POSITION OF LABOUR MIGRANTSFROM BELARUS, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE

IN NEW EU MEMBER STATES

HUNGARY, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, POLAND, SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Piotr KazmierkiewiczJustyna Frelak

Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw

Overview

1 SCOPE OF RESEARCH

2 SCALE AND LEGAL BASIS OF WNIS LABOUR IN NMS

3 CHALLENGES TO WNIS MIGRANTS’ INTEGRATION

4 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

1 SCOPE OF RESEARCH

Determinants of migrants’ position: 1 Legal and administrative framework

Legal and administrative barriers to entry and equal status on the labour market

Awareness of foreign workers’ rights among employers and migrants themselves

Discrimination against foreigners: legislative framework, enforcement, public opinion– Equality in recruitment, – Immigration and employment procedure,– Recognition of qualifications– Wages and social security

Determinants of migrants’ position: 2 Social attitudes and institutional support

Social attitudes toward workers from WNIS Support to migrants

– Government employment agencies– State institutions helping migrants– NGOs working with foreigners– Diaspora networks– WNIS consulates– International organizations

Factors determining willingness to use the institutional support

– Legal status– Integration with the host society

Study of legal-administrative framework and actual work conditions

Desk research– Volume and trends of

regular, irregular migration in 5 NMS

– Review of current legal framework, administrative procedures

– Public opinion on foreign employment

Field study– 120 interviews with

employers, experts, legal and irregular workers

– Case studies: Latvia, Hungary, Poland

– Cross-section of sectors, nationalities

2 WNIS LABOUR IN NMS: SCALE AND LEGAL BASIS

WNIS migrants are important part of NMS labour markets

Until EU and Schengen accession, high volume of cross-border traffic– Before Schengen entry, Poland and Hungary

alone issued together over 1 million entry visas to WNIS nationals annually

– Substantial share of migrants informally employed: Poland in the lead with 100,000-300,000 WNIS irregular workers, mainly Ukrainians

Dramatic rise in legal employment of WNIS nationals since EU accession

Ukrainians form the largest group among WNIS legal workers in NMS

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Hungary Latvia Lithuania Poland Slovakia

UkrainiansBelarusiansMoldovans

Pull factors

TRADITIONAL– Income gap

– Close language and culture

– Informal economy

NEW– Greater demand for

labour due to emigration, growth

– Wage increases in NMS

– New opportunities for legal work

Background to labour regimes for WNIS nationals

Heritage of restrictive regimes of 1990s– No integration policies, high unemployment

among own nationals (PL, SK)

Since EU accession, preference for own and EU nationals

Little interest in legal employment among migrants– Entry on tourist visa, circular migration

Legal pathways to employment

Work permit procedure Employer needs to

demonstrate unmet need

Labour market test

Permit tied to a specific contract

Other forms of status Residence permit with

right to work

Self-employment

Special regulations (seasonal work permit, waiver)

NMS state policies do not adequately address migrants’ needs

Ukrainian and Belarusian migrants assumed to integrate easily and not targeted with integration programmes

Distinctions rarely made among WNIS migrants by nationality

Moldovans the only group not covered

by any preferential bilateral schemes

3 CHALLENGES TO WNIS MIGRANTS’ INTEGRATION

Migrants at a disadvantage compared to native workers

Migrants less likely than nationals to enforce their working rights

Key factors making migrants more vulnerable to abuse of their rights:– Unwillingness to contact institutions of

receiving state or own consulate– Inability to legally change an employer during

the stay in the country– Low awareness of own rights

Hazardous conditions of work

Migrants concentrate in construction, transportation and agriculture—which generally present more risks to workers

– highest rates of reported workers’ rights violations (esp. delay or failure to pay wages, unpaid overtime)

– hazardous health and safety conditions (lack of protective equipment, excessive working hours)

Importance of legal status

Legal status, not national origin, determines the actual position on market– Written or informal work contract– Limits on working hours, right to paid

leave– (In)security of wages being paid

Irregular workers caught in an institutional trap

Irregular workers are not likely to legalize employment

Migrants are not going to become legal workers for different reasons– Administrative and social security costs

cut into wages– Informal employment allows greater

mobility and flexibility– Many irregular workers are not aware of

opportunities for legalizing employment

Low level of social integration

Migrants maintain few social contacts outside of workplace– Interested in maximizing income– Do not plan on staying– Often live in separate quarters with fellow

migrant workers– Irregular workers afraid of visibility

Relations with host population

Few complaints on discrimination from employers, native colleagues

Opinion polls and interviews: those who work with migrants accept them

Migrants are aware of common

stereotypes of ‘migrants from the East’ in media and public discourse

4 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

Attracting migrants with matching skills

Shortening and reducing cost of work permit procedures

Selective opening of labour market (e.g. waivers of work permits, quotas)

Comprehensive solutions to recognition of WNIS qualifications

Providing incentives for legal employment to employers and migrants

Shortening and reducing cost of work permit procedures

Trainings for staff of labour offices, sensitizing to migrants’ needs

Information campaign among employers and migrants (incl. leaflets, websites)

Improving protection of migrants’ rights

Concluding new bilateral agreements with WNIS states – social security and legal protection guarantees– regulation of activities of intermediaries

Emphasizing migrants’ rights in activities of labour inspections and law enforcement– collection of information– interagency cooperation– collaboration with NGOs

Strengthening institutional support to migrants

Openness of WNIS consulates to receiving signals from migrants on violations of their rights

State support to targeted integration programmes for different national groups of migrants (language and civic courses)

Involvement of diaspora networks in raising migrants’ awareness of their rights

THANK YOU

The research was conducted in the framework of the Söderköping Process

and will be available soon on www.soderkoping.org.ua

and published in Russian and English