Unions and migrant workers: strategic challenges in Britain

Abstract

This article is based on a recent study of attempts by a range of British trade unions to access and engage with Polish migrant workers at the community or labour market level, rather than workplace level. The findings suggest that migrant workers can indeed be recruited at this level. Doubts are expressed, however, about the sustainability of new membership gained in this way. These doubts are linked to a marked absence of clear union strategies to create a longer-term nexus of interest with those who are recruited, of the type advocated in, for example, the North American ‘new labor movement’ literature. This absence – it is argued – may be less a reflection of a lack of strategic leadership than a product of the difficulties unions face in identifying viable strategies relating to the representation and organization of workers above the workplace level.

Labor Politics and Organizing Strategies in Immigrant‐Owned SMEs: The Case of the Confédération Générale du Travail and Chinese Migrant Workers in France

“…CGT's recent experiences organizing Chinese workers raise important questions concerning the organization of migrant workers. Previous studies on this subject often consider community unionism to be a more effective approach than traditional workplace organization (Holgate ; James and Karmowska ; Mariano ). My case studies confirm this observation because workplace organization is almost impossible due to workers' high mobility and workplace structure.…”

Putting employees at the centre of sustainable HRM: a review, map and research agenda

“…Research further indicates how trade unions question employer practices concerning the imposition of compulsory retirement ages (Byford and Wong, 2016). Trade unions increasingly represent and organise EU migrant workers (James and Karmowska, 2012), hyper-mobile migrants (Bernsten and Lillie, 2014) and contingent employees (MacKenzie, 2010), all of which are widely recognised as unsustainable forms of employment, yet typically off the radar of mainstream HRM practice. It is also the case that embryonic trade unionism is an increasing feature of sex work (Gall, 2007), with attempts to make employment more sustainable for employees typically marginal or completely off the agenda of HRM practitioners.…”

British union renewal: does salvation really lie beyond the workplace?

“…Currently little evidence exists as to how far initiatives of this last type have served to support member recruitment and the development of workplace representation and negotiation. In a recent paper, James and Karmowska () did explore the strategic challenges that British unions face in seeking to recruit and organise among Polish migrant workers at the community or labour market levels, drawing on interview data relating to a range of initiatives undertaken by a number of different unions. For the most part, their analysis, however, focussed on the general operation of the initiatives concerned, rather than their role—both actual and potential—in facilitating union joining via the supply of individual services.…”