*ETUI-Maarten Keune 121 results

"This article investigates values of work in the creative industries in the Netherlands by researching whether non-material values of work are more important than material values, and how this is impacted by precarity. Two approaches are evaluated: post-materialist theory and critical research on the creative industries. The results of the vignette survey confirm that the relationship between precarity and non-material work values is not straight forward. There is a clear preferences among creative workers for non-material values of work such as autonomy and self-expression, compared to material rewards such as pay and benefits, even when controlled for levels of precarity experienced by respondents. These results point towards the conclusion that post-materialism theories fail to explain the values of work at a vanguard sector of post-fordist economies, suggesting instead that more research is needed into the relationship between non-material values and precarity."

"After some promise in the 1990s, European unions have grown increasingly disillusioned with regard to the results of EU social policy and EU social dialogue. The paper analyses the extent and reasons of this disillusion by looking at the impact on social dialogue of the Active Inclusion Recommendation launched by the European Commission at the outset of the economic crisis in 2008. The Recommendation led to a tripartite framework agreement at the EU level in 2010 (the only such agreement in a decade), which was then to be implemented at national and regional levels. With a multilevel governance approach, the paper looks at the extent to which social dialogue on Active Inclusion at the EU level, in six EU countries (France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK) and six regions (Rhône-Alpes, Lombardy, Lower Silesia, Catalonia, West Sweden and Greater Manchester) within those countries was somehow revitalised. The analysis, looking at both top-down and bottom-up processes and based on documentary analysis and interviews, shows that the initiative displays ambiguities similar to those of typical composite EU principles, such as famously the case of ‘flexicurity'. The multilevel governance of the EU, including the interaction between ‘soft' employment policies and evolving ‘hard' Eurogovernance tools, and with poor horizontal and vertical coordination, resulted in multiple distortions of the principle and, over time, to frustration. Unions' engagement varies by level, country and region, reflecting both traditional national approaches and the local perception of ‘active inclusion' as an opportunity. Although trade unions were more welcoming of ‘active inclusion' than they had been for flexicurity, similar related threats and opportunities led to modest achievements and a gradual fading of the idea at the European and national levels, with some more opportunities however at the regional level. The paper concludes that, if trade unions want to engage with the idea of a European Social Model and with Eurogovernance, they could develop stronger networks among regional organisations."

"This article examines the extent to which “inclusive growth” proposals made by various international organizations are consistent with their own objectives. The authors identify two commonly overlooked “missing links”: functional income distribution and collective bargaining coverage. Using a panel of 42 advanced countries for the period 1990–2018, they find that the first has an important influence on income inequality and the second plays a significant role in explaining increases in the wage share and reductions in income inequality. Consequently, these two factors must be fully integrated into the policy debate of international organizations if inclusive growth is to be successfully promoted."

"This engaging and timely book provides an in-depth analysis of work and labour relations within global platform capitalism with a specific focus on digital platforms that organise labour processes, known as labour platforms. Well-respected contributors thoroughly examine both online and offline platforms, their distinct differences and the important roles they play for both large transnational companies and those with a smaller global reach.

Chapters explore how labour platforms have become controversial and ambiguous as they increasingly appear to provide important sources of work and income globally but conversely raise concerns over exploitation of workers and the lack of legal protection provided to them. Offering a global perspective and including studies from different continents, the book covers three key areas: platform work in the wider context of contemporary capitalism, labour platforms from an international division of labour perspective, and labour processes and relations.

This informative and thought-provoking book is an excellent resource for scholars with a particular interest in political economy, the sociology of work, labour relations and labour policies. Policymakers and regulators looking to understand how to effectively apply existing regulations for platform workers when creating new business models will also find this an invigorating read."

"In the context of rising inequality between capital and labour and among wage-earners in Europe, this state-of-the-art article reviews the literature concerning the relationship between collective bargaining and inequality. It focuses on two main questions: (i) what is the relationship between collective bargaining, union bargaining power and inequality between capital and labour? and (ii) what is the relationship between collective bargaining, union bargaining power and wage inequality among wage-earners? Both questions are discussed in general terms and for single- and multi-employer bargaining systems. It is argued that collective bargaining coverage and union density are negatively related to both types of inequality. These relationships are however qualified by four additional factors: who unions represent, the weight of union objectives other than wages, the statutory minimum wage, and extensions of collective agreements by governments. "

"For many years, in most European countries, the public sector has been under pressure to reduce expenditure and increase efficiency. Long-term pressures on the public sector, and especially the recent austerity drives following from the crisis, have led to reforms and cuts in public budgets with serious negative effects on the European Social Model, on the quality of public services and on social outcomes, including health and inequality.

This book analyses the evolution of employment, job quality and labour relations in the public sector since the 2008 crisis in nine EU Member States: Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic, and the UK. It focuses on three sub-sectors: primary education, health care and municipalities. The authors show that the public sector reforms of the past few decades, as well as the more recent crisis-related austerity policies, have had important consequences for the number and quality of jobs across the nine countries. Public sector workers have frequently had to shoulder the burden of budgetary pressures through declining employment levels and job quality, including stagnating or declining (real) wages and the intensification and ‘extensification' of work. Declines in the number of jobs and job quality have been strongest in the countries where the crisis has been felt the deepest, in particular Italy and Spain. However, in the last few years, there is a moderate recovery in employment and/or job quality, particularly in healthcare and primary education.

The authors have identified several broad trends in public sector labour relations. One is the turn of governments towards greater unilateralism in the initial crisis years. The second is the emergence of new industrial relations actors. Following the dissatisfaction of public sector workers and the limited success of the established trade unions to respond to this dissatisfaction, a variety of new unions, social movements, ad hoc pressure groups and other organisations have emerged. Thirdly, there has been a widespread increase in strikes, protests, campaigns and other forms of industrial action by public sector workers. Finally, the erosion of the quality of public services has become a central issue in the demands of trade unions and new social actors. They now consistently argue that good job quality for public sector employees is essential to guaranteeing and enhancing the quality of public services."

"This article re-introduces the company in the analysis of labour market dualisation by studying local actors' (i.e. management and employee representatives) strategies as embedded in organisational and institutional contexts. Building on 12 case studies of multinational corporation (hereinafter MNC) subsidiaries in Belgium, Germany and Britain, the authors illustrate how organisational and institutional legacies influence (but do not determine) local actors' strategic arrangements regarding the working conditions of standard (insider) and non-standard (outsider) workers. The outcomes resulting from these local (negotiated) arrangements illustrate a variety of inequality patterns, rather than any single pattern. The study distinguishes between convergence, where differences in working conditions between the different groups of workers decrease as the result of reduced standards for the better-off group, and divergence, where these differences increase."