Working Lives Research Institute • annual report for 2012

WORKING LIVES RESEARCH INSTITUTE ANNUAL REPORT 2012

Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

WLRI Aims

Contents

The WLRI undertakes academic,

Director’s introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

applied and socially committed

How the WLRI works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

research and teaching emphasising

Staff and doctoral students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

equality and social justice into all

2012 Research at WLRI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Researching labour markets – restructuring, segmentation, migration and the employment relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

aspects of working lives.

Researching identities, representation and organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

We work for and in partnership with trade unions and other social

Researching the quality of work and working lives 8

Publications 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

movements and for charities and

Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

research councils and government

Journal articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

departments internationally, within

Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Europe and in the UK.

Book Chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Impact events in 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Teaching and learning at the WLRI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Pictures in this report are from an exhibition about economic restructuring and a sense of identity from a project financed by the European Commission linking research in six European areas: Corbeil-Essonnes – Evry in the greater Paris region (France); the south of Nuremberg in Bavaria (Germany); Elda and Alcoy in the Alicante region (Spain). The three others are coal-mining areas: the Dearne Valley in South Yorkshire (Great Britain); Katowice in Upper Silesia (Poland) and Zonguldak in Central Anatolia (Turkey).

The WLRI’s Sylvie Contrepois developed and designed the SPHERE exhibition.

WLRI Seminars in 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Some WLRI research partners in 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 WLRI Financial Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 www.workinglives.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Cover images, clockwise from top left: Polish woman mineworker, © Arkadiusz Gola; Man holding racing pigeon, Darnall Pigeon Club, Sheffield, 1976, © Peter Dewhurst; Worker in a shoe factory, Spain 1970s, © Carlson Multicultural festival, France, 2006, © Lionel Antoni

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BRITAIN: Although successive governments have claimed that the idea of social class is dead, this view is not shared by a majority of people in the Dearne Valley. Many believe that the prejudice they experience in their search for work and the power relations to which they are exposed, are about class.

PHOTO: ©RUSSELL WALL, 2010

Director’s introduction 2012 was the year in which the Working Lives Research Institute celebrated its tenth anniversary. This was a really good event, with nine seminars on the best of the recent WLRI research and one public lecture taking place, alongside continuous showings of three WLRI DVD films and one major photographic exhibition being launched – all on the same afternoon in November. It was good to see former colleagues from the WLRI and from ISET as well as colleagues from IPSE, and I’d like to thank everyone who came as well as those who spoke. Really positive things were said about the WLRI by Professor John Gabriel, the Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities, by Matt Dykes, Wilf Sullivan and Tom Wilson of the TUC, and by the local Islington MP, Jeremy Corbyn. The commitment of the WLRI staff over the ten years to researching for social justice was publicly saluted.

What the WLRI’s birthday shows is that, despite the merchants of accommodation to rising inequality and to ever narrowing definitions of what research is about, it is still possible to keep research alive that is focused on the need for social justice at work, in an institution which, in the eyes of the elite is a ‘second tier’ university. This is largely because WLRI staff members have a political commitment to defending those experiencing injustice and to challenging those who believe in the inevitability of the marketisation of all human relationships.

Our survival, in a year that began with all staff at the university being told their jobs were at risk of

redundancy – followed by the university having its Highly Trusted Status to recruit overseas students being arbitrarily removed by the UK Border Agency, and saw the removal of the Women’s Library to another university, is remarkable.

Regretfully, as a result of the difficulties described above, we lost two key members of our administrative staff, Sonia Allouache and Janet Emefo, both of whom were redeployed to other parts of the Faculty and who had carried out dedicated and highly committed work for WLRI over many years. In October we also lost Andrea Winkelmann-Gleed, who had made a significant research contribution across several different projects and who moved to a new post at the University of the East of England.

Hopefully, the uncertainty which we have had to operate in over recent year may now be coming to an end. The strong level of student recruitment of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in which we are now based, may help provide a really needed degree of protection and calm together with WLRI’s entrance as an autonomous unit within the new Faculty umbrella research institute, FAIR. That acronym stands for Faculty Advanced Institute for Research, of which I am also the Director. This new structure will enable the different research institutes to work together and to share opportunities as well as the challenges that 2013 will bring.

Steve Jefferys

TURKEY: The whole of the Zonguldak community expressed its solidarity with the miners from the area when they fought for an increase in wages from very low levels PHOTO: IBRAHIM DEMIREL

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How the WLRI works The Institute was established in August 2002 as an independent multidisciplinary unit within the London Metropolitan University. It it now based within the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities and is a distinct centre within the Faculty Advanced Institute for Research (FAIR). Its purpose is to undertake socially committed academic and applied research into all aspects of working lives, emphasising equality and social justice.

The WLRI bridges the academic and non-academic worlds and has close links with the TUC Library Collections, a unique Special Collection based at the University.

The WLRI’s researchers work on projects within London, nationally within the UK, across Europe and internationally. These focus on the following interdisciplinary and interlocking issues around three main themes:

Researching labour markets – restructuring, segmentation, migration and the employment relationship ●●Labour market divisions on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality; ●●Discrimination; ●●Employment practices and employment law; ●●Migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers and work; ●●Changing organisations in the global economy; ●●Changing forms of work in a knowledge-based society; ●●Globalisation, locality and labour markets.

●●Organisation and management including human resource management.

Researching the quality of work and working lives ●●Health (especially in restructuring) and psycho social issues in work ●●Training and lifelong learning ●●Work/life balance At any one moment the Institute is involved in between five and ten externally-funded research projects. These are funded by many academic and non-academic organisations, including EU Framework 7 (DG Research) and the EU DG Employment, the UK Research council, the ESRC, as well as by the TUC and Britain’s largest trade unions, Unite and Unison, and many others and by several charities. Our research leads to written reports for the funders, photographic exhibitions, films, seminars and conference presentations, newspaper or academic journal articles and training sessions. Outputs are also fed back into the Institute’s associated teaching programmes, our Professional Doctorate programme in Researching Work and our teaching on other courses within the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, including the CPD on Union Learning and on BA and MA courses in Trade Union and Labour Studies.

Researching identities, representation and organisation ●●The histories and agency of working people, minorities and social movements and their organisations, nationally, within Europe and globally; ●●Industrial relations, accommodation and conflict at work; ●●Employee representation and voice at work; ●●Social dialogue and partnership;

GERMANY: The AEG factory in Nuremberg, bought by the Swedish group Electrolux in 1994 used to employ 1,750 people (compared to 6,000 in the 1970s) and manufactured washing machines and dishwashers. Its work has been outsourced to Poland and Italy.

PHOTO ©BERNY MEYER

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Staff and doctoral students In January 2013 the Institute had 14 staff and a further 15 internal and external research associates. Eight of the staff work full-time for the University while the others work between one and four days a week.

WLRI academic staff

Paul Hampton

Part-time (supervisors: Nigel Morter – FSSH, Jefferys)

Olgu Karan

Full-time (supervisors: Henry, Allan Williams)

Nick Clark

Senior Researcher

Sylvie Contrepois

Reader (Europe)

Steve Jefferys

Director, Professor of European Employment Studies

Professional doctorate students at thesis stage

Leroi Henry

Senior Researcher

Jennifer Akinsuyi

Part-time (supervisors: Cilla Ross, Irene Gedalof – FSSH)

Janroj Keles

Researcher

Benjamin Agyemang

Leena Kumarappan

Researcher

Part-time (supervisors: McKay, Colgan)

Sonia McKay

Professor of European Socio-Legal Studies

Chris Blunkell

Part-time (supervisors: Williams, Morter, Jefferys)

Eugenia Markova

Senior Researcher

Eileen Brownlie

Anna Paraskevopoulou

Researcher

Part-time (supervisors: Frances Tomlinson CLBS, C. Ross, Jefferys)

Cilla Ross

Reader

David Coley

Part-time (supervisors: C. Ross, Jefferys)

Nigel Carter

Part-time (supervisors: Henry, Jefferys)

Dan Dowling

Part-time (supervisors: Richard Ross – FSSH, Jefferys)

Tish Gibbons

Part-time (supervisors: McKay, Linda Johnston – CLBS)

Brian Kelly

Part-time (supervisors: C. Ross, Jefferys)

Darren O’Grady

Part-time (supervisors: Clark, Jefferys)

WLRI support staff Jawad Botmeh

Research Manager

Linda Butcher

FAIR Senior Finance Officer

Roushanthi Sivanesan

Finance Officer

Max Watson

Research Manager

PhD students Kouider Djilali

Full-time (supervisors: McKay, Allan Williams – Surrey, Jefferys)

Karina Golovko

Full-time (supervisors: Fiona Colgan – CLBS, Jenny Newton – FSSH)

Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2012 5

2012 Research at WLRI The research under way at any one time at the Institute is always diverse in terms of its funding, scale and focus, but reflects our concern for socially committed academic and applied research into all aspects of working lives – contemporary and historical. Gender, race, ethnicity and class – as well as other social divisions and bases for mobilisation – are central to our research. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of

this research is demonstrated by our contribution to three broad and overlapping areas at regional, national, European and international levels. The examples listed below are not exhaustive, but hopefully give a flavour of the research into working lives we carried out in 2012.

All of these projects can be explored in more detail on our website.

Researching labour markets – restructuring, segmentation, migration and the employment relationship Funder

Project title

Current or final results in brief

DG Employment (EU)

Crisis Social Dialogue and Renewals in Restructuring

DG Employment (EU)

Arts and Restructuring

The three-country project involved academics and practitioners from France, Belgium and the UK in meeting regularly to consider the ways in which art forms have been used to represent restructuring.

Its final dissemination event took place in Paris in March 2012.

ESRC

Undocumented migrants, ethnic enclaves & networks (UNDOCNET)

This two year ESRC funded project is collaboration between WLRI and City University. The research focuses on Bangladeshi, Kurdish/Turkish and Chinese migrants in London to explore the networks that those without documents utilise. A successful mid-term project workshop was held in November 2012 when two of the project’s three films were presented.

EFFAT, European trade union federation

Precarious work

The research focused on precarious work in the sectors of Agriculture, HORECA and Food, Drinks and Tobacco. While the project was completed in August 2011, dissemination continued throughout 2012.

DG Employment, Social Affairs & Equal Opps.

Regulation & Enforcement of Posted Workers Employment RIghts

Using interviews with stakeholders and posted workers across five countries, this study seeks to evaluate the means of enforcing the rights of posted workers in the host countries.

The final workshop took place in London in February 2012.

DG Employment (EU)

Social regulation between contractors & subcontractors in the industrial sector during restructuring times (ANACT)

Whether the increased use of sub-contracting and outsourcing leads to a worsening of working conditions was considered by researchers in this five-country European project that focuses on employee terms and conditions within the manufacturing sector.

The recommendations were put to a final conference of social partners and government agencies in Lyons in February 2012.

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Funder

Project title

Current or final results in brief

DG Employment (EU)

Precarious work and social rights

A 12-country study which through interviews, case studies and questionnaire surveys aims to provide a useable definition of precarious work and proposals for a floor of applicable basic social rights. The project commenced in May 2011 and ended following an international workshop on March 30 2012.

Acas

The future implications of migrant labour for employment relations

A policy paper prepared for ACAS as part of the future of workplace relations series was published in early 2012

Erasmus EU

Global health and migration

WLRI is one of eight partner institutions across Europe which won funding to run a two-week school in Bologna for medical and social science doctoral students in July 2011 and 2012 with 30 students attending. The school will run again in 2013.

DG Employment (Legal unit)

Students and precarious work

A seven-country survey and qualitative research into the work that students carry out, the extent to which it is precarious (potentially weakening labour market conditions for all workers) and whether students view their work as precarious

Researching identities, representation and organisation Funder

Project title

Current or final results in brief

Acas

Addressing discrimination in the workplace on multiple grounds – the experience of trade union Equality Reps

Through interviews with public sector Equality Reps this exploratory project identified the complexities of tackling issues of multiple discrimination given the current legal framework. The findings will be published as an Acas report, that proposes areas for further research.

UNISON

Hidden workforce project

The project, which ended in 2012, highlighted the exploitation of hidden workers – those working in outsourced services.

The focus was on the organising challenge for the trade union, UNISON, to identify barriers to support and to show how UNISON organisers and activists can support ‘hidden’ workers

Co-funded by the European Fund for Integration of Third Country nationals, Community Actions 2009

MEDIVA: Media for Diversity and Migrant Integration

A six-country European project seeking to strengthen the capacity of the media to reflect the increasing diversity of European societies and promote immigrant integration. The MEDIVA project generated a set of media monitoring indicators (in eight languages) that can provide the basis for a self- and other-assessment and future monitoring mechanisms in the media, and ended with a big London training event and a final conference in Brussels in June 2012.

Nuffield Foundation

Migrant Domestic Workers’ Employment Rights

The project compares what employers tell the UK Borders Agency about domestic workers’ pay and conditions in visa applications with what workers report actually receiving. It also examines workers’ knowledge and views of means of enforcing their rights at work.

Conducted in association with Justice for Domestic Workers.

Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2012 7

Funder

Project title

Current or final results in brief

EU DG Research Framework 7

SPHERE – Space, place and the historical and contemporary articulations of regional, national and European identities through work and community in areas undergoing economic restructuring and regeneration

The research showed that while restructuring away from the regions’ traditional occupations did weaken the older identities forged out of work and place, there were also very many traces of the past in the ways in which workers understood their current lives and the areas in which they lived. Photographic exhibitions were organised in France, Poland and the UK in 2012 and a permanent exhibition installed at Londonmet in November 2012.

UNISON

Impact of Government spending on Unison’s members

The project interviewed UNISON members to gather their stories on the impact of recession on their work and personal lives.

The research report was published by UNISON in July 2012.

EU DG Employment

The Challenge of Racism at Work

Revisiting a five-country study by the WLRI carried out between 2003-5 looking into how trade unions deal with racism at work. What has changed in the last ten years? What difference has the recession made?

Researching the quality of work and working lives Funder

Project Title

Current or final results in brief

ICSW – ITF Seafarers’ Trust

Port Welfare Committees and National Welfare Boards

Research into why some PWCs successful, while others face enormous obstacles inputted into an ICSW training programme in 2012.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Responses to forced labour in the EU

This nine-country European project went beyond the focus of much research on human trafficking for the purpose of commodified sex to examine how far forced labour takes place in other areas of the labour market where extreme forms of labour exploitation have received little attention. The project reported issues around unclear and/or the lack of legal legislation in different countries, the misinterpretation of the notion of forced labour, and the lack of experience in dealing with forced labour. The report will be published in 2013.

British Library

Saving Sudan’s trade union endangered archives

A three year cooperation with the British Library ended in 2011 with an exhibition in Sudan of trade union historical documents that would otherwise have disappeared entirely.

A book on the project was published in the Sudan in 2012.

European Public Sector Union

Training, jobs and decent work for young people

Through interviews with EPSU affiliates and use of national and EU statistical sources, WLRI evaluated the role of three sectors (public administration, public utilities and health) in employing young workers, and the extent to which precarious work features in young workers’ employment. It found that the public sector had largely stopped employing young people. Its report will be published in 2013.

The impact of urbanisation on coastal environments

This eight country study jointly with the Cities Institute began by identifying the relationships between changes in social and natural environments, in terms of sea level changes, migration and population changes, and is still continuing.

European Commission

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Publications 2012 Books Kirk, J., Contrepois, S. and Jefferys, S. (eds.), Changing Work and Community Identities in European Regions Perspectives on the Past and Present, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Clark, N., Contrepois. S. and Jefferys, S., ‘Collective and individual alternative dispute resolution in France and the UK’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol 23, No 3, February, pp. 1-17.

Book chapters Coates, C. ‘Os arquivos sindicais na Grã-Bretanha’, pp 115-127 in Marques, Antonio Jose and Stampa, Inez Terezinha (eds), Arquivos do mundos dos trabalhadores: coletânea do 2º seminário international o mundo dos trabalhadores e seus arquivos: memória e resistência, São Paolo: Central Unica dos Trabalhadores / Arquivo Nacional

Holgate, J., Keles, J and Kumarappen, L, Visualizing ‘community’: an experiment in participatory photography among Kurdish diasporic workers in London, The Sociological Review, Volume 60, Issue 2, pages 312–332, May. Holgate, J., Keles, J., Pollert, A. and Kumarappen, L, ‘Workplace Problems Among Kurdish Workers in London: Experiences of an `Invisible’ Community and the Role of Community Organisations as Support Networks, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Volume 38, Number 4, pp. 595-612(18)

Coates, C. ‘TUC Library Collections’, various pages in Redmond, K. (ed) Born and bred: stories of Holloway Road, London: Rowan Arts. Also audio interview at www.storiesofhollowayroad.com/stories-home

Holgate, J. Pollert, A., Keles, J. and Kumarappan, L. (2012) Union decline and voice among minority ethnic workers; do community support networks help fill the gap? Urban Studies. 49 (3): 613-630.

Holgate, J., Pollert, A. Keles, J. and Kumarappan, L. (2012) De-collectivisation and employment problems: the experiences of minority ethnic workers seeking help through Citizens Advice. Work, Employment and Society. 26 (5): 772-788.

Markova, E. and McKay, S. ‘Migrant workers in Europe’s media’, Journalism Practice, DOI:10.1080/175 12786.2012.740244

McKay, S. ‘Precarious work in Europe – a growing problem’ Emilia Romagna – Europe, CGIL. Paraskevopoulou, A., Markova E., Williams, A and Shaw, G. ‘Migration and Innovation at the Bottom End: Understanding the Role of Migrant Managers in Small Hotels in the Global City’, Mobilities, Vol.7 No.3.

Journal articles

Koeper, B. and G. Thomson, ‘Restructuring: a European perspective on the political implication sof the developing understanding of the ffect of restructuring on the health of workers with specific reference to Germany and the UK’, Zeithschrift fur Arbeitswissenschaft, 4, November, pp 314-321.

McKay, S., ‘Rohini Hensman, Workers, Unions and Global Capitalism: Lessons from India’, Labor History, 52:4, 535-562.

Contrepois, S., ‘Industrial Decline, Economic Regeneration and Identities in the Paris Region’, pp 57-90 in Kirk, J., Contrepois, S. and Jefferys, S. (eds.), Changing Work and Community Identities in European Regions Perspectives on the Past and Present, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Contrepois, S., Jefferys, S. and Kirk, J., ‘A Skyline of European Identities’, pp 217-231 in Kirk, J., Contrepois, S. and Jefferys, S. (eds.), Changing Work and Community Identities in European Regions Perspectives on the Past and Present, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kirk, J., Contrepois, S. and Jefferys, S., ‘Approaching Regional and Identity Change in Europe’, pp 1-22 in Kirk, J., Contrepois, S. and Jefferys, S. (eds.), Changing Work and Community Identities in European Regions Perspectives on the Past and Present, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2012 9

PHOTO : CLAUDE BRETEAU

Reports Clark, N., “Regulation and Enforcement of Posted Workers’ Employment Rights” WLRI, 2012/5 Henry, L., Jefferys, S. and L. Kumarappan, ‘UK national context of racism and discrimination in employment on grounds of ethnicity or national origin (2003 – 2012)’, WLRI, December, p 30.

Jefferys, S., ‘Shared business services outsourcing: Progress at work or work in progress?’ WLRI Working Paper 11, May. Jefferys, S. (ed.), ‘Working Lives in Marxism and History: Hobsbawm, Saville and Thompson’, London: WLRI. Kumarappan, L. McKay, S. and Moore, S. ‘The impact of austerity on UNISON members 2012.’ UNISON. June, p 78.

McKay, S. Future implications of migrant labour for employment relations, Acas policy paper, Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, January 2012

FRANCE: The historic Darblay paper works in Essonnes is demolished.

Right: The factory in 1910

McKay, S, Jefferys, S. Paraskevopoulou, A. and Keles, J. Study on precarious work and social rights, European Commission.

SPAIN: Women migrants in a workers’ district of Elda PHOTO: PEDRO CRUCES

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Impact events in 2012 Date

Person

Event

Nos.

Comment

30 November

Nick Clark, Sylvie Contrepois, Janroj Keles

Precstude concluding seminar

25

Presentations of preliminary results of project, at Brussels

28 November

Anna Paraskevopoulou

London Metropolitan University

40

Immigration to the UK – a presentation to German students

22 November

Steve Jefferys

10th Anniversary

50

Speech to WLRI 10th Anniversary event at Londonmet

16 November

Steve Jefferys

TUC Public Service Network Meeting

50

Invited speaker on ‘Is the tide turning on public service outsourcing?’ at TUC, London

11 November

Sonia McKay

Seminar of the European Commission at Airbus

30

Labour relations in Great Britain

23 October

Sonia McKay

UCL Laws

30

Invited speaker on Understanding and tackling precarious work’ joint seminar with Guy Standing.

8 October

Chris Coates

CILIP meeting – Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals

50

Invited speaker on the TUC Library Collections

6-8 September

Janroj Keles

2nd International Conference on Kurdish Studies ‘The Kurds and Kurdistan: Considering Continuity and Change’

50

‘Mediated homeland politics and transnational ethnic audiences: The case of Kurdish and Turkish migrant’.

Presentation at Exeter University.

28 June

Sonia McKay

British Universities Industrial Relations Association

60

Keynote speech on Precarious work in Europe – understanding trends and exploring alternative mode at Leeds University

22 June

Sonia McKay

Keele University

50

Invited speaker on Precarious work to Alumni event

15 June

Eugenia Markova

MEDIVA Final Conference

30

Presenting the issues of diversity in media employment at the final MEDIVA event in Brussels

15 June

Steve Jefferys

Monocle Internet Radio broadcast

14 June

Anna Paraskevopoulou

London Metropolitan University

50

Immigration to the UK – a presentation to German students

8 June

Nick Clark

ETUI/EPSU seminar

20

Presentation of final results of research on young workers in public services, in La Roche-en-Ardenne, Belgium

8 June

Cilla Ross Sylvie Contrepois

Launch of UK Sphere Exhibition

20

Speeches at Goldthorpe Library exhibition launch in Dearne Valley

24 May

Steve Jefferys

European Human Resource Directors Circle

40

Invited speaker on Conflict resolution in Europe Today at Annual HRD Circle meeting, Lisbon

? Increasing working time through greater accessibility, interview in London

Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2012 11

Date

Person

Event

Nos.

Comment

18 May

Sonia McKay

Faculty of Laws, University College London

100

Invited speaker on Re-socialising Europe and the mutualisation of precarious work

25 April

Sonia McKay, Anna Paraskevopoulou

Business school, Londonmet

20

Invited speakers on ‘Working precariously’

23 April

Eugenia Markova

Migration Conference, Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, Germany

60

Invited speaker; presented a paper on the cross-border mobility between Bulgaria and Greece

20 April

Sonia McKay

Europe 2020: the Struggle with Poverty and Social Exclusion of Workers

60

Invited speaker at Warsaw Conference

30 March

Sylvie Contrepois

SPHERE exhibition launch

25

‘New and Old Identities in the local community’, Evry, France

30 March

Sonia McKay

Final conference

40

Presented research report on Precarious work and social rights.

19 March

Nick Clark

EPSU Youth Network

20

Presentation of preliminary results on young workers in public services, in Brussels

10 March

Sylvie Contrepois

Social Movements Conference

25

What happened to the social actors in the old industrial companies, Essonne Departmental Archive, France

8 March

Nick Clark

COMPAS seminar on migrant access to services

35

Invited speaker on Nuffield Domestic workers project, at Oxford

27 February

Nick Clark

PostER project seminar

30

Presentation of national reports on posted workers, in London

11 February

Sylvie Contrepois

SPHERE project Conference

60

Presentation of research project at Essonne Departmental Archives, France

1 February

Chris Coates

TUC / Londonmet event at Congress House

21 January

Janroj Keles

International Kurdish Social media Network conference,

80

Invited speaker on “Diaspora and New Media: Re-mediating Kurdishness in networked transnational communities” in London.

16 January

Sonia McKay,

‘Beyond labour regulation’ conference

20

Invited speaker on methodological problems in migration research at Middlesex University

16 January

Anna Paraskevopoulou

‘Beyond labour regulation’ conference

20

Invited speaker on precarious work at Middlesex University

100

Launch of Britain at Work: voices from the workplace 1945-1995

POLAND: The province of Silesia was renowned for miners’ militancy. Today a wide range of occupational and social groups like these Tesco supermarket workers are demanding better working conditions and expressing this in a variety of ways PHOTO: ARKADIUSZ GOLA

12 Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2012

Teaching and learning at WLRI September 2012 saw the graduation of a number of CPD in Union Learning students at the Barbican Centre. Funded by unionlearn these students travelled down from the north of England to accept their awards from the Vice Chancellor. This is our fourth graduating cohort and each student is looking forward to applying their new knowledge to their work as union activists and representatives. The programme is continuing into the next academic year in London with more trade union students.

The Professional Doctorate in Researching Work goes from strength to strength. Our second cohort joins the first cohort of students who are currently progressing on to the penultimate stage of their thesis. Cohort 2 has completed three taught modules.

On a number of occasions during this academic year the two cohorts have joined together to share ideas and research experiences as well as attend lectures and seminars. In some cases members of the first cohort are offering themselves informally as mentors to their Cohort 2 colleagues. This type of collective endeavour really helps to generate am active research culture and it is one that we encourage at all times.

Both cohorts have availed themselves of a number of skills development opportunities available through the university Graduate School and we are looking forward to a third cohort joining us in 2013.

CPD (Union Learning) students celebrate their awards, 2012

WLRI Seminars in 2012 Social Capital, Professor Ben Fine, 13 January 2012 Marx and the ‘place’ of work, Professor Martin Upchurch, Professor of International Employment Relations, Middlesex University, 16/3/12 Borderless Europe and limited space: transnational practices of Latvian migrants in Guernsey, Aija Lulle, WLRI, Londonmet, 16/3/12 Weber, Capitalism and Work , Dr Peter Hodgkinson, Londonmet, 17/3/12 New Capitalism? The Transformation of Work, Dr Kevin Doogan, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol. 18/5 Young People and Work, Dr Lefteris Kretsos, University of Greenwich 19/5 Working-class whiteness from within and without: an auto-ethnographic response to Avtar Brah’s ‘Scent of Memory’, Professor Lynn Thomas, Londonmet, 21/9 The Ideology of Globalisation: Challenges for Trade Unions and Workers Professor Carol Thornley, University of Keele, 22/11/12

Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2012 13

Some 2012 WLRI research partners Academy of Sciences, Institute of Sociology

Sofia

Bulgaria

Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)

London

UK

Agence nationale pour l’amelioration des conditions de travail (ANACT) Association Travail, Emploi, Europe, Société (ASTREES)

Lyon Paris

France France

Istituto di Ricerche Economiche e Sociali

Rome

Italy

Kings College

London

UK

Labour Asociados SLL

Madrid

Spain

Lentic, Liege University

Liege

Belgium

Observatoire Responsabilité sociétale des enterprises (ORSE) Paris

France

Pompeu Fabra University Law School

Barcelona

Spain

BAUA (Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health), Dortmund

Germany

Project Consult GmbH

Essen

Germany

Central European University

Hungary

Public and Commercial Services Union

London

UK

Komisja Krajowa NSZZ “Solidarność”

Gdańsk

Poland

Centre for the Study of Democracy

Budapest Sofia

Bulgaria

Centre for Industrial Relations, Keele University

Keele

UK

SIPTU trade union

Dublin

Ireland

Charité – Universitätsmedizin

Berlin

Germany

City University

London

UK

Sofia University “St Kiment Ochridski”

Sofia

Bulgaria

CGIL/IRES Emilia Romagna

Bologna

Italy

Solidarnosc trade union

Warsaw

Poland

Technical University of Munich

Munich

Germany

Communication Workers Union (CWU)

London

UK

Trades Union Congress

London

UK

European University Institute

Florence

Italy

Umeå universitet

Umeå,

Sweden

Faculty of Medicine, University of Bologna

Bologna

Italy

Unionlearn

London

UK

UNISON

London

UK

FNV trade union

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

UNITE the Union

London

UK

Gabinet d’Estudies Socials

Barcelona

Spain

Genre, Travail et Mobilites (GTM-UMR-CNRS)

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Madrid

Spain

Paris

France

Università Ca’ Foscari – Dipartimento di Filosofia e Teoria delle Scienze

Venice

Italy

University of Amsterdam

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

University of Cardiff

Cardiff

UK

University of Catania, Faculty of Laws

Catania

Italy

University of Greenwich

London

UK

University of Latvia

Riga

Latvia

Université Libre de Bruxelles

Brussels

Belgium

University Paris 1

Paris

France

University of Thessalonika

Thessalonika

Greece

Italy

University of Valencia

Valencia

Spain

Hungary

Uniwersytet Slaski, Silesia University

Katowice

Poland

Warsaw University

Warsaw

Poland

Göteborg University (Department of Working Life Science)

Gothenburg

Sweden

Hoger Instituut voor de Arbeid (HIVA – K.U. Leuven)

Leuven

Belgium

International Center for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations (IMIR)

Sofia

Bulgaria

Institut d’Administration des Entreprises, Université Paris 1

Paris

France

Institut fur Arbeitsmarktund BerufsforschungInsitute

Nuremberg

Germany

Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies

Rome

Institute of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest

14 Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2012

WLRI Financial Summary 11-12 £000s

10-11 £000s

Income Research project income Fees from teaching Central university salary transfers Central university non-pay transfers Total income

541 78 336 0 955

641 77 448 0 1,166

Expenditure Project-funded staff salaries Central university staff salaries Project-related costs Institute-related costs Total expenditure Balance before University overhead Central university overhead Surplus (deficit)

388 336 92 19 835 120 134 (14)

528 435 109 25 1,098 69 133 (65)

09-10 £000s 693 10 438 24 1,165

708 401 130 24 1,263 (98) 147 (246)

08-09 £000s 985 55 392 12 1,444

641 380 115 25 1,161 283 99 184

www.workinglives.org The fast changing world-wide-web has kept us on our toes this year and the WLRI website and our associated social media presence has continued to expand. The bulk of our students find us online, and we maintain a high hit count on our web-pages, and our network of ‘Friends’ on Facebook and ‘Followers’ on Twitter grows almost daily. Our website not only has all our current (and archived) research listed and detailed, plus biographies and contact details for all staff – past and present – we also advertise our available courses, upcoming events online.

Twitter: In 2012 we joined the ‘twitter verse’, with @Working_Lives as our twitter username, and started building our profile and disseminating our work in just 140 characters. We expect to be using Twitter much more in 2013, so follow us, ‘Retweet’ and use the hashtag: #working_lives Facebook profile: After a slow start on Facebook in 2011, this year we began to systematically update our pages and fast attracted over 100 ‘Likes’ and gained over 400 ‘Friends’. For the first time we announced an event on Facebook before sending out an official email invite and we also uploaded the photos from the ten year celebrations event onto FB and made them public.

So, to keep bang up to date with WLRI, you should ‘Like’ us and be our ‘Friends’ on Facebook.

Gallery: this section displays works taken by professional photographers and artists who visualise working life in a variety of ways. It also includes material produced directly by WLRI staff for our own research. Please note that from 2012 onwards you will find many more photos on our Facebook pages (see above) too.

Youtube/Audio Visual: We now have eight films on our ‘Youtube Channel’ and embedded on our website on the ‘Audio Visual’ section. Most recently we launched a 30-minute film in two languages about ‘Workers and industrial change in six European regions’.

WLRI Working Papers: This section includes the WLRI Working Paper Series, where colleagues submit papers arising from our research for discussion and debate. This includes the topical paper ‘Shared business services outsourcing: Progress at work or work in progress?’

WLRI News & Events: These sections archive the special e-newsletters and individual news items we regularly send out to keep our readers up to date with our latest. The contacts email list gets bigger and bigger too, and is now well over the 1,500 mark – so if you’re reading this for the first time and want to know more, you can subscribe to our news online.

Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2012 15

Working Lives Research Institute Faculty of Social Studies and Humanities London Metropolitan University www.workinglives.org workinglives@londonmet.ac.uk 31, Jewry Street London EC3N 2EY UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7320 3042 • Fax: +44 (0)20 7320 3032