Flexicurity, Labour Market and Social Dialogue: Monday 2 to Friday 6 June 2014
Open to PhD students outside of the network **
[download final programme] [link to ETUI policy brief] [pre-Readings] [download network school book] [download press release] [join our mailing list to stay informed]
The world of work is changing. The onset of the financial crisis in 2007-2008 which spread throughout much of Europe, particularly as a sovereign debt crisis from 2010 onwards, is having a profound impact on the labour markets of Member States and the working lives of their residents. These have been varied and contested, from the dismantling of long-established structures of social dialogue and collective bargaining in some states to discourse shifts towards increased labour market flexibility in others. In this context, questions of how these developments are being pursued by governments, the role of capital and labour in shaping these changes, the extent to which crisis has accelerated the ‘neoliberalisation’ of industrial relations in Member States, and the emergence of anti-austerity social movements in recent years as factors in the ongoing process of union renewal are more pressing than ever.
Photographs from this event are available to view on our Facebook page.
Powerpoint slides from each of the presentations can be found below under each speaker.
A Limited number of places for this event were open to PhD students outside of the ChangingEmployment Network [leaflet]
The ChangingEmployment network invited applications for a strictly limited number of PhD students to join the network for the main sessions of the network school. The sessions were delivered by many of the most eminent academics in the field of employment relations from across Europe, with further contributions from European and supranational actors such as the European Commission, European Trade Union Institute, the International Labour Organization as well as representatives from leading MNCs.
Admissions and practicalities
The summer school was aimed at doctoral researchers. In particular:
- Graduate/doctoral students working on issues of flexicurity and social dialogue
- Researchers at institutions connected to the ChangingEmployment network
- Junior research and teaching staff at the KU Leuven Faculty of Social Science
This Network School focused on flexibility and security within labour markets in Europe. The regulation of flexibility (i.e. wage, working time, contractual and agency work) and security (employment protection legislation, training, developments programmes and career programmes) were all addressed from both a national and sub-national (collective bargaining and social dialogue at both sector and company levels) governance perspective).
During this doctoral summer school participants had the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary environment alongside early-stage researchers and more established academics from around Europe on the pressing issues in employment relations. Successful applicants worked within one of three specific ‘themes’ of ChangingEmployment Marie Curie initial training network:
Theme 1: Management and Employees
Theme 2: Inclusion and Exclusion
Theme 3: Employee Wellbeing and Work-Life Quality
Within this structure there were joint lectures and seminars each morning with eminent academics in European employment relations and sociology, followed by group presentations each afternoon with fellow researchers in your theme.
Tackling the major issues in employment in Europe
Recent profound changes in long-established structures of social dialogue and collective bargaining in Europe as well fundamental discourse shifts towards increased labour market flexibility are having huge implications in how we conceptualise working lives in Europe. This raises many questions for researchers. How, and for whose benefit, are these developments being pursued by governments? What is the role of capital and labour in shaping these changes? To what extent (if any) is the crisis accelerating the ‘neoliberalisation’ of industrial relations in Member States? And how has the emergence of discrete anti-austerity social movements in recent years impacted on the ongoing process of union renewal?
The Flexicurity, Labour Market and Social Dialogue summer school confronted these questions directly with the aid of contributions from first-rate academics in the field.
The summer school also included a public round table event on "What are the prospects for labour markets and employment in Europe?" featuring speakers from the European Commission, the ETUC and Business Europe, moderated by a well-known journalist.
Though the general organisation costs were met by the ChangingEmployment network, there was a registration fee of 80 EUR to cover lunch and refreshments at the Irish College for the four days.
Completion of this intensive four-day course resulted in a transcript for 3 ECTS points, subject to approval from KU Leuven.
FINAL PROGRAMME [download final programme]
Sunday 1 June
ChangingEmployment ITN Participants arrive
Monday 2 June: Management and Thematic Sub Group Meetings (ITN Only)
Welcome by Professors Paul Stewart and Valeria Pulignano
ESR Discussion and knowledge sharing session with all professors
Thematic discussion
In Parallel:
Management/supervisory/training group meeting - Chaired by Professor Paul Stewart/Dr Adam Mrozowicki
ESR Theme sub group meetings
Tuesday 3 June: Network School (1) - Flexicurity, labour markets and collective bargaining
Keynote: Prof Maarten Keune, Director AIAS & Professor of Social Security and Labour Relations (University of Amsterdam University, Netherlands) [download presentation]
Prof. Søren Kaj Andersen (FAOS - Denmark): The rise and fall of the Danish flexicurity model [download presentation]
Prof Valeria Pulignano (KU Leuven - Belgium): Flexibility and security within European labour
markets: the role of local bargaining and the varieties of ‘trade-offs’ within multinationals [download presentation]
Prof Tommy Isidorsson and Dr Kristina Håkansson (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Flexicurity and temporary agency work [download presentation]
Dr Ronald Dekker (Tilburg University, Netherlands): Employer behaviour, employability and
inclusiveness in flexible labour markets [download presentation]
ESR/PhD sub group work around the theme Flexicurity, labour markets and collective bargaining
Wednesday 4 June: Network school (2) - Flexicurity, Globalisation and the Crisis
Dr Thorsten Schulten (Hans Böckler Foundation, Germany): Are the labour market reforms the
reason for Germany’s current economic strength? [download presentation]
Veronica Escudero, ILO, Switzerland: Are active labour market policies effective in activating and integrating low-skilled individuals? [download presentation] [links to a papers that discuss the effectiveness of a number of active labour market policies (http://www.nber.org/papers/w16173 and http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTECAREGTOPYOUTH/Resources/YEI_MetaAnalysis_rev.0711.pdf) During the discussion there seemed to be a bit of confusion as to whether programmes were actually evaluated after implementation, and I think these papers can serve as a guide of the different evaluations carried out.]
Isabelle Schömann, ETUI, Belgium: Reforms of labour law in time of crisis: flexibilising employment protection for the worse? [download presentation]
drs André van Deijk (Consulting Europa, Netherlands): Dutch perspective on Flexicurity [download presentation]
ESR/PhD sub group work around the theme Flexicurity, Globalisation and the Crisis
Thursday 5 June: Network school (3) - Methodological Training
Dr Surhan Cam, University of Cardiff, Wales: Quantitative Methods and how to use these in case studies [download presentation]
Prof Wim Van Oorschot, KU Leuven, Belgium: European comparative data on labour
markets, flexicurity and industrial relations [link to the EDAC website on the site: www.edac.eu]
ESR/PhD sub group work around the theme Methodological Training
Thursday 5 June: Open Public Roundtable (6.30-8pm)
What are the prospects for labour markets and employment in Europe?
Representative tbc, European Commissioner from DG Employment and Social Affair
Józef Niemiec, ETUC confederal secretary
Maxime Cerrutti or representative, Business Europe
Monica de Coninck, Labour Minister from Belgium
Emeritus Professor Richard Hyman, London School of Economics,UK
Goele Geeraert, Journalist (moderator)
Prof Valeria Pulignano and Prof Paul Stewart (co-moderator – panelist)
Friday 6 June: Network school (4)
Ethical Research Training (Moderated by Prof Paul Stewart, University of Strathclyde, UK)
ESMTUR: European Social Dialogue and Union Renewal (Led by FP6 Oviedo
Chair: Prof Holm-Detlev Köhler, University of Oviedo, Spain
Prof Holm-Detlev Köhler, University of Oviedo, Spain: Introduction - Europeanization of Industrial Relations and Trade Union Renewal [download presentation]
Udo Rehfeldt, IRES (Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales), France: European Social Dialogue: trends and prospects
Emeritus Professor Richard Hyman, London School of Economics,UK - The debate on trade union renewal in Europe [download presentation]