Trade unions and immigration in Spain: The politics and framing of social inclusion within industrial relations

Spain has witnessed highly innovative forms of inclusion and trade union strategies in relation to supporting immigrants. This relatively proactive response has mainly been service driven at the local levels and in the form of engagement with the social dimension of migration by the larger unions at the national level. However, a more direct engagement aimed at increasing involvement and participation of migrants is apparent in smaller, radical unions. Generally speaking, trade unions have drawn on their history of social struggle and experience of former national emigration. The chapter uses the framework developed by Marino et al. (this volume) that identifies the different ways inclusion and exclusion have developed and the causal historical and institutional factors that explain these developments. The level of innovation within the Spanish trade union movement is discussed in relation to the growing challenges emerging from a political environment increasingly focused on deregulation of industrial relations.