Ambiguous Mobility

Matyska, Anna

doi:10.4324/9780429031021-4

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The posted workers typically are unorganized, work long hours, and receive extremely low wages compared to the host country's standards (Arnholtz, 2021; Lillie & Sippola, 2011; Wagner, 2015). Furthermore, they are greatly dependent upon their employer and contribute to circumventing labor regulations to protect their employment (Lillie, 2016; Matyska, 2019). In the Nordic context, this implies that trade unions have a hard time securing collective agreement coverage and enforcing these agreements because they do not have members among the posted workers.…”

Section: Background: Nordic Models Low‐wage Workers and Eu Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The embedded flexibility of Nordic labor market models under pressure from EU‐induced dualization—The case of posted work in Denmark and Sweden

Arnholtz

2022

Regulation & Governance

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While many coordinated market economies have responded to internationalization by regulation that creates dualization between insiders and outsiders, the Nordic countries have opted for an embedded flexibilization in which strong unions and cooperative employers have combined flexibility and equality. However, in recent years, the Nordic countries have come under pressure from an EU‐induced dualization that has institutionalized mobile low‐wage workers as an outside group. This article presents case studies of how Denmark and Sweden have responded to these challenges. While political processes have been different in the two countries, pressure from EU regulation and changes in employers' incentive to compromise implies that there is now a specific category of low‐wage workers in both countries' otherwise egalitarian labor markets. The article, thus, contributes to the literature on dualization by highlighting the pressure coming from EU regulation rather than national policy.

show abstract

Section: Background: Nordic Models Low‐wage Workers and Eu Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The embedded flexibility of Nordic labor market models under pressure from EU‐induced dualization—The case of posted work in Denmark and Sweden

Arnholtz

2022

Regulation & Governance

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The unclear status (cf. Arnholtz and Lovelady, 2022; Matyska, 2020) combined with competences such as limited language skills and knowledge of the Austrian system affected their ability to access support measures like unemployment benefits or short-time work. We already argued that most posted workers had no access to them because eligibility was linked to contributions to the Austrian social insurance system.…”

Section: The Motility Of Posted Workers During Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The contractual relations and the links with the sending country might sometimes be rather weak, especially in the cases of workers hired to be posted, or posted by temporary work agencies, or in the case of the self-employed who post themselves. In such cases, new layers of vulnerability are added, particularly when their employment or posting status is unclear to the workers' themselves (Arnholtz and Lovelady, 2022; Matyska, 2020). Despite the difficulties in implementing the posting regulatory framework, the number of postings in the EU has increased consistently from 1.48 million in 2010 to 4.5 million in 2019 (De Wispelaere et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The motility of posted workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: policies, trends and worker experiences in Austria

Danaj

Kayran

Geyer

2023

IJSSP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeTo analyse the policies, posting trends and worker experiences during the pandemic, this study uses the concept of motility, i.e. workers' mobility capital, and examines how posted workers' geographical mobility, their access to and conditions of employment and social protection were impacted. The authors discuss how the measures against the pandemic undertaken at the European Union (EU) and national level have affected labour mobility, the impact these measures have had on macro trends of posting to Austria, and lastly, how the pandemic and the actions against it have influenced the lives of posted workers at the individual level.Design/methodology/approachIn this article, the authors focus on the specific case of posting to Austria. The authors ask whether, and if so, how EU and national policies which came about during the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the motility of posted workers, and how these workers used their mobility capital in this unfolding context. The authors address the research questions with analyses of EU and national level policies, use administrative data on posting, and individual-level data based on interviews with posted workers and public authorities.FindingsThe authors find that the Austrian government's public health and economic priorities were jointly influential on the motility of cross-border workers. The specific case of the posted workers shed new light on the limits to such a national sovereignty approach when it comes to economic interests in an increasingly interdependent European labour market. This study’s findings show that despite the access provided at the policy levels, the motility of posted workers was also affected by their individual circumstances, or competences, which produced different forms of appropriation.Originality/valueThe authors apply the theoretical framework of motility by studying policy developments through the element of access options and conditions, and the posting trends to Austria and worker experiences at the individual level through the lenses of appropriation and competences. The authors find that while the EU and national public policy in enhancing access options have been successful during the COVID-19 period, amelioration attempts in access conditions have not been realised as observed in our analysis of the competence and appropriation dimensions of the posted workers in Austria. This highlights the need for a more integrated approach in the study of policies by exploring beyond the national and EU level policies and focussing on the implementation and observations at the individual level.

show abstract

“…Although posted workers are entitled to it legally, however, they do not feel entitled. Anna Matyska (Matyska, 2019), an anthropologist who spent time with many Polish posted workers in Finland and Norway, writes that there is an implicit bargain between the posting employers and their workers. They regard sending-country wages but not host-country wage norms as an important reference point in that deal.…”

Section: Extended Collective Agreements As Establishing Minimum Wagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Round Table. Nordic unions and the European Minimum Wage Directive

Lillie

2022

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The new European Union Minimum Wage Directive (2022/2041) is rightly seen by many as a victory for European labour. It will protect lower-paid workers and promote collective bargaining (Schulten and Müller, 2022). Hassel (2023) regards it as signalling a change in direction for EU politics, from broadly neoliberal marketmaking to social protection and partnership. The Directive explicitly encourages collective bargaining and sets targets to increase it, while also providing guidelines and targets for increasing minimum wages in ways that recognise the diversity of wage determination practices across the EU. The scope and tone of the new Directive sets out an unambiguous purpose and direction, to protect workers and support collective bargaining. This sets it apart from other recent directives, such as the so-called 'Enforcement Directive' (2014/67), which just seeks to enforce existing law, and the Posted Workers Directive (revised) (2018/927), which seeks to 'balance' the rights of firms and workers rather than to protect workers. Just as importantly, its sets out processes for calculating what constitutes an adequate minimum wage (60 per cent of median and 50 per cent of average wages), and mandates that Member States with under 80 per cent collective bargaining coverage should set out implementation plans to increase their coverage.The assent of Nordic unions is testament to the clever design of the compromise behind the proposal. It shows sensitivity to their desire to head off any possibility of Brussels interfering with Nordic collective bargaining systems, while also providing useful mechanisms to push for higher minimum wages and stronger collective bargaining in countries where that is needed. Also notable is the way the Nordic unions overcame their long-held scepticism towards European labour regulations, and specifically their opposition to any mention of a minimum wage manifesting in European legislation. This may reflect a softening of the Nordic unions' stance, but certainly also the Directive's approach, which recognises the centrality of collective bargaining to wage determination in many EU countries.The Finnish discussion of the Directive, for example, was largely focused on reassuring everyone that nothing would change; as a headline in the Uusi Suomi: 'Minimum wage comes to the EUin Finland, no major changes are anticipated' put it (Koho, 2022). It is more or less taken for granted that this is the best possible outcome for Finland, on the assumption that labour standards emanating from Brussels at best do nothing for Finland, and at worst undermine or overrule Finnish standards. I will argue that this perspective takes insufficient account of the usefulness, also to Nordic unions, of minimum wages and EU-wide regulations.Through worker posting and labour migration, cracks are emerging in the Nordic labour markets. In these circumstances, quasi-minimum wages, in the form of extended collective agreements,

show abstract

Ambiguous Mobility

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

The embedded flexibility of Nordic labor market models under pressure from EU‐induced dualization—The case of posted work in Denmark and Sweden

The embedded flexibility of Nordic labor market models under pressure from EU‐induced dualization—The case of posted work in Denmark and Sweden

The motility of posted workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: policies, trends and worker experiences in Austria

Round Table. Nordic unions and the European Minimum Wage Directive

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About