Using Labour Process Theory to analyse the ‘Polish Work Ethic’
Current Literature
On 1 May 2004 the European Union was expanded to include the A8 nations of Central and Eastern Europe. Since their entry into the UK labour market, workers from these nations have been lauded by employers, and much of the popular press, as having a stronger work ethic than similar workers from the UK. It is the purpose of this paper to examine why these workers are seen as having a stronger work ethic, and to use labour process concepts to explain how it is the weaker labour market power of these workers that leads them to exhibit more malleable and co-operative characteristics.
Initial research into the A8 expansion has found that many people from these countries have downgraded their jobs significantly upon arrival in the UK (Green et al 2005, Gilpin et al 2006, Datta et al 2007, Curries 2007), a decision that is linked to their English language proficiency (Anderson et al 2006, Green et al 2007). Although employers praise A8 migrants’ ‘work ethic’ (Dench et al 2006), firms cite communication with migrant workers as a key problem (Green et al 2007). This is a particular issue in companies with low skilled jobs, as the removal of the requirement of English language skills to learn the job attracts migrant workers who can only speak their native language.
Methodology
The paper presents findings from three food manufacturing sites in the UK. Methods consisted of non-participant observation for two to three weeks at each of the factories, in social settings such as the canteen and smoking area as well as work environments, and observation of the companies’ induction programmes for new starters. This was supplemented by fifty in-depth interviews with operations managers, HR managers, British workers and migrant workers.
Analysis
The paper firstly investigates the nature of jobs in the case study companies, and how these roles attract migrants from the A8 countries. The skill levels required, and the subsequent removal of the need for English language skills to take them, is explored. Secondly the paper investigates managers’ attitudes towards these workers, and how the inclusion of A8 workers in the UK labour force has altered the “virtual hiring queue” (Waldinger and Lichter, 2003) of “virtual hierarchies of migrants” (Matthews and Ruhs, 2007:17), where a worker’s ethnicity affects their propensity to be hired and managers’ views of them even before they start work. The attitudes towards workers from the A8 countries are considered, and compared to workers from the UK. The paper then moves on to investigate how the weaker labour market power of these workers, particularly linked to their levels of English language proficiency, weaken their labour market position, and investigates how this is negated by these workers by being malleable and compliant to the demands of employers, which is often termed by these employers as the ‘Polish work ethic’.
References
Anderson, B., Ruhs, M., Rogaly, B. and Spencer, S. (2006), “Fair enough? Central and Eastern European migrants in low-wage employment in the UK”, COMPAS Research Report, University of Oxford, Oxford
Curries, S. (2007), ‘De-skilled and devalued: the labour market experience of Polish migrants in the UK following EU enlargement’, International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 83-116
Datta, K., McIlwaine, C., Evans, Y. Herbert, J. May, J. and Wills, J. (2007), “From coping strategies to tactics: London’s low-pay economy and migrant labour”, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 404-432
Dench, S., Hurstfield, J., Hill, D. and Akroyd, K. (2006), “Employers’ use of migrant labour”, Home Office Online Report, Home Office, London, April 2006
Gilpin, N., Henty, M., Lemos, S., Portes, J. and Bullen, C. (2006), “The impact of free movement of workers from Central and Eastern Europe on the UK labour market”, Working Paper No. 29, Department for Work and Pensions, London
Green, A. E., Owen, D., and Wilson, R. (2005), “Changing patterns of employment by ethnic group and for migrant workers”, National Report, Warwick Institute for Employment Research, Warwick
Green A. E., Owen D. W. and Jones P. with Owen C. and Francis J. (2007), “The economic impact of migrant workers in the West Midlands”, Report, West Midlands Regional Observatory, Birmingham
Matthews, G. and Ruhs, M. (2007) “Are you being served? Employer demand for migrant labour in the UK’s hospitality sector”, COMPAS Working Paper WP-07-51, University of Oxford, Oxford
Waldinger, R. and Lichter, M.I. (2003) How the Other Half Works: Immigration and the Social Organization of Labor, University of California Press, Berkeley