Unions between national politics and transnational migration: A comparison of Germany, UK and France

The paper compares the evolution of union responses to immigration in the three largest EU countries, representing different state traditions. It stresses how common pressures in terms of vulnerability and precarity of temporary immigrants are dealt with by unions in ways that are framed by national political traditions with regard to citizenship and industrial relations. There are similarities across countries with regard to a general, pan-European openness to migration, but the ways unions deal with mobilisation, diversity and migration policies differ substantially and are shaped, directly or indirectly, by national political traditions.