Equal rights for all workers: Irish trade unions and the challenge of labour migration - Article Example

? Equal Rights for All Workers Equal Rights for All Workers Labour migration to Ireland is a rather contemporary happening. It happens widely in response to the nation’s call for additional labour to uphold the financial boom. According to Krings (2007), the inflow of migrant employees has also considerably changed the Irish labour force. The author, Krings (2007), discusses how Irish trade unions react to these challenges. After conducting qualitative interviews primarily with trade union executives and documentary analysis, Krings (2007) shows these trade unions encourage a rights-based loom towards immigration. The author did not conduct this study just for ideological reasons (opposition to exploitation and workers' solidarity), but also self-interest. From a trade union point of view, immigrants who benefit from similar rights as Irish workers and who become incorporated in the place of work and wider society are less expected to destabilise labour standards. What is interesting about this article is how the author arranged it and how he came up with his findings. Also, a majority of the sources where reliable and recent, which confirmed the validity of the findings. This paper will critique the Krings’ (2007) article. It will describe the central thrust of the article and explain how and why the author reached his conclusions. Findings of the Journal According to Krings (2007), while immigrants from Western nations, such as the United States and European nations, are seen to be more prominent in higher-skilled careers, the repeal is true for individuals in other parts of the world, who seem to be inappropriately represented in less-skilled careers. Krings (2007), therefore, finds that 'immigrants in low-skilled careers' do not essentially mean 'less-skilled immigrants' as roughly 90% of immigrants in Ireland have a third level or upper-secondary education. However, as many work in occupations that do not reflect their educational levels, what is, in reality, happening is less of a 'brain drain' compared to more of a 'brain waste' as Munck (2010) from Poland lately remarked. In Ireland, as well as in the United Kingdom, significant migration from the fresh member states has led to a considerable growth in both wages and employment. Whereas immigrants make up a majority of the contemporary occupations, the employment rate of the local citizens has gone up, as well. Employment of Irish people has only dropped in the hospitality and manufacturing field (Krings, 2007). The key question is whether Irish workers formerly employed in these industries have shifted to well paying jobs or have been displaced by the increasing number of immigrants. It is impossible to deduce this from the current data. Nevertheless, whereas it is fairly likely that a number of incidents of displacement have taken place, overall joblessness has not gone up since EU growth (Krings, 2007). Therefore, it is harmless to argue that inward migration has been harmonising instead of substitutional to the Irish workforce. Krings (2007) suggests that a raise in the supply of labour can lead to a drop of wages. In essence, wages, in a majority of sectors of Ireland, did not swell as much after the EU enlargement as they did before May 2004. Nevertheless, this drop in wage growth can be well in 'historical experience' and might be because of other aspect except immigration. Even though, wage growth may have been restrained in a number of sectors, Krings (2007) proposes that the adverse effects of immigration on employment opportunities and wages for local workers have not been important. However, low-skilled employees particularly might experience competition from immigrants in the near future. Methodology This paper is rooted in a qualitative study conducted from February to July 2006. To study trade union reactions to migrant labour, Krings (2007) carried out 22 semi-structured interviews with officials of trade union, which were all recorded, transcribed and then examined. Interviewees were selected through snowball and purposive sampling. Initially Krings (2007) contacted some union executives who were celebrated for their concern on the matter of migration. Krings used these officials to make contacts with other trade union officials. The author also openly contacted executives in some branches with many immigrant employees like hospitality and construction. All interviewees had some interest on the matter, even if to different degrees. Most interviews were conducted in union offices, in Dublin, but a few of the interviews were also carried out on the telephone with union experts from other regions of the nation. Also incorporated in the analysis were different documents including union speeches, statements and information flyers on matters of migration, discrimination, diversity, as well as racism. Most of the candidates were from major unions in Ireland such as SIPTU, ATGWU and TEEU, which are not only Ireland's leading unions but also have many immigrant workers as members. Critique According to Krings (2007), Turkish employees at Gama construction are paid only €8,000 euro for a year of service, which is underpayments with regards to the amount of time and effort they are expected to put into the construction work. Under a deal settled at the Labour Court closing a seven-week-old disagreement, employees will get a lump sum of only €2,000 euro, as well as an additional benefit when contracts are terminated (Boyd, 2013). Going through the various sources in this topic we learn that employees, who also claimed harassment and intimidation, had recongised expediency over justice through accepting the deal. “They struggles for fairness, but were forced to settle for expediency. However, the state – in spite of all the labour legislation they have – could not justify their right to the exceptional duty they earned for labouring up to 80 hours in a single week (Munck, 2010). The Turkish employees had been on numerous work strikes for the last seven weeks in a quarrel over overtime and pay. They had also claimed that they were being harassed and intimidated and feared returning to work would dispose them to further abuse (Boyd, 2013). It is known that hundreds of Turkish employees have already left the country and gone to their motherland. The least payment will be €2,000 and every employee will be rewarded a one month’s salary on conclusion of their contracts, in Ireland. The regular worker with one and a half years of service could earn around €13,000 under contract (Munck, 2010). This just goes to show how immigrant workers were mistreated in Ireland and how trade unions did nothing about it. Another important aspect of the paper is how the author arrived to his findings and conclusions. He entirely used first hand information from labour union officials, which confirms the validity of the findings (Krings, 2009). The author also acknowledged some of the challenges that he had while conducting his interviews with the trade union officials. For instance, the officials who were not close to him, he conducted interviews through phone. A number of union officials willingly admitted that some of their opinions on labour migration are not significantly shared by other members of their unions. Nevertheless, Krings (2007) was particularly concerned in trade unions regulations on labour migration. He also went further ahead to cross-check his findings by conducting six more interviews with officials from NGOs, statutory bodies and migrant firms, who have worked with unions on the issues of migrant workers. Finally, trade unions have always received a negative perception in Ireland as institutions, mainly the government of Ireland, consider that they are against their endeavours. However, this author confirms that trade unions worked to enhance the lives of both native citizens of the Republic of Ireland and immigrants into the country. Therefore, such an article should be endorsed by leading institutions looking into the issue of immigration and labour in Ireland and also more publications should be made such as this one. References Boyd, S. (2013). GAMA scandal: Workers fight slave wages. Retrieved from http://www.socialistparty.net/pub/pages/socialist005apr05/1.htm Gray, K. (2007). ‘From human to workers’ rights: The emergence of a migrant workers’ union movement in Korea. Global Society, 21(2), 297-315. http://www.academia.edu/3999763/From_Human_to_Workers_Rights_The_Emergence_of_a_Migrant_Workers_Union_Movement_in_Korea Krings, T. (2007). 'Equal rights for all workers': Irish trade unions and the challenge of labour migration. Irish Journal of Sociology, 16(1), 43-61. Krings, T. (2009). Organised labour and migration in the global age: A comparative analysis of trade union responses to migrant labour in Austria, Germany, Ireland and the UK. Dublin City: Dublin City University. http://doras.dcu.ie/14848/2/Torben_Krings_Final_Thesis.pdf Munck, R. (2010). Globalization and the labour movement: Challenges and responses. Global Labour Journal, 1(2), 218-232. http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=globallabour Read More