Documents FAFO 11 results

"The EU regulatory framework for posted work has a different impact in The Member States because it is applied in a variety of national industrial relations and collective bargaining systems. In this working paper, we look into the enforcement of regulations for posted work, bringing together experiences from the Nordic (except Sweden) and the Baltic states. Competences of the national labour inspectorates and cooperation with other authorities constitutes the basis for enforcement. Moreover, it is vital for the inspectorates to have contact and cooperate across borders. Enforcement related to posting of third-country nationals is also part of the picture."

"This paper outlines different methodological approaches to atypical and precarious work. Fafo has discussed such issues under the research programme ‘Tilknytningsformer' [Forms of affiliation in the labour market], in recent years. The paper is the product of a review of selected articles on the topic and a workshop organized in Oslo in December 2017 with researchers from the Nordic countries and the UK. At the workshop, we attempted to cover different ways of operationalizing some specific forms of atypical and precarious work. The aim of the paper is not to establish the share of precarious atypical work in any country, but to discuss different definitions and approaches to the issue."

"Since the 1980s, wage regulation in Europe has been marked by decline and decentralization of collective bargaining. Since the turn of the century, this trend has been reinforced by increased mobility of labour and production factors in the wake of EU's eastward enlargement, the economic crisis hitting especially southern Europe hard, and the deregulatory political intervention in labour markets instigated by EU and the Troika in these countries. How have these upheavals affected wage regulation in Northern Europe, which has been considered as the bedrock of coordinated collective bargaining and generally was less affected by the crisis?

This is the issue addressed in this Fafo-paper, analyzing developments in wage coordination, articulation between bargaining levels, and wage floor regulation in six Northern European countries (Germany, the UK, and four Nordic countries). Concentrating on the impact of European cross-border developments and actor responses to them – especially among organized employers – it asks whether changes in northern wage regulation have mainly been driven by spill-over from the changes in southern Europe (South to North contagion); the EU's new economic governance regime (Transnational disruption); strengthened regime competition among the northern, high-cost countries themselves (North-North competition), and/or the surge in East-West mobility after the EU/EEA enlargement (East-West destabilization)."

"This paper is part of the topic ‘Engagement – including the elderly's participation in work and working life', which is part of the programme ‘Demographic Change, Equality and Wellbeing', initiated by Joint Programming Initiative ‘More Years – Better Lives' (JPI MYBL). The aim of the paper is to summarise international research on older people's participation in work and working life, and to outline how their participation is influenced by demographic change, as well as how their participation, in turn, influence demographic change. The paper is based on earlier reviews and comparative studies in the field. Information has also been collected from a selected group of stakeholders and researchers."

"There has been an extensive research on ageing and retirement in Norway over the last 20 to 25 years, with some studies focusing on single aspects and others on a range of factors that can potentially predict early retirement and/or extended work careers. These studies are based on large-scale datasets from surveys (both cross-sectional and retrospective cohort studies), register data, longitudinal studies and qualitative studies.

The current Norwegian research literature shows that Norwegian labour market participation and retirement behaviour among older workers are affected by a multitude of factors at the macro, meso and micro level.

It is well documented that the labour market situation, including the business cycle, downsizing and unemployment, affects older workers labour market participation and retirement. Several studies have also documented that financial incentives and other features of the pension system and social insurance system influence how and when older workers retire, and whether they choose to work or not after drawing a pension. Furthermore, social position (sex, educational level and occupational position) influence the retirement pattern: blue collar workers retire earlier than white-collar workers. Demographic factors also affect retirement decisions. Older Norwegian workers' retire-ment behaviour are affected by gender, civic status, spouse's labour market situation and retirement, but to a lesser degree by caring responsibilities.

However, health, work ability and work environment seem to be among the most important factors. Table 4 summarises the main conclusions regarding the effect of different work environment factors on labour market participation and early retirement among older workers (50+)."

"In the future of work project funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, more than 30 researchers from the five Nordic countries study:

What are the main drivers and consequences of the changing future of work in the Nordic countries?
In what ways will digitalisation, new forms of employment, and platform work influence the Nordic models?
What kind of renewal in the regulation of labour rights, health and safety, and collective bargaining is warranted to make the Nordic model fit for the future?
Through action and policy oriented studies and dialogue with stakeholders, the objective is to enhance research-based knowledge dissemination, experience exchange and mutual learning across the Nordic boundaries. The project runs from 2017 to 2020, and is organised by Fafo.

The project is divided into seven pillars, and this paper gives an introduction to the research in Pillar VI Labour law & regulations."

"Recent European case law suggests that certain self-employed and freelancers are entitled to negotiate collectively. The CJEU has accepted collective bargaining for the ‘false self-employed', who are in a situation comparable to that of an employee. Determinant in the case of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) vs Ireland was the imbalance of power between the parties. This might imply that if a platform worker does not have the ability to influence pay and working conditions on an individual level, these workers might have the right to bargain collectively, regardless of the formal contractual arrangement. The collective agreements emerging in the Nordic platform economies are different in nature and their effects are not yet clear. Platform companies that hire their workforce on marginal part-time contracts seem to be more inclined to negotiate a collective agreement than platform companies using selfemployed and freelancers. It remains to be seen whether the agreements are examples of deviant cases or if they mark the beginning of a trend where increasing numbers of platform workers, at least in the Nordic countries, are covered by agreements."

"Digital labour platforms represent new ways of organising labour and novelopportunities. The Nordic region is recognised for being at the forefront of technology, but digital platforms are currently used to a limited extent. Nordic Innovation and the five national Federations of Professional Associations have commissioned Economics Norway, the Research foundation Fafo and asupporting panel of Nordic experts to study opportunities and barriers for Nordic countries to take advantage of benefits created by the platform economy. The analysis has a specific focus on the platform economy in theknowledge-intensive labour market."

"In this report, the Oil and Gas Transitions initiative documents how policy makers and representatives of businesses and civil society organisations (including trade unions and environmental groups) have outlined pathway scenarios towards net-zero carbon emissions and a phase-out vision for the Norwegian oil and gas industry. They have developed these two scenarios participating in a focus group based on a so-called ‘backcasting' exercise. There is perceived acceptance for the notion of net-zero emissions by 2050 from social actors involved in the Norwegian oil and gas industry. If this goal is to be reached with a science-based approach, however, deep-seated transformations in the global energy system will be needed, as well as concerted efforts by the Norwegian government and from other social actors."