REGINE Regularisations in Europe Final Report - European ...

States can solve the problem of illegal migration by closing their borders and implementing repressive
measures”. Consequently, the ETUC proposes “more proactive policies to combat labour
exploitation” including (i) provision of “bridges out of irregular situations for undocumented migrant
workers and their families, and enabling them to report exploitative conditions without fear of
immediate deportation”; (ii) establishment of common criteria for the admission of economic
migrants, thus reducing ‘illegal’ migration; and (iii) strengthening co-operation and partnership with
third countries, in particular developing countries and the European neighbourhood countries. Thus,
the ETUC, without advocating large-scale regularisations, recommends the limited use of
regularisation mechanisms, or “bridges out of illegality”.
In addition, the ETUC insists that “the Commission and the Council recognize the social policy
dimension of economic migration, and establish adequate procedures and practices for consultation of
the European social partners in the legislative process.” If the Commission develops policies on
regularisations, “unions should be strongly involved in policy-shaping”. 195
5.3 Employers organisations 196
5.3.1 Introduction
Like trade unions, employers organisations are largely indifferent vis-à-vis regularisation and – on the
whole – do not regard regularisation as a particular issue of concern. This is in stark contrast to the
1970s and 1980s, when employers (in particular, in France and the USA), were major proponents of
regularisation. Only in exceptional circumstances, it appears, do employers support, or indeed call for,
regularisation procedures. It is interesting to note, therefore, that the current pro-regularisation
campaign in the UK “Strangers into citizens” is supported by various business groups. 197 In France, a
broad range of businessmen, predominantly from small and medium sized companies, have joined
calls for regularisation of illegal immigrants following a strike by illegal immigrants. 198 Various
macro-economic and structural factors explain the relative indifference of employers towards
regularisation. These include: economic restructuring and decreasing reliance on a flexible, lowskilled
labour force and the consequent reduced likelihood that major employers will resort to illegal
migrants as a significant source of labour; the fact that illegal migrants tend to be employed in small
and medium sized businesses in certain sectors with small profit margins that are not well represented
in employers associations; and the fact that major employers’ association, in particular those which
are also organised on the European level, tend to represent larger firms whose profitability does not
195 Interview with Marco Cilento (ETUC), Brussels, 20 May 2008.
196 The following documents were consulted for this summary: BUSINESSEUROPE position on Sanctions
against employers of illegally staying third-country nationals, submitted 25 October 2007. Available at:
http://www.businesseurope.eu; BUSINESSEUROPE position on Commission Communication on Circular
migration and mobility partnerships between the EU and third countries, submitted 26 October, 2007. Available
at: http://www.businesseurope.eu, UNICE position on the Commission policy plan on legal migration,
submitted 10 May 2006. Available at: http://www.businesseurope.eu
197 Liberation, 18 Avril 2008: ‘ L’appel de Londres à une amnestie’.
198 Liberation, 18 Avril 2008, ‘Les patrons avec leurs sans-papiers’; Following these protests, 741 migrants with
regular employment but illegally staying have received residence permits according to the General
Confederation of Labour (see Migration News Sheet, August 2008, p.11).
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