Mobilizing the Rights of Migrant Workers: Swedish Trade Unions’ Engagement with Law and the Courts
Schoultz, Isabel LU
and Muhire, Heraclitos
LU
(2023)
In Nordic Journal of Human Rights
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Migrant workers, both regular and irregular, are at particular risk of having their rights violated. At the same time, there has been an absence of support for exploited immigrant workers from Swedish authorities and civil society. Lately, a number of trade unions and semi-union organisations in Sweden have developed methods to mobilize the rights of migrant workers experiencing exploitation on the Swedish labour market. This article investigates strategies utilized by trade unions to mobilize migrant workers’ rights by engaging with the law and the courts. It draws on qualitative interviews with trade union representatives and court judgements from the Labour Court and other civil courts. We identify legal practices that range from... (More)
- Migrant workers, both regular and irregular, are at particular risk of having their rights violated. At the same time, there has been an absence of support for exploited immigrant workers from Swedish authorities and civil society. Lately, a number of trade unions and semi-union organisations in Sweden have developed methods to mobilize the rights of migrant workers experiencing exploitation on the Swedish labour market. This article investigates strategies utilized by trade unions to mobilize migrant workers’ rights by engaging with the law and the courts. It draws on qualitative interviews with trade union representatives and court judgements from the Labour Court and other civil courts. We identify legal practices that range from immediate legal assistance and everyday negotiations with employers to litigation in court. We show how the practical, aspirational, and creative engagement of a small group of trade union representatives with the law and courts has generated a new form for mobilizing the rights of migrant workers in the Swedish context. This form of legal mobilization is both instrumental and political, driven by the rhetoric of class struggle and a belief in the rights of migrant workers. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/885b13e9-3cc9-41fe-97c5-1a806c5a5407
- author
- Schoultz, Isabel
LU
and Muhire, Heraclitos
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- migrant workers; labour exploitation; trade unions; legal mobilization
- in
- Nordic Journal of Human Rights
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85171638835
- ISSN
- 1891-8131
- DOI
- 10.1080/18918131.2023.2250678
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 885b13e9-3cc9-41fe-97c5-1a806c5a5407
- date added to LUP
- 2023-09-20 14:58:06
- date last changed
- 2023-12-03 04:04:31
@article{885b13e9-3cc9-41fe-97c5-1a806c5a5407,
abstract = {{Migrant workers, both regular and irregular, are at particular risk of having their rights violated. At the same time, there has been an absence of support for exploited immigrant workers from Swedish authorities and civil society. Lately, a number of trade unions and semi-union organisations in Sweden have developed methods to mobilize the rights of migrant workers experiencing exploitation on the Swedish labour market. This article investigates strategies utilized by trade unions to mobilize migrant workers’ rights by engaging with the law and the courts. It draws on qualitative interviews with trade union representatives and court judgements from the Labour Court and other civil courts. We identify legal practices that range from immediate legal assistance and everyday negotiations with employers to litigation in court. We show how the practical, aspirational, and creative engagement of a small group of trade union representatives with the law and courts has generated a new form for mobilizing the rights of migrant workers in the Swedish context. This form of legal mobilization is both instrumental and political, driven by the rhetoric of class struggle and a belief in the rights of migrant workers.}},
author = {{Schoultz, Isabel and Muhire, Heraclitos}},
issn = {{1891-8131}},
keywords = {{migrant workers; labour exploitation; trade unions; legal mobilization}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{Nordic Journal of Human Rights}},
title = {{Mobilizing the Rights of Migrant Workers: Swedish Trade Unions’ Engagement with Law and the Courts}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18918131.2023.2250678}},
doi = {{10.1080/18918131.2023.2250678}},
year = {{2023}},
}