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Do Immigrants Trust Trade Unions? A Study of 18 European Countries

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  • Anastasia Gorodzeisky
  • Andrew Richards

Abstract

Migrants form growing proportions of national workforces in advanced capitalist societies. Yet little is known about their attitudes towards the principal agents of worker representation in their host countries, the trade unions, much less via cross‐national research. Using European Values Survey data, we redress this imbalance by examining migrants’ levels of trust in unions, compared to native‐born. We find higher levels of trust in unions by migrants (compared to native‐born) in general and especially by migrants during their first decades after arrival and whose countries of origin are characterized by poor quality institutions. These findings have significant implications for unionization strategies towards migrants, especially given received wisdom portraying migrants as indifferent or distrustful towards unions.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastasia Gorodzeisky & Andrew Richards, 2020. "Do Immigrants Trust Trade Unions? A Study of 18 European Countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(1), pages 3-26, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:58:y:2020:i:1:p:3-26
    DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12466
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Quinlan, Michael & Lever-Tracy, Constance, 1990. "From Labour Market Exclusion to Industrial Solidarity: Australian Trade Union Responses to Asian Workers, 1830-1988," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 14(2), pages 159-181, June.
    2. Maria Kranendonk & Paul Beer, 2016. "What Explains the Union Membership Gap between Migrants and Natives?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 846-869, December.
    3. Jeremy Waddington & Colin Whitston, 1997. "Why Do People Join Unions in a Period of Membership Decline?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 515-546, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fenet Jima Bedaso & Uwe Jirjahn, 2024. "Immigrants and trade union membership: Does integration into society and workplace play a moderating role?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 262-292, June.
    2. José-Ignacio Antón & René Böheim & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2022. "The effect of migration on unionization in Austria," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2693-2720, November.

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