Intra-European labour migration and deteriorating employment relations in Danish Cleaning and Agriculture: Industrial relations under pressure from EU8/2 labour inflows?

Eastern and Central European labour migration following the EU enlargement has significant impact on the Nordic labour markets. This article demonstrates, through sector based case studies in Denmark, how labour migration influences working condition and wages in two sectors that have so far only been sparsely studied; the agriculture and cleaning industries. The high inflow of labour migrants is used by some employers to bypass and undermine the institutionalised class compromise, by employing EU8/2-workers at lower wages and without collective agreements coverage. This put strains on the Danish model of industrial relations, leading to a more segmented Danish labour market.