Trade Unions and Polish Migrants in the United Kingdom: the Benefits and Limitations of Different Inclusion Strategies
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Abstract
This article examines how the United Kingdom (UK) trade unions organise Polish migrant workers in the aftermath of post EU enlargement migration, and what forms of inclusion strategies they implement. The benefits and limitations of various inclusionary approaches are scrutinised through the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with officers of three different large trade unions. These unions have at times, applied similar and at other times very different strategies, which depend on the unions' structures and decision-making. These approaches vary from equal treatment and the 'level playing field' approach to special treatment. While the first combined approach has resulted in some positive experiences in locating and recruiting Polish members, further inclusion through activism, however, calls for a special treatment approach.
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How to Cite
Aziz, K. (2015). Trade Unions and Polish Migrants in the United Kingdom: the Benefits and Limitations of Different Inclusion Strategies. Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology, 6(11), 27–48. Retrieved from https://econjournals.sgh.waw.pl/wfes/article/view/505
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References
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Anderson, B., Clark, N., Parutis, V., (2007), New EUMembers? Migrant Workers Challenges and Opportunities to UK Trade Unions: Polish and Lithuanian Case Study, Oxford: COMPAS
Booth, R., (2013), Polish becomes Englands second language, "The Guardian", 30 January
Castles, S., Kosack, G., (1973), Immigrant Workers and Class Structure in Western Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Ciupijus, Z., (2011), Mobile central eastern Europeans in Britain: successful European Union citizens and disadvantaged labour migrants?, "Work, Employment & Society", 25(3): 540-550
Connolly, H., Martinez-Lucio, M., Marino, S., (2012), Trade Unions and Migration in the UK: Equality and Migrant Worker Engagement without Collective Rights, Manchester: The Leverhulme Trust, University of Manchester
Datta, K., Mcllwaine, C., Evans, Y., Herbert, J., May, J., Wills, J., (2007), From coping strategies to tactics: Londons low-pay economy and migrant labour, "British Journal of Industrial Relations", 45(2): 404-432
Drinkwater, S., Eade, J., Garapich, M., (2006), Poles Apart? EU Enlargement and the Labour Market Outcomes of Immigrants in the UK, IZA Discussion Paper Series, 2410
Duvell, F., Garapich, M., (2011), Polish Migration to the UK: Continuities and Discontinuities, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, Working Paper, 84
Fine, J., (2007), A Marriage Made in Heaven? Mismatches and Misunderstandings between Worker Centres and Unions, "British Journal of Industrial Relations", 45 (2): 335-360
Fine, J., (2011), New Forms to Settle Old Scores: Updating the Worker Centre Story in the United States, "Relations Industrielles / Industrial Relations", 66 (4): 604-630
Fitzgerald, I., Hardy, J., (2010), Thinking Outside the Box? Trade Union Organizing Strategies and Polish Migrant Workers in the United Kingdom, "British Journal of Industrial Relations", 48: 131-150
Fitzgerald, I., (2012), What collaborative lessons can be learnt from the recent Polish migration? The trade union story, 9th European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC 2012), 11-14 April, Glasgow
Frege, C.M., Kelly, J., (2003), Union Revitalization Strategies in Comparative Perspective, "European Journal of Industrial Relations", 9(1): 7-24
Fulton, L., (2013), Worker representation in Europe, Labour Research Department and ETUI, available at: http://www.worker-participation.eu/National-Industrial-Relations/Countries/United-Kingdom/Trade-Unions [03.02.2015]
Galgoczi, B., Leschke, J., Watt, A., (2009), Intra-EU Labour Migration - Flows and Policy Responses, in: Galgoczi, B., Leschke, J., Watt, A., eds., EU Labour Migration since Enlargement: Trends, Impacts and Policies, Farnham: Ashgate
Gardawski, J., Mrozowicki, A., Czarzasty, J., (2012), Trade unions in Poland, Brussels: ETUI
Heery, E., Simms, M., Simpson, D., Delbridge, R., Salmon, J., (2000), Organizing Unionism Comes to the UK, "Employee Relations", 22 (1): 38-57
Holgate, J., (2013), Trade union involvement in broad-based community organising, ESRC Working Paper, 14
Krings, T., (2009), A Race to the Bottom? Trade Unions, EU Enlargement and the Free Movement of Labour, "European Journal of Industrial Relations", 15: 49-69
LMS (2013), Labour Market Statistics, October 2013, Office for National Statistics, available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_327398.pdf [03.11.2013]
Marino, S., Penninx, R., Roosblad, J., (2015), Trade unions, immigration and immigrants in Europe revisisted: Unions attitudes and actions under new conditions, "Comparative Migration Studies", 3(1)
McKay, S., (2008), Trade unions and recent migration - organising challenges in an enlarged EU, WLRI Working Paper, 1
Moore, S., Watson, M., (2009), Migrant Workers Participation Project Evaluation Report, London: Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University
Penninx, R., Roosblad, J., eds., (2000), Trade Unions, Immigration, and Immigrants in Europe, 1960-93, Oxford: Berghahn Books
Rienzo, C., Vargas-Silva, C., (2012), Migrants in the UK: An Overview, Migration Observatory briefing, COMPAS, University of Oxford, May
Wills, J., (2008), Making class politics possible: organizing contract cleaners in London, "International Journal of Urban and Regional Research", 32 (2): 305-323
Woolfson, C., Sommers, J., (2008), Trajectories of Entropy and 'the Labour Question' The Political Economy of Post-Communist Migration in the New Europe, "Debatte", 16(1): 53-69
Wrench, J., (2004), Trade Union Responses to Immigrants and Ethnic Inequality in Denmark and the UK: The Context of Consensus and Conflict, "European Journal of Industrial Relations", 10 (1): 7-30