively to this change. The political objective of the BWU was to preserve the existing institutions in immigration policy. To achieve this end, the Union cooperated with the police to detect unauthorized migrants. The Union became in fact an integral part of the internal migration control that the police performed. The restrictive reaction of the Union created the "illegal" migrant in the construction sector as a political problem in Sweden. This political problem did not exist in Sweden before the 1990s.

Policing markets: The role of the social partners in internal immigration enforcement

“…Unions have sometimes been directly involved in checking worksites, especially in the construction sector. In Sweden, cooperation between the construction workers’ unions and police began in the 1990s, with unions reporting suspect worksites to police and assisting them in planning and sometimes executing raids (Frank, 2012: 299, 303–304; Khosravi, 2010: 120; Selberg, 2012: 19). Frank (2012: 299) argues this cooperation is directly related to the place of Swedish unions in the corporatist bargaining system: ‘Swedish unions perceive the state, not as an enemy, but as an organization to negotiate with and to use for its purposes.…”

Negotiating Solidarity: Collective Actions for Precarious Migrant Workers’ Rights in Sweden

“…All of these discrepancies from conventional labour market relations also become challenges to the work conducted by trade unions. Because they are forced to accept jobs that do not meet the standards that trade unions have fought to accomplish, undocumented immigrants have traditionally been beheld by trade unions as a threat (Frank, 2012). Shortly, a closer look into the transformations that have occurred in trade unions in Sweden and other countries will be given, but firstly, focus on one way of structuring the different forms of support, including those from trade unions, which undocumented migrants may receive will be explored.…”

“…Further, research on undocumented migrants and irregular migration has also been growing in Sweden during the last couple of years (Sager et al, 2016;see Ascher, 2009;Khosravi, 2010;Holgersson, 2011;Sager, 2011;Sigvardsdotter, 2012). More recently, several studies have provided insight into the situation of undocumented migrants on the labour market, with a particular focus on the informal economy (see Gavanas, 2011;Gavanas and Calleman, 2013;Sager, 2015;Öberg, 2016) and the relation to the trade unions (see Frank, 2012;Hellgren, 2014;Neergaard, 2015a;Selberg, 2014Selberg, , 2016Moksnes, 2016).…”

“…A number of Swedish unions has lately begun to adhere to such a line of reasoning (Selberg, 2014). Accordingly, there has been a general shift, from previous strategies focused on criminalisation and exclusion, in the form of collaborations between the police and the builders' union to carry out passport inspection in workplaces in order to detain irregular immigrants (see Frank, 2012). Analysing this shift, Neergaard (2015b) points at differences between unions in their positioning towards undocumented migrants.…”

“…Milkman et al, 2010;Frank, 2012;Woolfson et al, 2012;Lindberg, 2013;Hellgren, 2014;Selberg, 2014Selberg, , 2016Neergaard, 2015;Moksnes, 2016); and, those on political activism rights by organised migrants through local and global solidarity movements (see e.g. Laubenthal, 2007;Ålund and Reichel, 2007;Düvell, 2007;Kings, 2011;Andrijasevic, 2013;Atger, 2013;Schierup et al, 2014;Agustín and Bak Jørgensen, 2016).…”