Settled Minorities and New Arrivals: The Implications of an Integrating European Labour Market for t

1
Settled Minorities and New Arrivals The
Implications of an Integrating European Labour
Market for the British Workplace John
EadeCRONEMRoehampton and Surrey, UK

2
Three Waves of Post-1945 Immigration

• 1945-1950 Recruitment of European Workers
  (Italians, Poles)
• 1948-1990 Migration from the former empire
• 1990- Arrival of refugees and asylum seekers
• 2004- A8 migrants as the EU expands eastwards

3
Poles in Britain Background

• A number of distinct phases can be identified
• During WWII and immediately afterwards gt
  migration of Polish soldiers (mainly male)
• Fairly small inflows 1950-1990 gt mainly
  females (who came to join or marry Polish men in
  the UK) but also political refugees in the 1960s
  and 1980s
• Increased flows in the 1990s after the fall of
  Communism (but also some return migration) and
  in the early 2000s because of policy changes
  (e.g. self-employed) and through illegal means
• Huge influx following EU enlargement in May
  2004

4
Characteristics of Workers in the WRS, May
2004-December 2005

• Age and Gender Mostly male (57) and young (44
  aged 18-24 39 aged 25-34)
• Region Much less likely than previous cohorts to
  reside in London (only 15 compared to 16 in
  Anglia, 12 in Midlands, 10 in Central etc)
• Industrial sector 32 (33) in admin., bus.
  mgmt, 22 (23) in hospitality catering, 12
  (11) in agriculture 8 (8) in manufacturing
• Note Emboldened figures in parentheses are
  for Poles only

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ESRC ProjectMethodology

• Qualitative research complementary to
  quantitative
• Participant observation
• Multi-local ethnography
• 50 in-depth interviews with Polish migrants in
  London
• 14 interviews with family and friends of migrants
  in 5 locations in Poland (urban/rural areas)

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Sample

• 23 F, 27 M
• 28 below 25
• 58 25-40
• 10 40 up
• 22 high edu, 68 secy edu, 10 students
• 28 rural, 40 below 50k town, 32 50k up

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Transnational Europeans Looking Both Ways

• Circular, temporal, open-ended migrations
• 80 make frequent (sometimes up to 10 times a
  year) visits to Poland checking out the situation
  
• 70 of respondents maintain strong economic and
  life interest in their home community
• 24 have bought or are just about to buy a flat
  or house in Poland from money earned in London

8
Chain Migration

• 60 have arranged employment/accommodation or
  useful tips for newcomers (migration chain
  brokers)
• 40 have received such help at the beginning
• Polish end of the research growing readiness to
  migrate

9
Storks

• circular migrants who are found mostly in low
  paid occupations (catering, construction
  industry, domestic service). They include
  different types of seasonal migrants - farmers
  commuting to Londons building sites in winter,
  students working during the summer in the
  catering industry in London to pay for their
  tuition fees in Poland, others working in London
  but returning to their Polish universities,
  sometimes twice a month.
• usually stay between 2 and 6 months. Since they
  mostly arrange employment and accommodation
  through their Polish relatives or friends, they
  tend to be clustered in dense Polish social
  networks which sometimes encourage suspicion and
  competition between co-ethnics.

10
Hamsters

• They treat their move as a one-off act to acquire
• Enough capital to invest in Poland. Compared
• with Storks their stays in the UK are longer and
• uninterrupted.
• Like Storks, they tend to treat their migration
  as
• only a capital-raising activity. They also tend
  to
• cluster in particular low-earning occupations and
• are often embedded in Polish networks and see
• their migration as a source of social mobility
• back home.

11
Searchers

• (42) those who keep their
• options deliberately open. This group
• consists predominantly of young,
• individualistic and ambitious migrants.
• They occupy a range of occupational
• positions from low-earning to highly
• skilled and professional jobs. They
• emphasise the unpredictability of their
• migratory plans a strategy we have termed
• intentional unpredictability.

12
Stayers

• (22) those who have been in the UK for some
  time and intend to remain for good. This group
  also represents respondents with strong social
  mobility ambitions.
• However, this is the only group which explicitly
  stresses the existence of social class in Britain
  and its role in determining social mobility.

13
Should I stay or should I go.?

• 20 say that they are definitely going to come
  back soon to live in Poland
• 14 say that they will definitely not come back
  to Poland
• And the rest?

14
Intentional Unpredictability

• most common statements
• Hard to answer that question. Being there in
  Poland last time for the first time I felt that
  I would like to stay there so I dont know
  (INT9Lon.Laura)
• I dont know. No clue. Maybe yes, maybe not
  maybe in three months maybe in ten years. I dont
  know (INT30Lon.Kordian)
• I dont knowIm not able to say now
  (INT4Lon.Pawel)
• I want to come back but dont know when
  (INT20Lon.Wojciech)

15
Staying?

• How long do you think you will stay in the UK?
  (WRS question)
• 50 NOT STATED!
• (total answers 175,507 between May 2004 and Dec
  2005)

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Staying?

• Intentional unpredictability adapted to
• Deregulated, flexible, contractual London service
  economy and UK labour market in general
• Socio-economic situation in Poland
• Allows to shift their plans accordingly
• Helps to keep the best of both worlds

17
Ethnicity A Double Edged Sword

• Competition in the same market
• Risk of being exploited by co-ethnics national
  sentiment trap
• Fear of association with the wrong crowd, shame,
  fear of loss of reputation

18
Multiculturalism through Polish Eyes

• Enthusiastic approach educational value
• Pragmatic approach everyone can make it here,
  I got used to it
• Racist approach colour coded
• Self-criticism - 80 say that Poles are
  intolerant and that they could not imagine
  Londons multiculturalism in Poland

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European and White

• Construction of European identity
• Attitudes of British society towards Polish
  migrants

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Conclusion

• More to come sustainable migration system
• Social advancement intentional
  unpredictability, double reference
• Fragmentation of community
• Pragmatic approach to ethnicity whiteness as
  resource

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Questions

• What are the implications of A8 migration for
  organisations?
• How can organisational psychologists help
  organisations meet the challenges presented by
  recent A8 migration?