IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cel/report/49.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Bargaining for working conditions and social rights of migrant workers in Central East European countries (BARMIG), National report: Estonia

Author

Listed:
  • Kadri Karma
  • Liis Roosaar
  • Jaan Masso

Abstract

Since Estonia regained its independence in 1991, the regulation of international migration has been rather strict, with a relatively low annual migration quota for long-term employment. Nevertheless, the 2010s saw the increased migration of third-country nationals, primarily via temporary working schemes. Since 2015, Estonia has experienced positive net migration, even in 2020. However, the importance of migrant workers varies significantly across the analysed sectors. The transience of migration causes problems for both the working conditions and labour market integration of migrants. All signs indicate that social partners are often aware of these problems; however, though they lack the capacities to deal with these issues, they are interested in developing them. Despite some differences in how employers and unions perceive the need for a migrant workforce, even unions do not question the need for an additional migrant workforce. In order to tackle the challenges of the migrant workforce, alternatives to the current strict quota-based migration regulation system should be considered. Furthermore, the regulations should be adjusted by taking into account the specifics of the particular sectors in aspects such as the strength of the social partners, labour shortages and skills requirements, and the nature of the work and projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Kadri Karma & Liis Roosaar & Jaan Masso, 2022. "Bargaining for working conditions and social rights of migrant workers in Central East European countries (BARMIG), National report: Estonia," Research Reports 49, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).
  • Handle: RePEc:cel:report:49
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://celsi.sk/media/research_reports/BARMIG_Estonia02_1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ellu Saar & Siim Krusell & Jelena Helemae, 2017. "Russian-Speaking Immigrants in Post-Soviet Estonia: Towards Generation Fragmentation or Integration in Estonian Society," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 22(2), pages 96-117, May.
    2. Maria Kranendonk & Paul Beer, 2016. "What Explains the Union Membership Gap between Migrants and Natives?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 846-869, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fenet Jima Bedaso & Uwe Jirjahn, 2024. "Immigrants and trade union membership: Does integration into society and workplace play a moderating role?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 262-292, June.
    2. Adam Levai & Riccardo Turati, 2021. "The Impact of Immigration on Workers’ Protection," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2021021, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES), revised 07 Sep 2021.
    3. Aliaksei Kazlou & Lin Lerpold & Örjan Sjöberg, 2024. "Trade unions, refugees and immigrant labour: Has the attitude changed? The stance of Swedish blue‐collar trade unions as evidenced by sentiment analysis," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 222-239, May.
    4. Jirjahn, Uwe, 2024. "Corporate Globalization and Worker Representation," IZA Discussion Papers 16727, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Martina Morando & Leonardo Brullo, 2022. "Promoting Safety Climate Training for Migrant Workers through Non-Technical Skills: A Step Forward to Inclusion," Merits, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-20, February.
    6. John W. Budd & J. Ryan Lamare, 2021. "The Importance of Political Systems for Trade Union Membership, Coverage and Influence: Theory and Comparative Evidence," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 757-787, September.
    7. McGinnity, Frances & Russell, Helen & Privalko, Ivan & Enright, Shannen & O'Brien, Doireann, 2021. "Monitoring decent work in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT414.
    8. Anastasia Gorodzeisky & Andrew Richards, 2020. "Do Immigrants Trust Trade Unions? A Study of 18 European Countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(1), pages 3-26, March.
    9. Budd, John W. & Lamare, J. Ryan, 2021. "The importance of political systems for trade union membership, coverage and influence: theory and comparative evidence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125307, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Melanie Jones, 2024. "Disability and trade union membership in the UK," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(1), pages 28-49, March.
    11. Alex Bryson & Rhys Davies, 2019. "Family, Place and the Intergenerational Transmission of Union Membership," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 624-650, September.
    12. Sara Cools & Henning Finseraas & Magnus Bergli Rasmussen, 2021. "The Immigrant‐Native Gap in Union Membership: A Question of Time, Sorting, or Culture?," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 35(1), pages 24-51, March.
    13. José-Ignacio Antón & René Böheim & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2022. "The effect of migration on unionization in Austria," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2693-2720, November.
    14. Laurence, James & Kelly, Elish & McGinnity, Frances & Curristan, Sarah, 2023. "Wages and working conditions of non-Irish nationals in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number JR2.
    15. Heather Connolly & Stefania Marino & Miguel Martinez Lucio, 2017. "‘Justice for Janitors’ goes Dutch: the limits and possibilities of unions’ adoption of organizing in a context of regulated social partnership," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(2), pages 319-335, April.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cel:report:49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Martin Kahanec (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/celsisk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.