Migration and Trade Union Responses. Analysis of the UK in a Comparative Perspective

Project

Description
'This project aims to develop and test an analytical framework for the understanding of the changing relations between national trade unions and migrant workers in host European countries, looking at a national context particularly affected by recent intra-European immigration (UK) and expanding on a previous comparative study on Italy and the Netherlands carried out by the applicant in her doctoral research. The proposed research consists of a two-level analysis: a “between-sectors” level (metalworking, construction and care industries within the UK) and a “between-nations” level (comparison of the UK with the previously studied Italy and the Netherlands). The analysis addresses three main aspects: factors influencing union stances towards labour immigration and migrants; effects of union attitude on migration policies and migrant workers; processes of union interaction with migrant workers. The proposed methodology combines quantitative and qualitative methods. Being situated at the intersection between migration studies and employment relations, this study will contribute to the scholarly debate in the following fields: comparative employment relations (revitalization and varieties of capitalism approaches), migration studies (integration of migrants in host European countries in face of the current economic decline and increase of social hostility), sociology of labour and labour market studies (analysis of labour market dynamics in presence of increasing flexibilization and migration). The proposed mobility will allow the applicant to be trained by outstanding European scholars in industrial relations, to receive extensive support on migration by a sister multidisciplinary research institute and, especially, to acquire new methodological instruments and insights on gender studies. Such elements, together with the manifold opportunities offered by the host institution, will prepare the applicant for a position of academic independence.'
Year 2012

Taxonomy Associations

Migration processes
Migration consequences (for migrants, sending and receiving countries)
Migration governance
Disciplines
Methods
Geographies
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