Case Studies

This case follows GMB's (Britain's General Union) attempt to create a migrant workers branch of the union in Southampton, UK. 

In 2007, Unison joined the efforts of Kanlungan, the Alliance of Filipino Organizations, to oppose regressive immigration policy changes that threatened deportation and the loss of work permits for thousands of Filipino homecare workers.

In 2009, Unison ran a campaign against the British National Party (BNP) as the European elections were held.

This case analyzes the attempt to unionize low paid, migrant workers at one Hilton and two Hyatt chain hotels.

Built off a living wage campaign led by London Citizens, this case study describes the unionization of low-wage, predominantly migrant cleaners in London.

The aim of this literature review is to examine what has been published on UK unions and their role in integrating migrant workers both into unions and in wider society.

This paper looks at the background and experiences of three influential German trade unionists and how they came into the positions that they hold today.

This study looks at how these organizations have handled the treatment and integration of foreign and migrant workers in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries.

This case follows Ana S., an undocumented au pair working in Hamburg, Germany. With the assistance of migrant worker organizations and ver.di (a multi-sector union in Germany representing 2.2 million workers), Ana S. was successful in fighting for unpaid wages in the German courts. While this case follows the experience of one migrant worker, it potentially creates a precedent for the courts in Germany to address employment disputes for migrant workers without addressing the legal status of workers.

This literature review starts with some background information on labour migration to Germany. It illustrates the changes in the migration flows from the Fifties until the present days.

This case study examines the Laborers International Union of North America's (LIUNA) organizing and policy work on immigration. In recent years, LIUNA has engaged in a number of immigrant worker organizing efforts, including asbestos and poultry workers as well as weatherization and residential construction campaigns, which involved new partnerships with worker centers- the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, New Labor and Casa Latina. 

LA's CLEAN Carwash Campaign case study follows the effort between community organizations, worker centers, the United Steelworkers and the AFL-CIO to organize mostly undocumented workers and improve the industry's labor conditions.

The Justice for Roofers Campaign case study details the bottom up organization of Latino workers- many of which were undocumented – in an industry plagued by low wages, dangerous working conditions, and high turnover rates. The union's philosophy guided by respect for the workers evidences one of the most innovative and positive approaches seen in organizing immigrant workers in a very difficult industry.

This paper describes two labor campaigns of recent Somali immigrants working in Tennessee. In the first case, Somali and Ethiopian taxi drivers who are independent contractors faced resistance to traditional unionization and instead create an independent, non-profit organization, the Nashville Metro Taxi Drivers Alliance (NMTDA).

Four streams of scholarly research have addressed the union role in integrating workers and their families in society.  The first stream on the “union as a mutual aid society” hails from the early-twentieth century coincidence of immigration to the U.S., urbanization, and the advent of mass production manufacturing.

This case study analyzes the struggle of undocumented workers at the Griallet construction company in the Paris suburb of Montreuil, in which immigrant workers collaborate with the Local Union of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) to run a successful strike for regularization of their immigration status.

This case focuses on the work of the Departmental Unit of Yvelines (Versailles Province) of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT-Ivelines) to advance the campaign for regularization of undocumented immigrant workers. Although the national CFDT was involved in the national campaign jointly with the CGT, it remained less involved at the local level except for CFDT Yvelines.

This case study examines the second wave of sit-in strikes of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT)-Sans piers workers' campaign.

During the last few years of the past decade hundreds of undocumented workers (sans-papiers) initiated a series of sit-in strikes across Paris and its surrounding suburbs.

The aim of this review is to summarize the main currents of research and analysis in the French literature on unions and immigrant workers.