In their book chapter 'Unions and Migrant Workers: The Perspective of Estonians in Finland and Albanians in Italy and Greece', as part of Reconstructing Solidarity: Labour Unions, Precarious Work, and the Politics of Institutional Change in Europe edited by Virginia Doellgast, Nathan Lillie, and Valeria Pulignano, and published by Oxford University Press, the authors Sonila Danaj, Erka Caro, Laura Mankki, Markku Sippola, and Nathan Lillie examine the relationship of migrant workers with trade unions. Based on a series of biographic interviews of migrant workers, they argue that when migrants join unions, it is usually a result of an individual movement out of precarious and sometimes informal work into secure, formal work relations with strong trade union workplace presence. Although in all three countries, the migrants were quite passive and instrumentalist in their relations to unions, they nonetheless generally joined when working in unionized contexts, as a way of conforming to workplace norms.
