REGINE Regularisations in Europe Final Report - European ...

preferred alternative option. 176 Similarly, the Spanish trade union, UGT,, rejects mass regularisations
and advocates individual regularisations. Accordingly, it was involved in negotiations leading to a
tripartite agreement between trade unions, employers’ associations and the government on the
establishment of regularisation mechanisms. According to the union, the success of the most recent
Spanish regularisation programme of 2005 is largely due to the fact that it regularised the status of
migrants as residents and their employment status and included measures targeting employers; the
union sees the programme’s success in particular in terms of its impact on the labour market. 177 In a
similar vein, the British trade union UNISON argues that a regularisation would have a positive
impact on the labour market: “The evidence so far shows that migration increases the number of jobs
in the economy, and we believe regularisation would have a similar effect. Additional tax income
generated through regularisation would improve public service provision. And regularisation would
stop exploitation of paperless workers who had been regularised.” 178
In two non-EU countries from which responses were received – Switzerland and Norway – on the
whole, similar views prevail. The response by the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions stresses,
however, that the employment gaps between low and middle income countries, on the one hand, and
high income countries, on the other, create particular challenges which must be taken into account
when designing labour immigration policies: “In Norway a more actual problem than
illegal/clandestine migration, is work in the informal/illegal sector by immigrants as well as the
problem of social dumping. This represents a threat against the Nordic labour market model,
characterized by, among others, high standard of wage and work conditions and fair income
distribution. The size of the challenges is not necessarily linked to the legal status of the immigrants.
Labour immigration from low-cost countries creates particular challenges. Our experience tells us that
as long as there are great differences with regard to the conditions of work and pay in the countries of
emigration and immigration, the short-term gains of untidy employer conduct will be so considerable
that the possibilities will be exploited where available. This indicates that the rules on labour
immigration from low-cost countries should be more carefully designed than rules for other
countries.” 179
Towards a European policy on regularisation?
The position of trade unions towards a possible Europeanisation of regularisation policy is divided.
Thus, the Spanish trade union UGT voices its concerns that a Europe-wide harmonisation of
regularisation policies would risk the establishment of lower standards than currently exist at the
national level. This might mean less protection for irregular migrant workers than they currently enjoy
under Spanish legislation. 180 Other unions are more positive towards European-level policies
concerning regularisation, although European measures envisaged by unions would not necessarily
consist of regulating regularisation as such, but broader measures – including improving and
harmonising policies on legal migration and adopting effective measures concerning irregular work.
Thus, the Belgian trade union CGSLB argues that a first step needs to be the harmonisation of
176 União Geral dos Trabalhadores (UGT), Portugal, Interview with Mr. Cordeiro, Lisbon, 27 February 2008.
177 Union General de Trabajadores (UGT), response, ICMPD TU Questionnaire, 2008.
178 UNISON, op. cit.
179 Norwegian confederation of trade unions, response, ICMPD TU Questionnaire, 2008.
180 IGT, op. cit.
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