Special Event: Labor & Research from the UK

Join IRLE January 21, 1-4 pm, as we welcome researchers from the Centre for Decent Work, Sheffield University, UK. They’ll share research on how bogus self-employment, labor and automation, and Brexit are affecting UK and European workers.

Schedule

1:00 – 2:15 pm | Bogus Self-Employment and the Platform Economy in Europe
This presentation, which will be given by Jason Heyes, Dragos Adascalitei and Edward Yates, will examine the development of labor markets and labor market regulation in European Union (EU) economies in the wake of the 2007/8 financial crisis. Focusing on the related issues of bogus self-employment (BSE) and work in the platform economy, the presentation will discuss changes in labor laws and social protections in the EU, specific regulatory and enforcement measures intended to reduce the extent of BSE and abuses of platform workers, and the capacity of enforcement bodies to protect workers. The presentation will also examine the consequences of dependent self-employment for workers’ well-being and security.

2:30 – 4:00 pm | Logistics, Labor and Automation
In recent years, the global logistics industry has become a topic of great interest to labor movement scholars and practitioners because of its vital role in enabling the global circulation of commodities and capital at ever greater speeds and quantities. At the same time, however, despite the central role that workers in the sector play in the global economy, poor labor conditions and strong barriers to trade union organizing remain endemic, and the threat of automation hangs perpetually on the horizon. In this presentation, Kirsty Newsome, Katy Fox-Hodess and Chima Anyadike-Danes will share findings from recent research projects on the labor conditions of parcel delivery workers, warehouse workers and dockworkers in the UK and beyond and consider the implications for organizing in these sectors.