From labour migration to labour mobility? The return of the multinational worker in Europe

There is currently a large knowledge gap about intra-European labour migration. Commentators are caught up in a debate over whether such movement is best understood in terms of social dumping and hence a race to the bottom, or in terms of business opportunities and benefits for firms, states and mobile workers. The argument put forward in this article is that both approaches are inadequate in that they focus attention on a linear east-to-west Europe movement and discuss it from the vantage point of the state, businesses and trade unions in the country of destination. In order to gain a clearer understanding of emerging migration patterns in the enlarged Europe this article adopts mobility of workers as the analytical lens through which to examine the integration of labour markets as well as the tensions between capital, trade unions and labour to which mobility gives rise. Building on fieldwork conducted at Foxconn electronics assembly plants in the Czech Republic, the article suggests that the term ‘multinational’ worker is best suited to convey the experiences and practices of this emergent workforce.