TRAM

transnational labor migration in the Euregio

Background

Migrant workers make up a significant proportion of the workforce in food production and agriculture in the Euregio region. The working and living situation of many transnational migrant workers is very precarious, and in the border region, a confusing legal situation made it possible to exploit transnational migrant workers.

Objectives

For the first time, TRAM comprehensively examines the experiences of transnational migrant workers in the meat industry and agriculture living on the German side of the border in the Euregio Rhine-Waal and employed in the Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia
Establishment of cross-border exchange structures for social counselling

Results

Findings on the living and working situation of transnational labor migrants in the Euregio/NRW
Development of models for good work and housing for transnational labor migrants
Action plan for cross-border Social Counselling

Funded within the framework of Interreg VI A

Updates

On 18.04.2024, the project report of the TRAM pilot project "Work migration between borders - work migrants’ work and life conditions in relevant sectors in the Euregio region of Rhine-Waal" was presented to the Committee on Construction, Housing and Digitization of the NRW State Parliament. The report can now be downloaded in the Downloads segment at https://www.hochschule-rhein-waal.de/en/faculties/society-and-economics/research/research-projects/work-migration-between-borders-work

Events & Press

On 22.02.2024, the first Field Lab on the topic of social counselling took place in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of the state of NRW and the Ministry of Home Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Building and Digitalization of the state of NRW.
On 01.02.2024, the public opening event of Project TRAM took place at the Euregio Forum of the Euregio Rhine-Waal in Kleve. Several media outlets reported about the event: i.e. https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/leiharbeiter-ausbeutung-hochschule-kleve-100.html (German) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JAkHigrCnQ (Dutch)
On 6.12.2023, the project was presented at the Borderland Conference in Nijmegen in the workshop "Supporting Migrant Workers"
On 30.11.2023, the project was presented at the Laboratorium Niederrhein in Wesel. The NRZ also reported on this: https://www.nrz.de/staedte/kreis-wesel/niederrhein-beim-menschenhandel-nicht-wegsehen-id240748826.html
On 24.11.2023, the third-party funded project "TRAM – transnational labor migration in the Euregio" started with a kick-off event at the Faculty of Society and Economics, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. The project, which is funded within the framework of Interreg VI, will be carried out under the project management of Prof. Dr. Ingrid Jungwirth in cooperation between Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (research assistant Marius Glassner), Radboud Universiteit (Dr. Pascal Beckers and Dr. Anita Böcker) as well as the Gemeente Apeldoorn (Iezte Oostinga) and Euregio Rhine-Waal (Andreas Kochs) until 2026. The overall objective of TRAM is to improve the working and living conditions of transnational migrant workers in the Euregio by establishing cross-border exchange structures for social counselling. Further information about the event can be found at: https://idw-online.de/de/news826502.