The impact of migrant workers on the functioning of labour markets and industrial relations

1
The impact of migrant workers on the functioning
of labour markets and industrial relations

• Dr. Steve French
• Centre for Employment Policy and Equalities
• Keele University

2
Aims and objectives of seriesreporting
research

• Aim to disseminate most recent (empirical)
  research on migrant workers in UK in relation to
  labour market and industrial relations
• Sectors health, financial services,
  construction, agriculture, hospitality and other
  migrant dense industries
• Themes health and safety, education and
  training, legal regulation and enforcement,
  employment agencies, trade unions and statutory
  and voluntary support, public policy

3
Aims and objectives of seriesfuture
trajectories

• Aim to assess the impact of recession upon
  current and future migration in the UK and its
  impact upon industrial relations and public
  policy examining
• current patterns of migration into and out of UK
• managerial strategies within workplaces and trade
  union and workers responses
• political tensions inherent within public
  discourse on migration

4
Aims and objectives of seriesthe need for
theory

• Concern at the lack of theoretical development
  within subject in relation to migration, arising
  in part from the practitioner oriented focus of
  recent migration research
• The absence of political economy?
• Failure to link recent migration to historical
  patterns of migration and previous industrial
  relations research
• Need for more robust comparative industrial
  relations research

5
Aims and objectives of seriesthe need for
methodology

• Concern at the fragmented nature and limitations
  of research into migration
• The use and limitations of quantitative data
  sources aligned with the dismissal of anecdotal
  qualitative research
• The fragmentation of research into particular
  groups or occupations which hides interactions
  within and between different migrant groups
• The limits of traditional case study industrial
  relations research and the use of alternative
  research methods

6
Aims and objectives of seriespolitical
impact

• To put industrial relations research at the
  centre of contemporary research into migration
• A network of academics to develop (more
  theoretically and methodologically) robust
  projects by examining multi-disciplinary
  approaches to migration
• Extend opportunities to career young researchers
  to develop contacts, consider theoretical and
  methodological issues and to present research
• Develop and extend links between researchers and
  practitioners to help inform public policy
• Research outputs