Worlds of Labour

As part of her work in project A03 "Worlds of Labour: Coverage and Generosity of Employment Law", Andrea Schäfer participated in the international conference "Work, Migration and Society" at the University of Madras in India from 20 to 21 February, 2025.

Through intensive research and networking while preparing her fieldwork in India, Andrea Schäfer was able to establish a cooperation with Prof. M. Thamilarasan (Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Madras, Chennai and Conference Director) and was invited to the conference as a speaker of the plenary session (conference programme).

Around the themes of work, migration, education, social development problems, workers' health and safety, decent work, the many participants discussed challenges in global and national contexts. In her presentation "Worlds of Labour: The Impact of Employment Regulations on Labour Market Inequality and Segmentation", Andrea Schäfer used recent data from the A03 project based on the WeSIS platform to contribute to the current state of inclusion and exclusion of labour regulation worldwide and to present first results on the relationship between labour regulation and labour market inequality based on wage differentials on a global scale.

Contact:
Andrea Schäfer
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-57095
E-Mail: andrea.schaefer@uni-bremen.de

ILO labour law through transnational social dialogues

Prof. Irene Dingeldey and Prof. Ulrich Mückenberger – both PIs of project A03: Worlds of Labour: Coverage and Generosity of Employment Law – received the "Top Cited Article"-Award of Wiley Publisher for the years 2022 and 2023. The article "Worldwide patterns of legal segmentation in employment law" is the scientific introduction of the special issue of the International Labour Review "Overcoming Legal Segmentation: Extending legal Rules to All Workers?" (February 2022).

ILO labour law through transnational social dialogues

Furthermore, the scientific volume dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has now been published by the prestigious Sorbonne publisher. It contains a chapter on the production of international labour norms via transnational social dialogues written by Ulrich Mückenberger.

Les dialogues sociaux transnationaux comme leviers des normes mondiales du travail, in: Dhermy-Mairal, Marine, Kott, Sandrine, Lespinet-Moret, Isabelle and Louis, Marieke (eds.) (2024): Mondialisation et justice sociale. Un siècle d’action de l’Organisation internationale du travail, Paris: Éditions de la Sorbonne, chapter 17.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Irene Dingeldey
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy, Institute Labour and Economy
Wiener Straße 9 / Ecke Celsiusstraße
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-61710
E-Mail: dingeldey@uni-bremen.de

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Mückenberger
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy, Faculty of Law
Universitätsallee, GW1
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-66218
E-Mail: mueckenb@uni-bremen.de

Thursday, March 14, 2024, from 12 to 4 p.m. at the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Wilhelmshaven.

Equal Care Day (ECD) regularly draws attention to the importance of a fair and equal distribution of care work. On February 29, this year's day of action of the Equal Care Day initiative will take place in many cities and virtually. Equal Care Day is an initiative of klische*esc e.V., a non-profit association for the promotion of freedom of choice beyond limiting role stereotypes.

The Equal Care Day initiative calls on people, institutions and associations worldwide to organize the Equal Care Day as an opportunity to once again draw attention to the lack of appreciation and unfair distribution of care work. The campaigns achieve this by using events, campaigns, manifestos and projects of all kinds to focus on the fact that care work and care, care workers and carers are all too often poorly rewarded or not rewarded at all in our society and the current economic system. With this in mind, an ECD festival will also be held in many places and on an online platform in 2024.

The organizers of the Equal Care Day Northwest 2024 Andrea Schäfer (University of Bremen), Nicole Biela (City of Wilhelmshaven) and Ann-Kathrin Cramer (District of Friesland) make it clear in the spirit of the ECD "Care work affects us all, sooner or later in the course of our lives, but we are confronted with very different regional structures and a social policy that only partially integrates care work in its concept. We have all been aware of the consequences for years, now there must finally be solutions. We want to discuss these together on March 14, 2024 at Equal Care Day Northwest 2024 with care workers, experts and decision-makers from politics and business and all interested, thus all who are dependent on care work as."

Equal Care Day Northwest 2024

Equal Care Day Northwest 2024 explores the question of "care work in the course of life" with a particular focus on care work in the various regions in the northwest - from Friesland to Wilhelmshaven to Bremen, in the cities and municipalities. This raises questions about possible solutions in the health and care system in the northwest region: What gaps in care and moral injuries arise in the face of reparative social policies and a view of the caring profession that socially marginalizes women and exposes them to ridicule. What does a model of preventative social policy that focuses on a new normality of gainful employment and care in the life course look like? Who are the people who work day and night in Germany's health and care system to ensure that we are well looked after, can recover or die with dignity? How can everyday life in care or the routines of care workers in the private sphere be made visible with the help of the carers? What operational and political options for action are there to change the working conditions in elderly care in a concrete and sustainable way? What are the needs of young carers and their families and what gaps are there in the support services in the regions? The network, which was founded specifically for this purpose, invites all interested to discuss, learn and experience together.

Program of the ECD Northwest 2024

(from 12:00 p.m.) Greetings

Ann-Kathrin Cramer (District of Friesland)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Saß (Jade University of Applied Sciences)

Birgit Ahn (Metropolitan Region Northwest)

 

(from 12:15 p.m.) Can it happen to anyone? Care and nursing from a gender perspective

Reading by Monja Schünemann (medical historian and specialist nurse) from her book " Der Pflege-Tsunami. Wie Deutschland seine Alten und Kranken im Stich lässt."

 

(from 13:05) Das Optionszeitenmodell. Time for care, time for equality.

Keynote speech and discussion by Dr. Karin Jurczyk (Deputy Chairwoman of the German Society for Time Policy) and Prof. Ulrich Mückenberger (University of Bremen)

 

Parallel workshops from 14:15 (participation only possible on site)

o Concrete and sustainable improvement of working conditions in geriatric care - ideas for a relief and skilled worker offensive in the care sector

Workshop with keynote speech and discussion by Greta-Marleen Storath (Bremen Chamber of Employees)

o "That doesn't even exist!" Your improvised care story.

Workshop with methods of improvisational theater by Lena Breuer (actress, moderator and trainer from Cologne)

o Who cares? Who cares that we care?

Workshop with film screening and discussion by Ann-Kathrin Cramer (District of Friesland)

o Giving care. Getting help: Young carers

Workshop with researcher and committed people in dialog by Andrea Schäfer (University of Bremen) with Prof. Dr. Claudia Stoll (Bremen University of Applied Sciences)

The 'Equal Care Day Northwest 2024' network

The 'Equal Care Day Northwest 2024' network is a cooperation between Jade University of Applied Sciences, the University of Bremen, the district of Friesland and the city of Wilhelmshaven. Also involved in the network are the Bremen Chamber of Employees, the Friesland education region, the equal opportunities officers of the municipalities of Friesland, Zetel, Wangerland and Sande, the Agenda Varel association, the city of Jever and other committed individuals. The organizers are Andrea Schäfer (University of Bremen), Nicole Biela (City of Wilhelmshaven), Ann-Kathrin Cramer (District of Friesland) and Mareike Sprock (Jade University of Applied Sciences). Andrea Schäfer is organizing the ECD in Bremen for the fourth time.

Further information:

The Equal Care Day Northwest 2024 will take place on Thursday, March 14, 2024, from 12 to 4 p.m. at the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Wilhelmshaven. The event is open to the public, partly digital (12 to 2 p.m.) and free of charge. (event in German without translation)

You can register here.

Here you can find the flyer of the event! (only in German)

For further questions, please contact:

Andrea Schäfer
CRC 1342 "Global Dynamics of Social Policy"
University of Bremen
email: andrea.schaefer@uni-bremen.de
phone: + 49 421 218-57095

Nicole Biela (Equal Opportunities Officer)
Stadt Wilhelmshaven
Rathausplatz 1
26382 Wilhelmshaven
email: Nicole.Biela@wilhelmshaven.de
phone: +49 4421 162302

Ann-Kathrin Cramer (Equal Opportunities Officer)
Landkreis Friesland
Lindenallee 1
26441 Jever
email: a.cramer@friesland.de
phone: +49 4461 919-6161

Funded by METROPOLREGION NORDWEST

Contact:
Andrea Schäfer
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-57095
E-Mail: andrea.schaefer@uni-bremen.de

Review of a 4-week research stay

Andrea Schäfer, researcher in the A03 project "Worlds of Labour: Coverage and Generosity of Employment Law", was on a research stay in Pretoria, Rosslyn, Johannesburg and Silverton from 27.02.2023 to 25.03.2023. On site she cooperated among others with the South African trade union "National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa" (NUMSA) and the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria to conduct expert interviews on the topic of "(Dis)solution of labor(regulation) standards in the automotive industry" along the supply chain in this automotive production cluster.

Already in the run-up to the field study, Andrea Schäfer conducted extensive research on the cluster itself, but also on individual and collective labor regulation (labor rights), the ratification of international conventions, social policy and labor market structure in South Africa. She also contacted researchers in South Africa to gain initial insights into informality, unfair labor practices, non-compliance with labor laws and standards of working conditions and types of labor in the automotive industry.

During her stay in the cluster, she interviewed transnational and local car manufacturers and their suppliers along the supply chain as well as the shop stewards in the factories. She was also able to interview union officials from related sectors, e.g. the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), attend strategy meetings of NUMSA, negotiations at the Labor Court in Johannesburg and conciliation meetings of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). Andrea Schäfer also actively participated in the Human Rights Day organized by NUMSA in Hammerskraal with a speech on the topic "Intertwining of Gender and Human Rights" and took part in a NUMSA protest march. Six months after her stay, she is still in active contact with her cooperation partners in South Africa.

Through Andrea Schäfer's field study, it is now possible to gain knowledge and insights into the regional production network and its power structures, into the employment relationships in the automotive industry in the production cluster along the supply chain, into standards of employment relationships and the transitions to precarious and informal employment relationships within the cluster and into compliance, implementation and gaps in labor law regulations in the industry. In the current project, Andrea Schäfer is particularly interested in differences and similarities of structures such as informality, unfair labor practices, non-compliance with labor law in so-called formal employment relationships in international comparison. She is currently planning a publication to illustrate these structures for the South African case study. At the end of next year, Andrea Schäfer will conduct a further field study in India. With the material and findings compiled by Andrea Schäfer, the A03 team would like to investigate the question of the de facto inclusivity and scope of labor law in the Global South. The studies in South Africa and India will be complemented by field research in Mexico, which will be conducted by Heiner Fechner.

Andrea Schäfer is a sociologist (Magistra). She has worked at DIW Berlin, SOCIUM and CRC 1342 on topics such as determinants of gender-specific segregation and income inequality, structural change in gainful employment, transnational capital flows and the emergence and development of standards in labor law.

Publications:

Worker Protection Worldwide — But Universal? Fechner, H., Mückenberger, U. und Schäfer, A. In: Mossig, I. und Obinger, H. (Hrs.): Mapping Global Dynamics of Social Policy, S. 16-19.

Non-Discrimination in the Labor Market: Global Progress, Growing Gaps. Fechner, H., Mückenberger, U. und Schäfer, A. In: Mossig, I. und Obinger, H. (Hrs.): Mapping Global Dynamics of Social Policy. S. 20-23.

Contact:
Andrea Schäfer
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-57095
E-Mail: andrea.schaefer@uni-bremen.de

Perspectives from Latin America

Dr. Dasten Julián Vejar from the Universidad Austral de Chile visited the CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy last week. He gave a lecture about “Intersectionality, Precarity and Labour in the Global South: Perspectives from Latin America” and held a workshop on international networking as well as planning future research and teaching cooperation in universities of the Global South.

At the beginning of his stay in Bremen, Dasten Julián Vejar explained the intersectional approach, which has become relevant to research in different fields of the social sciences (anthropology, economics, sociology, etc.). Its importance in work studies has been highlighted mainly from studies linked to the precariousness of work and employment. These investigations have allowed a sociohistorical and political understanding of work, as well as of the societies of the Global South. In his presentation he analyzed some of these research experiences, based on the results of an investigation carried out in Chile (2016 - 2022) and another aimed at a UN Report on "poor work" in Latin America.

Furthermore, the workshop “Building networks and planning future research and teaching cooperation in universities of the Global South in South-North/North-South/South-South directions” enabled CRC and other interested researchers from the University of Bremen at an early stage of their career to plan collaborations in the fields of research and teaching for the purpose of perpetuating their research focus. Dasten Julián Vejar contributed his own experience of knowledge transfer from Germany as well as the extensive South-North/North-South/South-South collaborations that have built on it. The participants reviewed a set of challenges that the global scenario presents in its institutional and academic dimension for the development of cooperation, research and scientific exchange strategies.

Dasten Julián Vejar is a Ph.D. Sociologist at the Universidad Austral de Chile. His research interests focus on questions of precarity and precariousness of working and living conditions, intersectionality and emancipatory approaches from a perspective of the Global South. Among others, he is specialized in indigenous questions, the conditions in the agricultural and forestry sectors in Chile and the impact of transnational investments.

Publications:

Challenging the three faces of extractivism: the Mapuche struggleand the forestry industry in Chile (2023, with S. Schmalz et al, Globalizations 20(3): 365-383).

Sociedad precaria. Rumores, latidos, manifestaciones y lugares (2022, as co-editor); Sociedades precarias: estudios contemporáneos de la precariedad del trabajo (ibid.: 13-37).

Unions Opposing Labor Precarity in Chile. Union Leaders’ Perceptions and Representations of Collective Action, (2018, Latin American Perspectives 45(1): 63-76).

Precariedad laboral en América Latina: contribuciones a un modela para armar (Revista Colombiana de Sociología 2017 Vol 40 (2): 27-46).

Labor precarity and unionism in Chile: new directions and strategies of workers in a context of labor precarity (1975-2010) (Jena, 2015).

Contact:
Dr. Heiner Fechner
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49-421-218-57070
E-Mail: hfechner@uni-bremen.de

Irene Dingeldey and Ulrich Mückenberger edited the latest issue of the International Labour Review, which focuses on the concept of legal segmentation that was developed in the CRC 1342.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has published the Special Issue Overcoming legal segmentation: Extending legal rules to all workers? in its journal International Labour Review. The volume was edited by Irene Dingeldey and Ulrich Mückenberger ( project A03) and features results from the first funding period of the CRC 1342 on the concept of legal segmentation (i.e. labour market segmentations that stem from state law) and related quantitative results. The Special Issue is supplemented by regional studies by recognised experts on South Asia, Latin America and Southern Africa, which essentially confirm the argument that law plays a segmenting role, which has only been moderated in recent decades by equalising normative elements. In this volume, the ILO also includes the critical view that its own norm-setting practice is characterised by legal segmentation and has only recently given more space to universalising regulation.

The ILO's International Labour Review is published in English, Spanish and French, which means that the results of project A03 enter into a global discourse among academics, practitioners and political decision-makers involved in social policy.

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Ulrich Mückenberger & Irene Dingeldey (2022): Overcoming legal segmentation: Extending legal rules to all workers?, International Labour Review (Special Issue), Volume 161 (4). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1564913x/2022/161/4

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Irene Dingeldey
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy, Institute Labour and Economy
Wiener Straße 9 / Ecke Celsiusstraße
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-61710
E-Mail: dingeldey@uni-bremen.de

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Mückenberger
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy, Faculty of Law
Universitätsallee, GW1
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-66218
E-Mail: mueckenb@uni-bremen.de

CRC member Heiner Fechner is one of 27 "national rapporteurs" who will provide analyses on the historical roots of modern slavery for the International Academy of Comparative Law. Fechner will write the national report for Germany.

Heiner Fechner, who is a postdoctoral researcher in the CRC project A03 "Worlds of Labour", has been appointed "National Rapporteur" on the topic of modern slavery. Fechner is to prepare the national report for Germany for the International Academy for Comparative Law (IACL).

According to estimates by the ILO and the Walk Free Foundation (2017), around 40 million people worldwide are currently victims of modern slavery, which also includes forced labour including forced prostitution and forced marriages - more than during the peak of the colonial slave economy in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The appointment by the IACL's "General Rapporteur" on modern slavery, Prof. Dr. Adelle Blackett (Uni McGill, Montreal), was prompted by Fechner's research on colonial labour law and exclusion ("legal segmentation") within the CRC 1342.

Exclusionary and coercive elements of German colonial labour law, including its reception and further development by the Nazi regime, will also be a focus of the study to be presented at the IACL Congress in Paraguay in autumn 2022. A comparison of the development of German law with 26 other states is on the agenda for that event.

The analysis of the historical roots of modern slavery is to be made fruitful for a critical discussion of the current legal situation and reform proposals. The publication of the analyses and proposals is expected in 2023.

Contact:
Dr. Heiner Fechner
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49-421-218-57070
E-Mail: hfechner@uni-bremen.de

In "Worlds of Labour", the social scientist focuses on the refinement of indicators and their integration into the Global Welfare State Information System (WeSIS).

Dear Andrea, you have been with us for a few weeks now. nevertheless welcome to CRC 1342! You started at a difficult time, when most of the team has to work from home ...

Switching to a new team at a time when most people work from home is indeed a challenge in terms of communication. The team of project A03 welcomed me warmly and appreciatively and paved a straight path for me into the team and the work through regular exchange and a lot of patience.

Can you briefly tell us about your professional path so far?

My professional path is winding and characterised by many experiences, insights and cooperation with many colleagues. In addition to my Master's degree in Sociology, Business Administration and English at the University of Potsdam, I worked early on at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) in the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) department with Elke Holst on the topic of women in the labour market. After graduating, I moved to DIW to work with Jürgen Schupp and Martin Kohli on the connections and interactions between inheritance and wealth distribution.I then went to Bremen to the Graduate School of Social Sciences (GSSS, now BIGSSS), where I completed the graduate programme with great colleagues - such as Till Kathmann, Susanne Strauß and Can Aybek.

What happened next?

After only a short time in Bremen, I became a research assistant in Karin Gottschall's department Gender Inequalities in the Welfare State at the Zentrum für Sozialpolitik (ZES, now SOCIUM). During this time I worked with outstanding colleagues such as Simone Hasler, Karin Gottschall, Simone Scherger and Anna Hokema on topics such as vertical segregation, family policies, gender inequality and gainful employment. I was involved in various projects, including "InGRID - Inclusive Growth Research Infrastructure Diffusion (EU/FP 7)" with Olaf Groh-Samberg, the project "What comes after the family wage? Problems and possibilities of regulating income risks for normal workers" with Irene Dingeldey and in the project "Migration and transnational payments from a gender perspective" with Elke Holst and Mechthild Schrooten. It was also exciting to work with colleagues like Heidi Gottfried, Karen A. Shire and Sylvia Walby in the international network "Globalisation, Gender, and Work Transformation (GLOW)".

Due to care work and the restrictions of the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz, I went into organisational and political practice in the Central Commission for Women's Issues (ZKFF) at the University of Bremen in 2018. As a scientific officer, I advised and supported the ZKFF in all fields of action in the performance of its legal duties. Intermittently, I transitioned into academia for short periods of time, such as in 2019 in Sonja Drobnič's Department of Life Course, Life Course Policies and Social Integration at SOCIUM. Since 2019, I have been regularly teaching quantitative and qualitative methods in the Bachelor of Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences Bremen. Since 15.01.2021, I have taken a sabbatical leave from my position as an officer of the ZKFF and since then I have joined the project "Worlds of Labour".

Why were you interested in working in the CRC 1342?

I am interested in the CRC because it goes beyond the usual social policy research at institutions. On the one hand, because global development dynamics of public social policy are studied over long periods of time, and on the other hand, because the expertise of many people from different disciplines, cultures and countries is bundled here over several years. There is an open-minded atmosphere and the variety of perspectives creates a great, stimulating working atmosphere.

You have been part of project A03 for a few weeks now. What exactly are you working on?

I am working on the refinement of indicators based on normative and legal standards of employment relationships. Part of this work is to integrate the indicators developed into the WeSIS database. In addition, I advise the team on methodological issues and deal with the relationship between legal regulations on equality and gender-specific segmentation in the labour market.

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Project A03: Worlds of Labour. Normative Standards of Employment Relationships as National and Global Patterns of Welfare State Development

Contact:
Andrea Schäfer
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy
Mary-Somerville-Straße 7
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-57095
E-Mail: andrea.schaefer@uni-bremen.de

How to abolish child labour internationally

Jenny Hahs and Fabian Besche offer a simulation game for children aged 10 - 12 years on 31.03.2020 from 10 - 12 o'clock and 14 - 16 o'clock in the context of the Children's University 2020 hosted by the University of Bremen. The simulation game focuses on child labour and the right for education.

The children will get an insight into today's forms of child labour, its distribution and its history in interplay and tension with the introduction of compulsory schooling and the right for education. They form teams with other participants and become representatives of their country, advocating for their country's interests in a simulation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) conference on the abolition of child labour. In this way they also get a first practical insight into how international politics is made.

There are still a few free places and tickets can be booked on the website of the Children's University of Bremen.

Contact:
Fabian Besche
Jenny Hahs

CRC member Ulrich Mückenberger paid tribute to the scholar of law Éliane Vogel-Polsky at a memorial service in Brussels. Mückenberger was invited as a representative of European labour law.

Ulrich Mückenberger spoke in Brussels on 19 February 2020 at the memorial service for the great European law scholar Éliane Vogel-Polsky. Born in 1926 and died in 2015, Vogel-Polsky was one of the great figures in European labour law. She was a professor, lawyer, human rights campaigner, feminist and passionate European. Ulrich Mückenberger worked with her on and published, among other things, the document "Manifesto Social Europe" (2001).

In her honour, the Université Libre de Bruxelles organised a colloquium with friends and colleagues of Éliane Vogel-Polsky. Mückenberger was invited as a representative of European labour law.

More about the event on the website of the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Mückenberger
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy, Faculty of Law
Universitätsallee, GW1
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-66218
E-Mail: mueckenb@uni-bremen.de