‘Thinking Outside the Box’? Trade Union Organizing Strategies and Polish Migrant Workers in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article focuses on the responses of British trade unions to the arrival ofPolish workers since the 2004 enlargement of the European Union. It is argued that existing definitions and explanations of UK trade union engagement with migrant workers do not capture the strategies that have been used to engage with these migrant workers. We suggest that there have been two sets of responses. First, recruitment and organization activity has centred on inclusion and has been undertaken on new terrains using innovative strategies. Second, we point to the importance of new linkages locally, regionally, nationally and internationally in organizing these new labour market entrants.

Unpacking the Category of Migrant Workers in Trade Union Research: A Multi-Level Approach to Migrant Intersectionalities

“…Fitzgerald and Hardy (2010) for instance pointed to the gaps in research of UK trade unions' engagement with migrants from 'Accession 8' countries (and Poland specifically). Their analysis of the policy shift by the Trades Union Congress (the umbrella body for trade unions in the UK) since the accession of new EU countries in 2004 and 2006 highlights that by including the Organising Migrant Workers Strategy into the overall 'Vulnerable Workers' campaign strategy, the TUC acknowledged migrant vulnerability (rather than nationality per se) as critically intersecting with the employment status (e.g.…”

“…Questions about whether, and if so how, unions organise and engage a diverse workforce, including migrant workers, have therefore become an important stream of research within the sociology of work and industrial relations (e.g., Connolly et al, 2014;Fitzgerald and Hardy, 2010;Heyes, 2009;Holgate, 2005;Tapia et al 2017). i Building on previous debates, and focusing on the UK context, we call for an approach that considers 'migrant intersectionalities' to understand the relationship between migrants and trade unions and to do so at different levels: the macro (the influence of a changed socio-economic climate), the meso (unions' policies and strategies), and the micro (migrants' subjective and different experiences of work and unionization).…”

Lost in the Ocean of Deregulation?

“…Researchers have suggested changes to be implemented in internal union organizational schemes, pointing out case-study level successes when unions have adopted a more flexible approach to the on-the-spot presence of union representatives and shop stewards (Charlwood, 2004;Clawson and Clawson, 1999;Fairbrother et al, 2007). Others have recommended a more "inclusive" and open-minded policy on the part of unions with regard to recruiting new members, especially low-wage, flexible workers who are subject to discrimination (Fitzgerald and Hardy, 2010;Oxenbridge, 2000).…”

Stepping up to strike: a union mobilization case study of Polish migrant workers in the Netherlands

“…Trade unions may use social regulation to protect migrants from unrestrained market competition . Many unions have made efforts to include migrants and other precarious workers as members to reduce the marginalisation of these workers and to protect their existing members' interests (see Adler et al 2014;Holgate 2005;Holgate 2011;Connolly et al 2011;Fitzgerald and Hardy 2010;Eldring et al 2012;Alberti et al 2013;Vandaele and Leschke 2010;Keune 2013;Bernaciak et al 2014;Hardy et al 2012;Wills 2009;Milkman 2000Milkman , 2006. Despite these efforts, migrants remain underrepresented in trade union membership, as they tend to work more often in sectors or workplaces where trade union presence is weak or non-existent (Gorodzeisky and Richards 2013).…”

“…Through a moral economy perspective I explore what it is like to be a worker employed under the constraints of the European market market was liberalised (e.g. Datta et al 2007;Ryan et al 2008;Meardi 2007;Düvell and Garapich 2011;Fitzgerald and Hardy 2010;Ciupijus 2011). 20 logic and understand the effects this has on experiences of migrant employment and labour relations at the micro level (Bailey et al 2011). Inherent to markets is a tendency to disembed economic transactions from the social sphere by transforming relations of production and employment into tradable commodities (Marx 1978(Marx [1867; Polanyi 2001Polanyi [1944).…”