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Findings from the Policy Pillar

Pamela Meil. Findings from the Policy Pillar. The Changing Context of Policy Development The WORKS Contribution and Findings Conclusions and Challenges for Policy under Value Chain Restructuring. WORKS final international conference Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008.

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Findings from the Policy Pillar

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  1. Pamela Meil Findings from the Policy Pillar The Changing Context of Policy Development The WORKS Contribution and Findings Conclusions and Challenges for Policy under Value Chain Restructuring WORKS final international conference Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

  2. Findings from the Policy PillarPolicy Report Chapter Titles • Supporting social governance in global value chain restructuring: the role of social partners and participation (ATK) • Educational systems, retraining and skilling practices in restructuring (UPSPS and UT) • Equal opportunity: policies and practice (UPSPS) • Flexible work and employment practices – policy challenges (ISF) • Welfare regimes and future scenarios for policy (FFCT-UNL and UT) Pamela Meil: „Findings from the Policy Pillar“ WORKS final international conference | Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

  3. Findings from the Policy PillarThe Changing Context of Policy /1 • There has been a shift in basic propositions defining the regulation landscape of Europe: • Whereas traditional wage bargaining and generous social benefits were regarded as public goods, they are now viewed as a drag on national efficiency (from Jacoby) • The role of the welfare state as an institutional arrangement to offset the structural asymmetry of the employment relationship is being called into question (from Mares) • The contradiction between the goals of improving competition and protecting the interests of labour seems to have widened • Financial driven company strategies make traditional terrains of negotiation obsolete Pamela Meil: „Findings from the Policy Pillar“ WORKS final international conference | Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

  4. Findings from the Policy PillarThe Changing Context of Policy /2 European Union Firms Industrial relations institutions/employer associations Firm based works councils Professional organisations Communities of practice Employers/Managers Collective Actors Occupational groups Individuals State Region Sector Policy formulation is refracted through the different social structural contexts in different countries Institutional and historical contexts shape structures, expectations, norms and discourse (solidarity liberalism universalism) This shapes: What is designed?, Which actors are involved? The links between actors and institutions The national or state context does not produce unilateral outcomes: these are mediated by occupation and sector and the institutions which are already in place Pamela Meil: „Findings from the Policy Pillar“ WORKS final international conference | Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

  5. Activation Capabilities Guidelines Initiatives Directives Subsidiarity Open method of coordination Translation into laws and practice at the national level Informal processes such as patterns of learning and the diffusion of best practice Employability strategies Social closure, exclusive, segmented labour markets Inclusive labour markets Findings from the Policy PillarA Complex Regulation Landscape EU priniciples of social policy • Freedom of labour mobility • Fair employment and remuneration practices – i.e. part-time work rights • Freedom of association and collective bargaining • Education and training • Equal treatment – non-discrimination • Rights for workplace participation and consultation • Workplace health and safety standards • Protection of children, the elderly, the disabled Controls Monitoring Pamela Meil: „Findings from the Policy Pillar“ WORKS final international conference | Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

  6. Threat of relocation • Changing content of work • Changing working conditions • Fragmentation • Value chains and interest representation Pressure for concessions Formalisation, standardisation Downgrading-Upgrading (differential effects) Intensification Work hours Work pressure Demands for mobility Diverse job contracts Increase in non-standard contracts Distribution of work across sites – increased competition Transnationalism Nationally anchored collective actors Management prerogatives in restructuring activities Difficulty in monitoring existing regulation Problems with differing EU and national positions The Role of Value Chain RestructuringWORKS Contributions and Findings ? Challenges for policy in light of value chain restructuring? Deviation between laws and practice at the level of work? Which trends in work and employment affected by value chain restructuring require a/which policy response? Pamela Meil: „Findings from the Policy Pillar“ WORKS final international conference | Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

  7. Findings from the Policy PillarIssues and Contributions from WORKS – Flexibility Relevance to Policy: Flexibility is one of the main instruments used by companies to achieve cost saving effects – the forms and strategies have a major impact on quality and content of work as well as quality of worklife • The value chain facilitates the bypassing of employment protection by using outsourcing strategies for numerical flexibility • Flexibility strategies, particularly in corporatist institutional settings, reinforce core- non/core distinctions • “Core” workers are nonetheless increasingly under pressure • Flexibility demands are unevenly distributed along the value chain, creating unequal working conditions between units and sites • The public sector in customer service and IT service provision is increasingly a target for flexibility strategies, leading to fragmentation of employment • Uses of temporal and spatial flexibility vary by sector • Varieties of models for working time flexibility abound, some more favourable to companies, other to workers Pamela Meil: „Findings from the Policy Pillar“ WORKS final international conference | Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

  8. Findings from the Policy PillarRepresentation and Industrial Relations 1. Workplace representation anchored in national and sectoral settings • Influences its structure, negotiated issues and limits role in restructuring process 2. Value chain restructuring intensifies power differences between labour and management by creating larger, diffuse units, complex networks and remote contacts 3. Effects of EU regulations (TUPE on transfer; rights of part-time workers) • Not very visible at workplace or in consciousness of workers for restructuring issues (EWCs; information and consultation are minimal) • Important tools for representation in weakly organised, weak institutional systems • Sector differences in the role of representation are high Pamela Meil: „Findings from the Policy Pillar“ WORKS final international conference | Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

  9. Institutional responses mainly passive or reactive dealing with employment consequences of restructuring Findings from the Policy PillarRepresentation and Industrial Relations • Prevention/resistance • Socially responsible change • Protection (core vs. non-core) • No response Response Types country and sector effects • Process and form of restructuring • How it takes place • Effects at the workplace • Terms and conditions of employment • Skill • Work content and organisation • Beyond the workplace • Effects and conditions at outsourced and offshored sites • International or transnational governance • Effects on individual workers Response Dimensions Pamela Meil: „Findings from the Policy Pillar“ WORKS final international conference | Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

  10. „consolidated“ „precarious“ • Time • Contracts • Security • Job description, content • Safety, Physical health • Flexibility • Mobility • Flexicurity, Employability • Empowerment, Autonomy • Stress Consolidated issues are moving more and more into areas of precarious regulations Findings from the Policy PillarConclusions and Challenges for Policy under Value Chain Restructuring • Processes relevant for policy development are not uniform across countries or sectors – the orientation for policy development differs • Multilevel governance is needed • Weakness in existing policy in implementation and lack of attention to distribution of inequalities across the value chain • Better monitoring and enforcement • Balancing generality and specificity in policy formulation. • Issues differ in the ability to formulate policy and regulate them: levels of subjectivity; existing contexts and legacies, expectations and discourse play a role. Value chain restrucutring impacts greatly on issues involving „precarious“ negotiation Pamela Meil: „Findings from the Policy Pillar“ WORKS final international conference | Rome – Italy, 8-9 October 2008

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