Employers' associations and trade unions as actors in migration policy. A multi-level comparison of German and French employers' associations and trade unions.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Haipeter
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 548510715

Globalization, demographic change, European integration and the increased refugee movements of recent years have led to a reassessment of the relationship between migration and work. Employment is increasingly regarded as a central prerequisite for the granting of residence and the acquisition of citizenship. This is associated with a growing importance of social partners in labor migration policy, as they influence the economic and social inclusion or exclusion of migrants through their diverse possibilities of intervention at the political, collective bargaining and company level. Against this background, the research project analyses in a comparative perspective the labor migration policies of German and French employers' associations and trade unions in terms of regulating immigration, integrating migrant workers into labor policy and representing migrant workers within the associations. The analysis differentiates between three dimensions: the national, sectoral and local/company levels of action of the associations; the focus on the two different sectors of the metal industry and the cleaning industry; and, finally, the inclusion of different categories of migrant workers such as nationals, EU-nationals, third-country nationals, refugees and irregulars. The comparison of both countries as contrasting cases allows both the analysis of causal mechanisms in the strategies and outcomes of associational policies and a distinction between country-specific and cross-country factors. The project examines how, why and with what social consequences the collective bargaining associations act in the policy field of labor migration. The question of "how" is aimed at the respective levels of action as well as at the repertoires and resources of the associations and at their interests, goals and strategies. The question of "why" focuses on the central factors that explain differences and similarities in the actions of the associations; here a distinction is made between factors internal and external to the organization. The question of social consequences, finally, analyses the role of the collective bargaining parties in the policy field and their contribution to regulating the labor migration regime. At the center of the methods is the tracking of organizational knowledge of the associations through expert interviews, which, due to the fragmentary findings of the object of study, should be explorative and systematizing as well as theory-generating. A total of about 150 interviews in both countries under scrutiny will be conducted at the various levels of action of the collective bargaining organizations involved in both countries. The research results will first be summarized in the form of case studies for the respective collective bargaining actors. Based on this, sectoral case studies and country case studies will be prepared which will then be brought together in a comparative analysis.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. François-Xavier Devetter; Marcus Kahmann; Dr. Cristina Nizzoli