SHIPPING OFF LABOUR: CHANGING STAFFING STRATEGIES IN GLOBALIZED WORKPLACES

 

International collaborative and ongoing research project.

 

Funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

 

The shipbuilding industry is often portrayed as the archetype of economic globalization. Faced with fierce global competition, especially from Asian producers, shipbuilding in Europe was believed to be a ‘sunset industry’. However, the 2004-2007 EU enlargements altered the choices set for shipyard employers. Companies in Northern European shipyards not only outsourced parts of their production to countries such as Poland and Romania, they also increasingly used (external) posted and agency labour in their ‘in-house’ production prompting labour market segmentation and more precarious types of contracts.

More recently, rapid technological innovation and stricter emission requirements open up – once again – for new production and staffing strategies that might spur demand for more skilled labour. Yet, so far, we know little about the determinants and interactions between increases in cross-border production and staffing strategies in an enlarged European Single Market. Knowledge on the interaction between these processes is important because changes in staffing strategies not only change the terms under which workers are employed – be it via temporary agencies, subcontractors or via posted worker contracts – they also inherently destabilize nationally based industrial relations’ systems.

 

PI: Ines Wagner

 

POWER STRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOGY - OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR THE LABOR MARKET (PST)

 

International collaborative and ongoing research project.

 

Funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

 

Technological changes, e.g. within the fields of information and communication technology and robotics, and public policies alters the choice set of employers, and influence their decisions on how, where, when and what to produce. This project focuses on how and to what extent digitalisation impacts on the shifting boundaries and structure of the firm and on the shifts in the balance of power between employers and workers, and how this ultimately influences firms and workers. First, we address how technological change such as digitalisation may affect firms and their structure, and areas within the workplace, depending not only on the type of the firm, but also on the type of union presence within the sector or firm. Second, we address boundary shifts and changes in structure within the nation state, influencing inequality in the workplace. Third, we address boundary shifts and structure change outside the nation state affect workplace inequality and indivduals within the nation state.

 

PI: Harald Dale-Olsen

Qualitative work package leader: Ines Wagner

 

CORPORATISM AND GENDER EQUALITY

 

Collaborative and ongoing research project with Mari Teigen.

 

Funded by Fellesorganisasjonen.

 

Norway is one of the leading countries when it comes to gender equality and has comparatively high levels of employee representation by trade unions. Yet, crucial challenges remain for an equal labor market. The Norwegian labor market is characterized by a gendered labor market. The female dominated public sector continuously earns less than male dominated industries in the private sector with comparable educational degrees. So far, we have little understanding of how the collective wage formation system in Norway, through the theoretical concept of corporatism, relates to the gendered labor market. This project aims to interrogate in how far trade unions have to balance their role as an actor towards a more gendered labor market and equally serve as organizations that traditionally serve a male industrial membership base. It aims to carve out the underlying reasons that can help us understand the relationship between corporatism and the pay gap between women and men in gender-segregated labor markets, such as Norway.

 

PI: Ines Wagner

 

EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK: THE ICELANDIC EQUAL PAY MANAGEMENT STANDARD

 

Collaborative and ongoing research project.

 

Funded by the Norwegian Ministry for Equality.

 

Iceland is the country that is closest to gender equality in its society and economy across the world according to the Global Gender Gap ranking. The current government wants to further progress for full equality between genders with a new legislation. In 2018, Iceland introduced a mandatory certification process for companies and institutions with 25 employees, which, through this process, must prove that they pay men and women the same for the same job. This mechanism moves the burden of proof from employee to employer and forces companies to develop a more transparent system for the way they value different jobs. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews with key government informants, social partners and HR managers in Iceland, this project tales an initial look at how the Icelandic Equal Pay Standard was established and how it works in practice.

 

https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2503800/Report_11_Equality_web.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

 

THE WELFARE STATE IN TRANSIT. EU MIGRANT WORKERS AND SOCIAL SECURITY

 

Finished research project, led by Ines Wagner.

 

Funded by a Røwdes Foundation grant.

 

In principle, EU migrant workers have equal rights to social security throughout the EU. In effect, however, this is not the case: some are reportedly excluded from unemployment allowances, while others do not have access to family benefits. The aim of this project is to examine the experience of EU migrant workers, specifically those with irregular and insecure employment, with regard to accessing social security rights in other EU member states.

 

 

WORKERS WITHOUT BORDERS. POSTED WORK AND PRECARITY IN THE EU

 

Book published with Cornell University Press.

 

This project reported on interviews with and participant observation of posted workers regarding how they experience the posting relationship, the mechanisms that enable access or denial to their rights, their ability to voice concerns over exploitative practices, and their interactions with institutions who should in theory enforce their rights.

 

http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140101187010