Transcript Organizing mobile workers in the enlarged EU: A case study

Organizing mobile workers in the enlarged
EU: A case study of the European Migrant
Workers Union
Dr. Ian Greer and Zinovijus Ciupijus, University of Leeds and Dr. Nathan Lillie,
University of Groningen, the Netherlands
The paper prepared for BUIRA seminar on migrant labour, November 2010
The talk’s content and aims
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To consider the phenomenon of the European Migrant Worker Union
(EMWU): from 2003 till 2010
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To make a descriptive contribution to the understanding of EMWU as a form of
transnational unionism
1. To discuss the principles of EMWU in relation to servicing mobile European
workers:
2. To ask why the EMWU has fallen short from its initial ambition of becoming
a fully-fledged transnational European trade union
3. Present testimonies of the interviewed EMWU officials and show the scope
of EMWU’s activities
But first, some recent pictures of mobile European workers closer to ‘home’
Lindsey Oil Refinery (1): the socio-spatial precariousness of
mobile European workers
Lindsey Oil refinery (2): the break down of labour
solidarity
Why examine the EMWU?
Attempt to form a transnational union of migrant workers
• Established in 2004 by IG BAU established a transnational union (EMWU)
to organize posted workers in Germany and across the EU
• But... could not attract any substantial numbers of posted workers and get
support from other unions.
• In 2008 the EMWU was restructured as an information and translation
centre within IG BAU.
While failing to live to its founding objectives, the EMWU provided such
important services to migrants as legal support – pressing claims for back
wages, employment advice and translation for Central Eastern European
workers in Germany. Its office on Warsaw provided assistance and advice
for departing and returning workers
The fieldwork
• The longitudinal character of the EMWU research project
• Three waves of data collection carried out between 2003 and 2010
• Analysis of documents from the union and employers; review of the
state’s regulations and mass media reports
• Semi-structured interviews with IG BAU trade union staff, activists, as well
as with several EMWU representatives; we also conducted with present
and past representatives of OPZZ and a Polish migrant worker who was in
touch with the EMWU in Germany and Poland
• Interviews undertaking in Germany, Finland , Britain and Poland
• The last wave was undertaken in June 2010, most interview were
undertaken via phone and conducted in Polish
Locating the EMWU’s case theoretically: relevant
concepts and debates
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The context: regional integration and the significance of post-national citizenship
in the form of freedom of movement of workers in the EU
However union membership (and labour citizenship) continues to be attached to
the nation-state : ‘the same forces shifting the practice and structure of citizenship
on the national level are also bearing down on unions. Yet the transnationalization
of political citizenship emerging on the national level does not yet have a clear
parallel in labour citizenship’ (Gordon, 2007, p507). A paradox?
Do trade unions move towards transnational cooperation (Fitzgerald and Hardy,
2010)? Is a trans-European labour protest movement possible (Gajewska, 2008)?
Outward labour mobility from Central Eastern Europe and the weakeness of voice
mechanism (Meardi, 2007 and Ost, 2005)
Worker posting and social dumping (Cremers et al, 2007 and Woolfson and
Sommers, 2006)
New forms of collective voice (Fine, 2007)
The origins of EMWU and its development
The context of German construction sector: proliferation
of the employment of European migrant workers (Cyrus,
2002),
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The rise of worker posting and the workplace informality
‘Now there aren’t any ‘true’ Germans working in the construction sites in Germany’
(Wanda, the EMWU’s Frankfurt representative)
The industrial relations actors’ response: the law
enforcement approach aimed to combat bad employers
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The problems and contradictions of the response
The creation of the EMWU in 2004: the expectations and principles underlying it
From a pan-European trade union to a Polish-German information centre: ‘It is better
this way...EMWU is interpreted non as a typical union; this is a plus, we are seen in a
more positive light’ (Kasia, Warsaw office representative)
The EMWU’s modus operandi: Germany
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The national and EU contexts: labour market restrictions for the new EU citizens
and worker posting
The EMWU has established information centres in Frankfurt and Warsaw; its staff
includes Polish, Romanian and Russian-speaking employees
The office in Frankfurt is dealing with Europe, in contrast to Warsaw who
exclusively deals with Poland and Poles...We are primarily in Germany, mostly in
construction. If a problem occurs in Norway or Finland, we give advice over the
phone, give relevant contact details...Here in Frankfurt I would deal directly, help to
translate...’ (Wanda, the EMWU’s representative in Frankfurt)
Wanda calls EWMU an info. point – ‘people are calling and asking for the
information which they cannot get at the workplace’
The EMWU and public engagement
There is a division of labour between IG BAU and EMWU: legal controls (IG BAU)
and the EMWU functions (informing, translating).
The issues facing EMWU in Frankfurt
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Examples of intervention: the case in Oldenburg: a small cement factory: the
majority of workers are Poles. Most of workers are from Western Poland ( Mazory),
they are young and face difficulties in finding work in Poland, hence the lowering
of ‘the pain threshold’ (Iza). They called Wanda and told their story: they are
working extremelly long hours sometimes from 5 in the morning till 2 at night; in
total working 350 hours per month and being paid only 1,000 Euros. The EMWU’s
office in Frankfurt calculated that they get 3 Euros per hour. Such level of
exploitation is self-evident, ‘does not require a comment’ (Wanda); The EMWU’s
role is to make sure that ‘that workplace does not turn into a labour camp’.
The EMWU representatives needs to adapt a very delicate and sensitive approach
in order not to scare and harm migrants. Wanda: ‘our work is very difficult to say
honestly. In many cases we meet with people privately. All of this is about human
fates (Losy ludzkie in Polish)’.
This points to the limitations of formal law enforcment approach
The EMWU’s modus operandi and Polish contexts:
Warsaw
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The office in Warsaw deals with Polish migrants going to the old EU member states,
primarily but not exclusively dealing with workers posted by Polish firms in the old EU
member states
The main area of work is construction, however resources are dedicated to agriculture
and cleaning
The EMWU provides information over minimum wage, union membership and other
rights of workers. It also gives contact details of trade unions in labour receiving
countries
Migrants can join the EMWU/IG BAU even prior to their departure from Poland
The EMWU provides support to Polish migrant workers across to migrant workers
irrespective whether they are IG BAU members or not; they help migrants to get in
touch with the relevant national trade union
The EMWU can assist in terms of legal support (free of charge), including wage
recovering cases and employment tribunals with Polish companies.
The mechanism is problematic in terms of increasing membership base of IG BAU per
se, but it allows the EMWU to provide valuable support non-unionized Polish workers in
the old EU member states
It also fills the vacuum left by Polish trade unions: ‘I have not been fascinated what Polish
trade unions do for Polish migrants...It is a sixteenth priority for them’ (Jan, former OPZZ/Budowlani
official)
The EMWU: was it ever a valid option for
transnational unionism?
The national trade union view: the EMWU was a failed attempt that never had a real possibility of
success in the first place. But why did the EMWU receive so much hostility?
• Relationship between EMWU and Polish trade unions
A former Polish trade union official Jan on the EMWU and OPZZ/Budowlani cooperation:
‘they perceive as an unfriendly competition... and they do cooperate with a perceived
competitor but perhaps they should...’
Jan further illustrates: ‘You can check it on the Internet map: the office of Budowlani from the
office of EMWU is ten minutes walk...but there is a zero co-operation’.
I asked UNISON/OPZZ official Marek about the EMWU (while asking I used its Polish name):
Ah... Europäischer Verband der Wanderarbeiter...In general they do not cover Great Britain. I
do not know about them...’
• Western European unions and EMWU: Olkiluotto and national jurisdictional issues.
• Other German trade unions and the EMWU: sectoral jurisdictional issues.
The European Construction Mobility Information Network (ECMIN) as an alternative to the
EMWU
‘Leszek’s’ testimony
Male, 58 years old, with 18 years of work experience in Germany (mainly as a worker posted by
Polish firms), lives in Warsaw and with the help from EMWU tries to regain money stolen by
employers in Germany
Examples of violations committed by employers and litigations
1. An employer deducted pay for a two-months unpaid holiday that did not took place – ‘a
robbery’
2. Another violation which he described as dead souls: firms pay salaries to workers who do not
exist and underpay workers who are working
3. The indifference of Polish government towards workers
Experiences with unions
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Polish trade unions in relation to Polish workers in Germany: ‘everywhere is silence...where
are they, the Polish unions? They do not care about poor people’
On the EMWU: ‘first and furthermost they listened to me, to my words’ and ‘I am a loyal
member of Stowarzyszenia (EMWU in Polish)...I recruit members for them’
Concluding considerations
Why was it that IG BAU launched the EMWU?
• Importance of protracted crisis in Germany leading to erosion of
traditional union power resources
• Failure of law enforcement approach.
Why did the EMWU fail to achieve its original objective?
• Poor relationships between IG BAU and other unions.
• Limits of servicing approach.
What has the EMWU achieved?
Beginning of conversation about European-level cooperation to organize
mobile workers (ECMIN), new services for posted workers in Germany.