As migration policy reaches a crucial juncture, trade unions in Europe are challenged to expand solidarity-based strategies amidst intensifying crackdowns.
At the time of writing, the struggles surrounding migration politics have reached a crucial tipping point, evident in both the United States and Europe. Protests in Los Angeles, condemning the US administration’s immigration crackdowns, have come to symbolise resistance and have spread to other cities. The US president has called upon federal forces, including 700 marines, as a show of force against the demonstrations. The European press has extensively covered the protests, imbuing this moment with significance for the European context, where the extreme right has mobilised with anti-immigration stances across the continent over the past decade. Migration policies have now become a significant point of contestation for inclusion and democracy in both regions.
Last year, Polish President Donald Tusk intensified the debate surrounding European asylum policy by proposing the use of firearms against unauthorised border crossings. In 2024, a bundle of more restrictive asylum policies, known as the Pact on Migration and Asylum, was adopted at the European level. According to migration researchers critical of the policy, this represents a significant turning point in European asylum policy. In Germany, too, the election campaign at the beginning of this year was dominated by a radicalised discourse on migration. Prior to the election, the conservative CDU, CSU, and liberal FDP parties accepted the support of the populist right AfD on more restrictive migration policies, which included provisions for refoulement at German borders and increased deportations. The conservatives’ acceptance of the AfD’s votes was widely criticised and unleashed a debate about the handling of the far right.
Current debates and proposals focus on increasing deportations and refoulement, as well as introducing fast-track procedures at Europe’s external borders. These measures are intended to prevent a repetition of the refugee movements of 2015. Since the migration movements 2015 (the so called “summer of migration“) and the subsequent crisis of the migration regime, EU member states have continuously attempted to gain control over migration to Europe through reforms to asylum laws. Concurrently, a separate discourse on migration policies is unfolding in Germany, precipitated by a significant shortage of skilled labour. To address this, Germany passed the Skilled Immigration Act in 2023, aiming to encourage targeted immigration.
As a result, two simultaneous processes are currently evident in German migration policy: recruitment offensives and an increasingly restrictive asylum policy. While these may appear contradictory at first glance, they are in fact expressions of an exploitation-oriented migration regime that places the economic benefit of migrants at its centre.
The rhetorical reference to the “summer of migration” 2015 is not coincidental. Indeed, the year 2015 marked the commencement of a persistent struggle concerning migration and asylum policies that continues to the present day. It is therefore worth taking a closer look at the political dynamics of 2015 and their consequential impact on trade unions. Trade unions successfully implemented solidarity strategies during the “welcoming movements” in 2015. This included working in coalitions with other civil society actors, being active in alliances with refugees, and working within the asylum system itself, which impacted both individuals and trade unions as a whole. These experiences can be interpreted as essential for the long-term consolidation and expansion of solidarity-based strategies, providing a potential safeguard against the danger of an “authoritarian stabilisation”, as social scientists Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen describe it.
Lessons from the “Summer of Migration”
Following Angela Merkel’s “We can do this” statement in 2015, German society appeared to be largely preoccupied with welcoming arriving refugees. It was a moment in which migration was present throughout society. Images of volunteers cheering on arrivals at train stations were broadcast around the world. The German trade union movement saw itself as an integral part of these solidarity movements. A statement from the DGB executive board in 2015 exemplifies this: “There are many trade unionists among the volunteers. We are pleased about this – we support this commitment and call for further activities – whether for refugees or against dull racism.” Trade union members and activists from various trade unions took part in local initiatives, became involved in existing solidarity networks around refugee shelters, and campaigned for the integration of new arrivals into German society. The DGB trade unions actively supported solidarity campaigns and encouraged their employees and members to take part in initiatives to support refugees. This activism led to the establishment of long-term networks and alliances.
An example of such an alliance can be found during the protests against a restrictive Bavarian integration law in 2016. Trade unions, civil society organisations, NGOs, and refugee activists formed an alliance to protest the proposed law together. In the end, they were unable to prevent the law from being passed, but the experience of struggling together had a lasting impact on the actors involved. At the company level, this resulted in a “welcoming culture” in the workplace, in which works councils played a central role. The “openness” with which refugees were received in the workplace led academics to optimistically conclude that the integration of these refugees would be more successful than that of previous generations. Research on the impact of arriving refugees in the workplaces concludes that the social integration of refugees in the workplace generally proceeded with relatively little conflict. The presence of refugees in workplaces additionally fostered new forms of solidarity among the existing workforce.
These new forms of solidarity can be seen in the years since at regular protests against the deportation of colleagues, organised, among others, by works councils. For instance, during a strike at Augsburg Hospital on 25 September 2017, employees chanted “No hospital without Anwar!” to protest their colleague’s impending deportation. Such mobilisations occurred and continue to occur frequently.
Discussions within the trade unions addressed how to consolidate the experiences of solidarity during the “summer of migration” 2015 within the organisation. Romin Khan, responsible for migration policy at the trade union ver.di, called for trade unions to play a stronger role in shaping migration policy at the national level and to increase their political visibility on the topic. An important step would be to mobilise and empower migrant members of the trade unions themselves. This includes promoting members who have experienced racism and discrimination to senior positions. Khan argued: “In order for refugees to become colleagues, we need strategic, resource-based projects; multilingual services; and the pooling of experience. This is where we need to start in order to create the conditions for the immigration trade union ver.di.”
The debate about the internal organisation of anti-racist and trade union work and how that work can benefit refugees is ongoing and open. Following the “summer of migration” in 2015 and the welcoming movement, a reactionary political moment emerged, accompanied by a change in public opinion and media coverage of refugees. This was accompanied by an increase in racist violence.
Right-wing populist forces still use anti-immigration imagery to mobilise support today. In the 2025 federal election, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party came in second strongest, with immigration being the main reason people voted for them. The same was true in previous elections. In the 2024 European elections, for instance, migration was the primary concern for AfD voters. The party was also the second strongest among trade union members, ahead of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
What lessons can trade unions learn from 2015 and apply to today’s political situation? How can they draw strength from the skills shortage while strengthening, expanding, and consolidating solidarity-based strategies?
Trade Unions and Solidarity-Based Strategies
Recent debates within the German labour movement have addressed these issues. In autumn 2023, for example, the Hans-Böckler-Foundation’s Institute of Economic and Social Sciences (WSI) held a conference on the shortage of skilled workers. The conference explored the implications of the skills shortage for trade union leverage. In February 2024, the DGB and the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation held a conference on immigration. DGB Chairwoman Yasmin Fahimi emphasised that Germany is an immigration society, adding that solidarity in the world of work is an important contribution to the “urgently needed welcoming culture”. This statement supports existing solidarity-based migration policy strategies within trade unions. The task now is to advocate for these strategies, expand them, and raise the labour unions’ profile in public migration debates.
Initial studies have considered whether the shortage of skilled workers is shifting the power relations in favour of trade unions. However, first results suggest that this will not necessarily be the case. To expand their power, trade unions must be active and form alliances with other civil society actors. The enormous solidarity efforts of the “welcoming movements” in 2015 demonstrated how such alliances can succeed, and their influence can still be seen today in trade union mobilisations on migration policy.
A migration policy strategy based on solidarity also implies rejecting the reduction of migration to economic cost-benefit considerations. Alliance experiences have given rise to solidarity positions that pursue a rights-based approach to migration policy. This approach aims to secure good employment conditions and social participation, while clearly rejecting the reduction of the debate to utilitarian benefit considerations. In April 2024, the deportation of a ver.di trade union colleague was once again prevented, showcasing that solidarity structures still work today. In a statement, the trade union ver.di wrote: “Thanks to the efforts of ver.di, those involved at RUNTIME Packaging GmbH, the Bavarian Refugee Council, and the thousands of colleagues who showed solidarity, the deportation of our trade union colleague, Odomero Godstime Otegu, was prevented.”
Given the political escalation around migration politics in the United States, we can assume that the issue will also remain an important point of contestation in Germany and Europe as a whole. Trade unions can and should play an important role in protecting the rights of those targeted by repressive measures and in safeguarding democratic spaces of encounter. Actively building on experiences of solidarity offers many opportunities to develop and consolidate solidarity strategies in their various dimensions, even in the current political situation. This is precisely what is needed to prevent the stabilisation of the “authoritarian right”.
For a more detailed analysis of trade unions during the Summer of Migration see Löw, N. (2023): Solidarität und ihre Widersprüche. Gewerkschaften im Sommer der Migration, Bielefeld. Open Access.
Neva Löw, PhD, is a political scientist and works for the Economic and Social Institute (WSI) of the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung.