Migration at the multi-level intersection of industrial relations: the Schleswig-Holstein Campaign and the Swedish garment industry in the early 1950s

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article deals with the so-called Schleswig-Holstein campaign, whereby about 800 – mostly female – young Germans arrived in Sweden in 1950–1951. The campaign was a German initiative, emphasising vocational training for young and unemployed refugees and expellees, even though it ended up in a more pragmatic labour recruitment. Firstly, the article investigates the international relationship between West German and Swedish labour-market authorities, and secondly, it concentrates on industrial relations in the Swedish garment industry. Thirdly, on local level it focuses on the streamlined clothing factory Algots in Borås. Thereby, the article deals with the mutual interplay between migration and industrial relations. It clarifies how industrial relations on different levels of society intersected and reciprocally moulded a framework for the actors involved in the migration process. Contrariwise, the article illuminates how the campaign affected the industrial relations. It also observes to what extent perceptions of gender, age, ethnicity, and class among the actors involved influenced their argumentation and agency.