Migration, Trade Unions and the Re-making of Social Inclusion: The Case of Territorial Union Engagement in France, Italy and Spain

The chapter looks at how specific union strategies have attempted to directly support groups of migrant workers in an increasingly fragmented labour market. After providing an overview of traditional union actions aimed at promoting migrants’ inclusion, the chapter focuses on the cases of France, Italy and Spain, which present innovative strategies at local and territorial levels and within the broader organisational structures. The aim is to show that whilst these forms of inclusion and support constitute an important response to changing conditions in the labour market and wider societies, there remain tensions in terms of the sustaining and democratising of such initiatives across time. This also reveals the political complexities of social inclusion and the manner in which it is enveloped in competing sets of trade unions’ approaches and agendas.