Too Green to Care: Mismanagement of Green Transition Process Put Migrant Workers at Risk

Abstract

Green transition economies have come to exist worldwide as pivotal measures to counter environmental crises, promoting industrial transformation to sustainable energy systems. Nevertheless, the human and social effects of these transitions are usually underestimated. This study explores how bold environmental policies, when poorly or mismanaged, can create immense ethical failings, most directly affecting vulnerable groups of labor, such as non-EU migrant workers. Through the example of Northvolt, a high-profile European battery manufacturer, this qualitative study investigates the disjuncture between public narratives of sustainability and the day-to-day experience of workers through organizational crises. Drawing on Institutional Theory and Psychological Contract Theory and using twenty-nine qualitative multilingual interviews with laid-off or risk to lay-off migrant workers supplemented by in-depth document and media analysis, the study identifies four interrelated themes. First, Psychological Contract Breach highlights the psychological damage caused to workers due to violated promises of job security. Second, Institutional Misalignment exposes internal organizational shortcomings that are in conflict with external sustainability commitments. Third, Legal Vulnerability and Immigration Risk describes how restrictive migration policies increased the precarious situation of migrant laborers after layoff. Fourth, Symbolic Inclusion and Organizational Decoupling demonstrates how symbolic diversity programs concealed systemic exclusion and erasure of migrant staff. The findings emphasize the critical importance of bridging ethical and social thought with sustainability-based management practices. It calls for more inter-connection between company strategy and public policy, given the reality that real sustainability involves prioritizing the well being of people and human well-being, and environmental considerations together.