Migration from the new EU member countries

A part of an Europeanization process or a threat to low skilled Danish workers?

Abstract

This article examines the consequences of low-skilled labour migration to Denmark from the new EU member countries in Eastern Europe. The article investigates the potentials, limitations and conflicts of interests that are connected with temporary employment of Eastern European migrant workers seen from the perspective of Danish labour market actors; politicians, labour market unions, one employer union, Danish employers, Danish and Eastern European employees and Danish unemployed workers. During the past four years more than 52,500 Eastern European EU citizens have relocated to Denmark. The migrant workers from the new EU countries can be characterized by a high degree of mobility flexibility and high motivations to get a job, poorer socioeconomic and working conditions in their home countries as well as being of another cultural background than their Danish colleagues. The tendency among employers, their organizations and some of the liberal political parties is that the cheap and flexible foreign labour is crucial for business’s ability to compete on the global market. Trade unions, on the other hand, are concerned about the developments on the labour market and the protection of workers’ rights, safety and equal treatment. Danish workers express on the one hand solidarity with their foreign colleagues and on the other concern about the situation of the many unemployed Danish workers. Finally, the escalated labour migration from Eastern European EU countries challenges the negotiation model, which is central to the structure of the Danish labour market.