Working Lives Research Institute • Annual Report 2011

Working Lives Research Institute

Annual Report 2011

Faculty of Social Sciences

and Humanities

2 Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2011

The WLRI undertakes academic, applied and socially committed research

and teaching emphasising equality and social justice into all aspects of

working lives.

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

movements and for charities and research councils and government

departments internationally, within Europe and in the UK.

WLRI Aims

Port welfare project

– page 11

Working Lives Research Institute Annual Report 2011 3

2011 Highlights 4

2002-2011 Ten Year Highlights 4

Director’s introduction 5

How the WLRI works 6

Staff and doctoral students 7

Research at WLRI 8

Researching labour markets – restructuring, segmentation, migration and the employment relationship 8

Researching identities, representation and organisation 10

Researching the quality of work and working lives 11

Publications 12

Books 12

Journal articles 12

Book Chapters 12

Reports 13

Impact events in 2011 15

Teaching and learning at the WLRI 17

WLRI Seminars in 2011 18

Some WLRI research partners in 2011 19

What do our Sister Research Institutes in FSSH do? 20

Institute for Policy Studies in Education 20

Learning Technology Research Institute 20

The Human Rights and Social Justice Research Institute 21

The Institute for the Study of European Transformations 21

WLRI Financial Summary 23

www.workinglives.org 23

Contents


Highlights

2011 2002-2011 ten year highlights

WLRI staff published 12 peer-reviewed articles and three books.

WLRI researchers published 12 book chapters and 23 research reports

Over the 9½ years from August 1 2002 the WLRI has brought £6.7m to the university

from externally funded projects

A WLRI study for the Nuffield Foundation found that the UK Border Agency was

ignoring evidence of illegal underpayments of domestic workers

Staff won grants from prestigious funders – 6 ESRC; 7 European

Commission DG Research Framework; 3 Leverhulme Trust; 2 Joseph Rowntree

Foundation; 2 Nuffield Trust; and 2 British Library

A WLRI study of forced labour in the EU for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation established that this practice went far beyond the illegal trafficking of

workers

From three seconded staff in 2002 to a peak of 40 in 2007, the WLRI expanded before falling back to 18 in

January 2012, and in that time employed over 50 different researchers and

administrative staff

Working with City University we started a new two-year ESRC project to examine the networking experiences of undocumented

migrants in London

Staff won 21 grants from the European Commission’s DG Employment and Social

Affairs as well as 16 from government departments in the UK (13), Norway (2)

and France

The WLRI’s Leeds-based Union Learning continuing professional

development students successfully completed their two-year course

Since August 2002 the WLRI secured 34 grants carrying out research for trade unions in the UK and at European level

The WLRI organised a 50-strong awayday in July with the four

other London Metropolitan Research Institutes based within the new Faculty of

Social Sciences and Humanities

Staff from the WLRI participated in the 2008 RAE as

a part of the European Studies unit of assessment, where London Metropolitan

University was ranked joint 10th out of the 27 universities that entered


It is exactly ten years ago since Mary Davis (of the Centre for Trade Union Studies), Chris Coates (of the TUC Library Collections) and myself, a new Research Professor in the University of North London’s Business School, made the case for seed-corn funding to establish a Working Lives Research Institute at what became London Metropolitan University on 1 August 2002. Showing strong images (page 3)of a French pizza production line and of Swedish manual workers (that we had borrowed from our friends in Gothenberg’s Work Life Science Department) and of the TUC archives, we stressed our university’s unique mission of advancing social justice and of how changes in work and the work environment made applied research in this area essential.

Ten years later the over 200 reports, articles, conference presentations, chapters and books that WLRI staff have produced testifies to our achievements, as does the presence of 30 doctoral-level students. In 2011 alone, besides the usual diet of Oxford, Sunderland, Hackney and Plymouth (to name four out of the dozens of towns where we interviewed workers), researchers from the WLRI were interviewing in Australia, South Africa, Mexico as well as working, as we have done consistently over the whole ten years, across the whole of the European Union and with partners in every single member and candidate state.

Today, as unemployment is once again rising to levels where it threatens not just to damage the lives of those who are without work, but to add insecurity, stress and fear to the lives of those still working, the relevance of our continuing to research and teach about work and social justice is as important as ever.

The last year has not been an easy one. Not only has its own financial crisis imposed redundancies within the university, but the coalition government’s decision to turn university education into an open market represents an additional threat to a university like ours with a strong tradition of educating students who are more resistant to starting life with a huge debt mountain than are students from well-to-do backgrounds.

The challenge we now face is to ensure that in fighting for its life Londonmet continues to be at the forefront of researching and teaching social justice. The

university needs an active research community to be its lifeblood, feeding all parts of the body and looking vibrant when students make decisions about which university to go to. In the WLRI we are now working with the other Research Institutes within our new Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities to keep high quality informed and evidence-based research alive.

During 2011 we won major new grants from the ESRC (in partnership with City University to study undocumented workers), and from two different units of the EU’s Directorate General of Employment and Social Affairs to examine the development of precarious work and to see how students are becoming a key feature of precarious work. We also held final conferences of the SPHERE project on what happens to identities under restructuring (EU FP7) in Ankara, and of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation project on forced labour in Europe in London.

There were also more changes among the WLRI ‘old hands’. In July Tessa Wright, who had worked with us since December 2004, left to take up a senior lectureship at London University’s Queen Mary College. In September, Sian Moore, who had joined us in January 2003 and who had helped launch the Professional Doctorate programme in 2010, left to take up a readership at Leeds University. These represent genuine losses for WLRI and I thanked both of them strongly for their work for WLRI over the years at a special event we held for them. Sadly, though, for the second year in succession I am unable to report that we have been in a position to recruit replacements for them. But what the really impressive list of research, publications, teaching and events that took place in 2011 shows is that we are entering 2012 with both the strength and determination to keep challenging social injustice at work.

Steve Jefferys

Director’s introduction


● 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 10-20 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. In 2011 we enrolled the second cohort of students on the Professional Doctorate programme in Researching Work. We have also continued our teaching on a CPD course on Union Learning and on BA and MA courses in Trade Union and Labour Studies.

How the WLRI worksThe Institute was established in August 2002 as an independent multidisciplinary unit within the London Metropolitan University. It has the status of an independent department and one-quarter of its salary costs are met by the University. Since August 2011 it has been located within the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSSH). 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 and the Women’s Library, both Special Collections 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.

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;


In January 2012 the Institute had 18 staff and a further 15 internal and external research associates. Eight of the staff work full-time for the Institute while ten are part-time.

WLRI Academic StaffNick Clark Senior Researcher Sylvie Contrepois Senior Researcher (Europe)Steve Jefferys Director, Professor of

European Employment Studies

Leroi Henry Senior ResearcherJanroj Keles ResearcherLeena Kumarappan ResearcherSonia McKay Professor of European

Socio-Legal StudiesEugenia Markova Senior Researcher Nigel Morter Principal Lecturer, Centre

for Trade Union StudiesAnna Paraskevopoulou ResearcherCilla Ross ReaderAndrea Winkelmann-Gleed Senior Researcher

Staff and doctoral students

WLRI Support StaffSonia Allouache Finance OfficerJawad Botmeh Research ManagerLinda Butcher Senior Finance Officer Janet Emefo Administrative Assistant

Roushanthi Sivanesan AdministratorMax Watson Research Manager

PhD Students Kouider Djilali Full time (supervisors:

McKay, Williams, Jefferys)Karina Golovko Full-time (supervisors:

Colgan, Newton)Paul Hampton Part-time (supervisors:

Morter, Jefferys)Olgu Karan Full-time (supervisors:

Henry, Williams)

Professional Doctorate StudentsJennifer Akinsuyi Part-time (supervisors:

C. Ross, Gedalof – FSSH)Benjamin Agyemang Part-time (McKay, Colgan

– LMBS)Chris Blunkell Part-time (supervisors:

Williams – Surrey, Morter, Jefferys)

Eileen Brownlie Part-time (supervisors: Tomlinson LMBS, C. Ross, Jefferys)

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

Nigel Carter Part-time (supervisors: Henry, Jefferys)

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

Tish Gibbons Part-time (supervisors: McKay, Johnston – LMBS)

Brian Kelly Part-time (supervisors: C. Ross, Jefferys

Darren O’Grady Part-time (supervisors: Clark, Jefferys)

Crisis in advice – page 8


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 2011. All of these projects can be explored in more detail on our website.

Research at WLRI

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

Research on the organisation, segmentation and restructuring of labour markets is supported by a wide range of funding bodies. Migration is an important theme under this heading and in 2011

we completed our work on a project looking at irregular migrants and their living conditions in Norway. In 2011 we completed a project on health and stress in restructuring in the public sector. A smaller UK-focused project investigated the impact of the fragmentation of healthcare provision on the experiences of nurses working in prisons.

Funder Project title Current or final results in brief

DG Employment (EU)

Health and restructuring in the Public Sector

The seven-country research and dissemination project focused on the health implications of restructuring within the public sector and on the role of social dialogue in raising health concerns. The project ran international workshops in Rome, Helsinki and Paris with a dissemination event in London in May. The final report was launched in Brussels in September.

DG Employment (EU)

Arts and Restructuring

The three-country project has 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 takes place in Paris in March 2012.

ESRC Influences of identity, community and social networks on ethnic minority representation at work

The project ended in October 2010 but dissemination of its key findings continued throughout 2011. What we highlighted is that while labour process theory has given us an understanding of the degradation, de-humanising and alienating nature of work, our rich empirical data from 185 in-depth interviews with workers also exposed the real life extent to which work, for some, has the ability to cause despair and depression and even destroy people’s lives. Our findings also demonstrate the crisis in support for unorganised workers, providing evidence that the ‘Big Society’ is likely to be an illusory camouflage for the deterioration in the quality of life of ordinary people – particularly those facing complex problems and multiple disadvantages, such as minority ethnic workers.



EFFAT, European trade union federation

Precarious work The research focused on precarious work in the sectors of Agriculture, HORECA and Food, Drinks and Tobacco. The project began in late November 2010 and was completed in August 2011.

DG Employment, Social Affairs & Equal Opps.

Regulation and 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. Final workshop to take place in February 2012.

DG Employment (EU)

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

Does the increased use of sub-contracting and outsourcing lead to a worsening of working conditions? This question is considered by researchers in this five-country European project that focuses on employee terms and conditions within the manufacturing sector. The recommendations are being put to a final conference of social partners and government agencies in Lyons in February 2012.

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 ends following an international workshop on March 30 2012 in April.

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 to be published in early 2012.

European Commission

Restructuring and the role of public authorities

A study for the European Commission with WLRI conducting its UK and Ireland sections. Completed in mid 2011.

Erasmus EU Global health and migration

WLRI is one of seven partner institutions across Europe which won funding to run a two-week school in Bologna and Venice in July 2011 with 30 students attending.

ESRC Seminar series on migration

WLRI was one of a consortium of UK universities which received funding for a two-year programme of seminars on migration. The seminars were held over 2010 and 2011 at six different locations, with the final seminar being hosted by WLRI.

ESRC UNDOCNET WLRI in partnership with City University began a study in October on undocumented migrants and their networks. The project will be completed in September 2013.


Researching identities, representation and organisation


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 aims to highlight the exploitation of hidden workers – those working in outsourced services. The focus is 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. Building on the existing work and combining it with a series of in-depth interviews with senior journalists across Europe, the MEDIVA project is currently generating 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.

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.

Leverhulme Trade union recognition

The project has now completed its survey of UK trade unions and recognition agreements, looking at the impact of the statutory procedure. WLRI researchers involved in the project are now working on a book on recognition.

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 findings of the research were 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 all six partner countries to take place in 2011 and 2012.


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

Why are some PWCs successful, while others face enormous obstacles that are difficult to overcome? A project to provide input into an ICSW training programme began in August 2011 and is still continuing. Fieldwork took place in 2011 in Europe, Central America, South Africa and Australia.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Responses to forced labour in the EU

This nine-country European project sought to go 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.

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.

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 is evaluating 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.

European Commission

The impact of urbanisation on coastal environments

This eight country study began by identifying the relationships between changes in social and natural environments, in terms of sea level changes, migration and population changes

WLRI

seminar


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

McKay, S., Markova, E. and A. Paraskevopoulou, Undocumented Workers’ Transitions:� Legal Status, Migration and Work in Europe, London:� Routledge.

Wright, T. and Conley, H (eds.), Handbook of Discrimination at Work, Surrey, UK:� Gower.

Journal articles

Bornat, J. Henry, L. Raghuram P., The making of careers, the making of a discipline:� Luck and chance in migrant careers in geriatric medicine Journal of Vocational Behaviour 78 3 pp 342-350.

Bornat, J., Raghuram, P., Henry, L., The hospital bed as a site of spatial practice:� UK and South Asia qualified geriatricians and the development of the geriatric specialty, Area, 43: 4, pp. 430–437.

Clarke, L., Donnelly, Hyman, R., Kelly, J., McKay, S., and Moore, S. (2010), What’s the point of industrial relations, The International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 27(2), pp. 239-254.

Contrepois, S., Labour struggles against mass redundancies in France:� understanding direct action, Employee Relations, 33: 6, pp. 642-653.

Contrepois, S. (2010), Internationalisation des entreprises et représentation des salariés. Le cas des multinationales françaises des services dans les pays de l’Est, Travail et Emploi, n°123, juillet-septembre, p 27-38.

Holgate, J. Pollert, A., Keles, J. and L. Kumarappan, Geographies of isolation:� how workers (don’t) access support for problems at work, Antipode. 43 (4): 1078-1101.

Jefferys, S. (2010), Les entreprises de service:� transfert de modèle ou « dumping social »?, Travail et Emploi, 123, juillet-septembre, pp 9-26.

Jefferys, S., Collective and individual conflicts in five European countries, Employee Relations, 33: 6, pp. 670-687.

McKay, S., Does one size fit all? Trade unions discrimination and legal regulation, International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, Vol. 2, September, pp. 165-187.

Raghuram, P., Bornat, J., and Henry, L., The co‑marking of aged bodies and migrant bodies:� migrant workers’ contribution to geriatric medicine in the UK Sociology of Health and Illness, 33:2, pp. 321-335.

Winkelmann-Gleed, A., Retirement or committed to work? – conceptualising prolonged labour market participation through organisational commitment. Employee Relations, 34:1, pp 80-90.

Winkelmann-Gleed, A., Demographic change and implications for workforce ageing in Europe:� raising awareness and improving practice. Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, Vol 3:1, pp. 62-81.

Book Chapters

Clark N, Migration and Work:� Discrimination Obligatory? in (eds.) Wright, T. and Conley, H., Discrimination Handbook, Surrey, UK: Gower, pp 139-154.

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

Jefferys, S., Charting Historical Change:� Work in the US and UK during the Twentieth Century, with J. Kirk and C. Wall, pp 21‑45 in J. Kirk and C. Wall, Work and Identity: Historical and Cultural Contexts, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.


Jefferys, S. How dark are the clouds over Sweden, in A.Thörnquist and Å-K Engstrand (eds.), Precarious Employment in Perspective: Old and New Challenges to Working Conditions in Sweden, Berlin: Peter Lang.

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

Kirk J., with Jefferys, S. and C. Wall, Representing Identity and Work in Transition:� the Case of South Yorkshre Coal‑mining communities in the UK’, pp 184‑216 in Kirk, J., Contrepois, S. and S. Jefferys (eds.), Changing Work and Community Identities in European Regions Perspectives on the Past and Present, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

McKay, S. A right not to be discriminated against – the origins and evolution of discrimination law in (eds.) Wright, T. and Conley, H., Discrimination Handbook, Surrey, UK: Gower, pp 11-22.

Moore, S., Eyes and Ears’ in the Workplace:� The Developing Role of Equality Representatives in (eds.) Wright, T. and Conley, H., Discrimination Handbook, Surrey, UK: Gower, pp 265-278.

Paraskevopoulou, A., Tackling Discrimination, Disadvantage and Disengagement in London’s labour market, with Monika Beutel in (eds.) Wright, T. and Conley, H., Handbook of Discrimination at Work, Surrey, UK: Gower.

Winkelmann-Gleed, A., Demographic change and implications for workforce ageing in Europe – an overview’. pp 20�3‑218 in (eds.) T. Wright and H. Conley, Discrimination at Work Handbook, Gower.

Wright, T., Tackling Gender Segregation in the UK Transport and Construction Sectors:� Recent Initiatives and Procurement Strategies, in (eds.) Wright, T. and Conley, H., Discrimination Handbook, Surrey, UK: Gower, pp 293-308.

Reports

Clark, N. and J. Hardy, Free Movement in the EU:� the Case of Great Britain. Berlin: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, May, pp. 27.

Clark, N. and Kumarappan, L., Turning a blind eye:� the British state and migrant domestic workers’ employment rights. London: Working Lives Research Institute, August, pp. 31.

Contrepois, S., Jefferys, S., and C. Ross., Narrative and Cultural identity:� discourses of place and belonging. London: WLRI, September, pp. 50.

Contrepois, S., Narrative and cultural identities in the Corbeil‑Essonnes – Evry Region. London: WLRI, March, pp. 6.

TUC archive collection


Contrepois, S., Communities and new collective identities. London: WLRI, March, pp. 18.

Contrepois, S., Landscape and histories in the Corbeil‑Essonnes – Evry Region. London: WLRI, February 1, pp. 21.

Contrepois, S., Old and new formations of gender and class. A case study in Evry‑Corbeil‑Essonnes region. London: WLRI, February. pp. 27.

Henry, L. et al (2011) The Health Impact of Restructuring on public sector employees and the role of social dialogue (HIRES.Public), Final Report for DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, EU Commission. London: WLRI, December, pp. 37.

Jefferys, S., Manufacturing Sub‑Contracting and Outsourcing in Five EU Member States:� Definitions, Trends and Employment Consequences. London: WLRI, December, pp. 19.

Jefferys, S., Sub‑contracting in UK Manufacturing. London: WLRI, October, pp.10.

Jefferys, S., Offloading, outsourcing, sub‑contracting and social dialogue at the high end of UK manufacturing:� a case study of rising order books and restructuring under pressure at Rolls Royce, Sunderland. London: WLRI, October, pp.13.

Keles, J, The responses of Germany to “modern” forced Labour and labour exploitation. London: Working Lives Research Institute.

Markova, E. (2011) The Educational Integration of Refugee and Asylum‑Seeking Children in Cyprus. Sofia: Center for the Study of Democracy.

Markova, E. (2011) The Educational Integration of Refugee and Asylum‑Seeking Children in Greece. Sofia: Center for the Study of Democracy.

Markova, E. (2011) The Educational Integration of Refugee and Asylum‑Seeking Children in Malta. Sofia: Center for the Study of Democracy.

McKay, S., Clark, N. and Paraskevopoulou, A, Precarious work in Agriculture, Tourism and Food, Drinks and Tobacco. London: Working Lives Research Institute.

Ross, C., Narrative and cultural identities in the South Yorkshire region. London: WLRI, March, pp. 14.

Ross, C., Communities and new collective identities. London: WLRI, March, pp. 22.

Ross, C., Old and new formations of gender and class. A case study in South Yorkshire. London: WLRI, February. pp. 18.

Ross, C., Maintenance and Development of Port Welfare Committees (ICSW/ITF) Constantza (Romania) Case Study Report. London: Working Lives Research Institute.

Ross, C., Maintenance and Development of Port Welfare Committees (ICSW/ITF) Veracruz (Mexico) Case Study Report. London: Working Lives Research Institute.

Ross, C., Kumarappan, L., Moore, S. and Wood, H., Learning Journeys – trade union learners in their own words. London: TUC.

Chris Coates at the International

Association of Labour History

Institutions annual conference in

Bonn, Germany– page 15


Impact events in 2011Date Person Project Nos. Comment

10 December

Nick Clark Young workers in the public sector

30 Presenting draft report to European Public Sector Union committee in Brussels

6 December Eugenia Markova Restrictive migration policies and the role of the media: the impact on undocumented migrants

50 Conference held in Brussels by the European Programme for Integration and Migration & the European Policy Centre

5 December Sonia McKay Trade union Modernisation Fund Round 3

40 Keynote speaker on precarious work

2 December Steve Jefferys Trade Unions and Parliamentary Socialism

20 Invited speaker to event held in Brussels by the ULB University to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Parliamentary Road to Socialism by Ralph Miliband

9 November Janroj Keles Influences of identity, community and social networks on ethnic minority representation at work

40 Invited speaker to seminar series on Stateless Diasporas and Forced Migration, organised by Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre

27/28 October

Sonia McKay The British system of industrial relations

60 Freidrich Ebert Stifting conference in London

21 September

Leroi Henry Healthy restructuring in Europe’s public sector

25 European launch of HIRES.Public final report at Prevent in Brussels

8 September Chris Coates Research resources on the British Miners’ Strike 1984-85

50 Paper given at International Association of Labour History Institutions annual conference in Bonn, Germany

5/6 September

Steve Jefferys Arts and Restructuring 30 Two-day workshop held at the ITF in London presenting films, song, photographs and design to French and Belgian social partners and researchers

15 July Sonia McKay Migration, Labour and Industrial Relations

30 ESRC seminar at Londonmet

14 July Tessa Wright Launch of Handbook of Discrimination at Work

30 Women’s Library launch of book edited by Wright and Conley with key note speech by Sarah Veale, Equality Head of TUC

5 July Nick Clark and Janroj Keles

Review of responses to forced labour in the EU

30 Led seminar at ITF in London on the preliminary findings and draft conclusions of the JRF funded research project with researchers and practitioners (NGO, trade union, government bodies) from Poland, Italy, Spain, Latvia, Sweden and the Netherlands.


Date Person Project Nos. Comment

28-29 June Anna Paraskevopoulou

Migration and challenges of Diversity and Equality policies at workplace

100 CRONEM Annual Conference, Surrey University

17 June Chris Coates Sources for the study of construction history

34 Visible in Stone – English Heritage / Londonmet Study Day on women and building

16-17 June Anna Paraskevopoulou

Precarious workers in Agriculture, Hotels and Food

50 EFFAT, Press and Communications seminar, Brussels

26 May Nick Clark and Leena Kumarappan

Turning a blind eye: the British state and migrant domestic workers’ employment rights

35 Public meeting at the Toynbee Hall to launch the final report of the Nuffield Foundation supported project combining analysis of UK Border Agency data with 40 face to face interviews with migrant domestic workers.

18 May Chris Coates Archive resources for the 1888 Match Workers Strike

60 Presentation at Striking A Light evening seminar at The Women’s Library

11 May Sonia McKay Lives in transition – intentions, hopes and realities

100 Inaugural professorial lecture at London Metropolitan University

6 May Andrea Winkelmann-Gleed

Rethinking Retirement 25 Hosting ESRC seminar at London Metropolitan University

14 April Mary Davis Class and Gender in British Labour History

25 A book launch held at the Women’s Library involving all the chapter authors

31 March Steve Jefferys, Sylvie Contrepois, Cilla Ross, Jane Martin and Chris Wall

Memorial meeting 40 Public memorial meeting at the Women’s Library dedicated to Professor John Kirk (1957-2010) involving all the Sphere project teams and former colleagues.

17 March Sonia McKay Undocumented migrant transitions

20 Invited speaker on migrants and employment, challenging barriers and exploring pathways, Manchester Industrial Relations Society

11 February Steve Jefferys The British Tradition of General Strikes

60 Invited speaker to day conference on General Strikes, marking the 50th anniversary of the Belgian General Strike

2 February Eugenia Markova Migration and social policies in Bulgaria: before and after transition

50 Invited speaker as a chapter author to the joint Bulgarian Embassy and SSEES-UCL event for the launch of Katsikas, S. (ed.) Bulgaria and Europe: Shifting Identities.

29 Jan Chris Coates Robert Tressell and the manuscript of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

57 Presentation to the Robert Tressell centenary event at The Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University


Teaching and learningAt a time when students entering Higher Education face numerous challenges, not least significant increases in fees, the WLRI was delighted that 16 students joined our first cohort of ten Professional Doctorate (Researching Work) students in September 2011. Together with the Institute’s other PhD students we now have a large as well as a vibrant research community.

Teaching is becoming increasingly important to the work of the Institute as the successful DProf recruitment attests. Our aim is to ensure that there are always close synergies in play between teaching and the research of Working Lives colleagues. This means that students benefit from participation in the Institute’s seminar programmes as well as working closely with WLRI staff. Additionally students benefit from teaching and learning input from across the wider Working Lives network. Our students continue to come from diverse backgrounds with a majority coming from the labour, trade union and voluntary movements.

The CPD in Union Learning set up by the WLRI also continues to attract trade union learners keen to develop their practice (and theory) as union learning reps. The course in Leeds, supported by the TUC’s Unionlearn, ended with its students graduating in December 2011, while the London sister course is ongoing, taking new students every semester.

We continued our close collaboration with Londonmet’s Centre for Trade Union Studies (also based within FSSH) on the BA in Labour and Trade Union Studies (BALTUS), and colleagues taught on modules on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Sociology, Health, Media and Human Resource Management. Throughout the year several WLRI researchers continue their teaching inputs in other sections of the university, and in November, WLRI staff also led a one-week course for Chinese trade union officials.

Professional doctorate students at work

DProf students at the WLRI


WLRI Seminars in 2011Insider Research, 24 November

Dr Daniel Silverstone is based in the criminology unit of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at London Metropolitan University. He completed a PhD on drug use and drug dealing within the Night-time economy which is currently being prepared for publication with Routledge. He is currently researching ‘girl gangs’ and ‘gang families’.

Value in Motion: Work and Employment in Grocery Distribution and Warehousing, 23 September 2011

Kirsty Newsome is senior lecturer in the department of Human Resource Management at the University of Strathclyde. She is also a Research Affiliate at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UCLA, Los Angeles.

Doing research in a virtual world: the ethics of internet mediated methods, 15 July 2011

Joint FASS/WLRI workshop.

FDI, Domestic Entry and Institutional Change in Central and Eastern Europe, 1 July 2011

Tomasz Mickiewicz, Professor of Comparative Economics, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies presented a paper based on his research into the role of institutions in transition economies, followed by a discussion and the book launch of Globalizing Employment Relations: Multinational firms and Central and Eastern Europe Transitions, (eds. Contrepois, Delteil, Dieuaide and Jefferys).

Workers, Unions, and Global Capitalism: Lessons from India, 18 May 2011

Rohini Hensman is an independent scholar and activist who comes from Sri Lanka and who lives in India. She has worked on workers’ rights, women’s rights, globalisation, and the rights of minorities in India and Sri Lanka, and has published numerous articles and book chapters on these issues. Phil Taylor from Strathclyde University has written extensively on the exploitation and organisation of Indian call centre workers.

What Matters: Person-Value, Respect and Affect, 21 January 2011

Professor Beverly Skeggs (Goldsmiths)

Theories of Social Capital: Researchers behaving badly, 21 January 2011

Professor Ben Fine is Professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His recent books include From Political Economy to Economics:� Method, the Social and the Historical in the Evolution of Economic Theory, which was awarded the 2009 Gunnar Myrdal Prize and From Economics Imperialism to Freakonomics:� The Shifting Boundaries Between Economics and Other Social Sciences, awarded the 2009 Deutscher Prize and both written with Dimitris Milonakis.

Raymond Williams and issues of working class identity, 20th January 2011

Tom Woodin is a senior lecturer in Education at the Institute of Education.


Some WLRI partners in 2011Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) London UK

Agence nationale pour l’amelioration des conditions de travail (ANACT) Lyon France

Association Travail, Emploi, Europe, Société (ASTREES) Paris France

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

Central European University Budapest Hungary

Centre for the Study of Democracy Sofia Bulgaria

Centre for Industrial Relations, Keele University Keele UK

Communication Workers Union (CWU) London UK

European University Institute Florence Italy

Faculty of Medicine, University of Bologna Bologna Italy

FAFO Foundation Oslo Norway

Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt (FORBA) Vienna Austria

Gabinet d’Estudies Socials Barcelona Spain

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

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 Italy

Institute of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary

Istituto di Ricerche Economiche e Sociali Rome Italy

Labour Asociados SLL Madrid Spain

Lentic, Liege University Liege Belgium

Middle East Technical University Ankara Turkey

Observatoire Responsabilité sociétale des enterprises (ORSE) Paris France

Prevent vzw Brussels Belgium

Project Consult GmbH Essen Germany

Public and Commercial Services Union London UK

Komisja Krajowa NSZZ “Solidarność” Gdańsk Poland

Trades Union Congress London UK

Unionlearn London UK

UNISON London UK

UNITE the Union London UK

Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid Spain

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

Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium

Uniwersytet Slaski, Silesia University Katowice Poland

WEA London Trade Union Studies Centre London UK


What do our Sister Research Institutes in FSSH do? Institute for Policy Studies in Education

IPSE’s main aim is to conduct research that analyses, evaluates or informs policy, and is focused on social justice. We produce research outputs of the highest quality (as evidenced by the RAE/REF). We also aim to enrich student learning, particularly at postgraduate and doctoral levels, by running a professional doctorate in education; supervising PhD students, and contributing to Masters and undergraduate courses. We have research expertise across all educational sectors and contexts, from early years to informal adult learning.

During 2011, IPSE staff worked on:

● the evaluation of City Challenge, a major government school improvement programme in London, Greater Manchester and the Black Country;

● research funded by Youth Music exploring how ‘hard to reach’ families can be engaged in early years music-making;

● an evaluation of Leaders in International Development, a programme run by VSO, the National College, NAHT and ASCL, through which UK school leaders undertake a three month placement in an African country, working alongside school leaders there;

● an exploratory study to explore the implications of current UK Government research policy for academic research on higher education;

● the Children’s Identity and Citizenship in Europe (CiCe) network, which gained funding from European Commission (2011-2014) for a further three-year period;

● an evaluation of Media Trust’s programme through which disadvantaged young people were mentored by media professionals;

● research commissioned by an HEI about the attainment and satisfaction of their BME students;

● an exploration of young Europeans’ constructions of identity and citizenship in countries that have recently joined the EU, or are candidates.

● IPSE’s successful professional doctorate programme has been running for five years and we now have 36 students in total with 18 at the thesis stage. The Doctor of Education programme is an innovative part-time programme with a strong focus on social justice and social inclusion.

A wide range of books, book chapters and journal articles were published including a single-authored book by Dr Jayne Osgood Narratives from the Nursery:� Negotiating Professional Identities in Early Childhood. Three books were also published relating to an IPSE project funded by the British Academy on young peoples’ propensity to behave pro-socially towards others.

Learning Technology Research Institute

The Learning Technology Research Institute (LTRI) conducts research into the application of information and communication technologies to augment, support and transform learning.

One of the major projects of the LTRI in 2011 was as a partner in MATURE, an EU FP7 Integrating Project which examines social work-based learning in knowledge networks (see http://mature-ip.eu/overview). Failures of organisation-driven approaches to technology-enhanced learning (TEL) and the success of community-driven approaches in the spirit of Web 2.0 have shown that in order to obtain agility we

Guy Merchant, (Sheffield Hallam University) at the LTRI’s Roundtable presentation


need to leverage the intrinsic motivation of employees to engage in collaborative learning activities, and combine it with a new form of organisational guidance. LTRI leads on a design-based research workpackage in MATURE, with several members of the LTRI team having been actively involved in this project since its inception in 2008. The project has successfully passed its first three reviews, each time being awarded the highest rating of “Good to excellent”. It was described by the EC’s Reviewers as a ‘flagship Technology Enhanced Learning project’.

LTRI recently presented results from one of the MATURE demonstrators at the STELLAR funded SoMobNet Theme Team International Roundtable on “Social Mobile Networking for Informal Learning”. STELLAR is a European Network of Excellence in TEL.

LTRI is also one of the coordinator of SoMobNet. LTRI staff helped to organise its Roundtable, held on 21 November 2011 at the Institute of Education. For details of this high profile event see http://bit.ly/uSV1t5. Keynote speakers at the Roundtable came from the LTRI and included Gunther Kress (Institute of Education) and Sonia Livingstone (LSE).

The Human Rights and Social Justice Research Institute (HRSJ)

The HRSJ carries out a broad range of inter-disciplinary research on human rights and social justice within and outside the UK. Our research is organised under four strands:

● Civil and political rights – Europe in transition and conflict;

● Human rights defenders at risk; ● Human rights and social justice in the UK;

● Human rights, poverty and inequality.

In addition, the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) works within HRSJ to strengthen the capacity of lawyers and non-governmental organisations in Russia and Georgia to take cases to the European Court of Human Rights.

Current projects, funded by the EHRC and Nuffield Foundation, include:

● Updating and reviewing the EHRC On-line Human Rights Practice Digest

● Review of European Court of Human Rights judgments

● Understanding Equality and Human Rights in relation to Religion or Belief

● Developing a Human Rights Practice Observatory ● Democratic legitimacy in human rights implementation: the role of Parliaments in the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

The HRSJ recently contributed to a consultation on a new Bill of Rights for the UK. The submission was based on research conducted by the institute on the processes used to develop Bills of Rights in the post-war era.

A 200-attendee seminar in January called by the HRSJ featured a debate between Richard Wilkinson, chairman of Islington’s Fairness Commission, and Will Hutton, the journalist and government advisor.

The Institute for the Study of European Transformations (ISET)

ISET is a multi-disciplinary group addressing research questions arising from the transformations in Europe and in its relations with the wider world. The focus is on contemporary transformations in the socio-

Richard Wilkinson, John Gabriel and Will Hutton at an HRSJ seminar (Photograph by kind courtesy of S.Blunt, LondonMet)


economic, cultural, linguistic and political social spheres both in Europe and globally. In 2011 its activities included:

In January, a seminar on Migrations of Class addressed the issue of class in contemporary Britain with Bev Skeggs and Ben Rogaly.

In March it hosted a seminar series on New Dimensions in Citizenship addressing key issues in the making and remaking of Europe, whether economic, political, social or cultural.

Archive of the Irish in Britain, curated by Dr Nicole McLennan, staged two collaborative exhibitions Home Away from Home in March at London’s City Hall and at the Camden Irish Centre, with the Council of Irish County Associations.

EU Programme Youth Press – Professor Mary Hickman and Dr Nick Mai were interviewed by a team of ten young European journalists in March addressing the social inclusion of young migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Irish in Britain May seminar series, chaired by Dr Tony Murray, investigated The recent upturn in Irish migration.

Professor Lyn Thomas gave a keynote lecture in May on ‘The Archers: nostalgia, rural radio and urbane

listeners’ at a one day symposium by Online Listeners BBC Radio

Keith Vaz MP launched the ESRC policy report “Suspect communities”? Counterterrorism Policy, the Press, and the impact on Irish and Muslim Communities in Britain, at the Houses of Parliament on 7 July. Project directed by Professor Mary Hickman

In June Dr Nick Mai completed the Italo-Albanian section of the EU-funded METOIKOS research project ‘Circular migration patterns in Southern and Central Eastern Europe’.

ISET won funding to hold two public events during the ESRC Festival of Science in October and November – Dr Nick Mai held a conference in London In whose name? Migration and trafficking in the sex industry and Professor Mary Hickman and Professor Lyn Thomas held a seminar in Birmingham in November Counter terrorism and Irish and Muslim communities

Dr Tony Murray appeared as guest expert on BBC TV series ‘Heir Hunters’ in November, providing background historical information on Irish migration and the difficulties of doing family research in Ireland.

In December ISET awarded the Peter Gowan Prize to Roberto Orsi for his dissertation on ‘Habermas, The European Union and the future of European Integration’.


WLRI Financial Summary

10-11 £000s

09-10 £000s

08-09 £000s

IncomeResearch project income 641 693 985Fees from teaching 77 10 55Central university salary transfers 462 438 392

Central university non-pay transfers 0 24 12

Total income 1,180 1,165 1,444

ExpenditureProject-funded staff salaries 542 708 641

Central university staff salaries 435 401 380

Project-related costs 109 130 115Institute-related costs 25 24 25Total expenditure 1,112 1,263 1,161Balance before university overhead 69 (98) 283

Central university overhead 133 147 99

Surplus (deficit) (65) (246) 184

workinglives.org The WLRI website continues to go from strength to strength. The bulk of our students find us online, and we maintain a high hit count on our web-pages. Our website not only has all our current (and archived) research listed and detailed, plus biographies and contact details for staff – past and present – we also detail our available courses, upcoming events and much more, including:

● 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.

● Audio Visual: this section includes digital audio recordings taken at seminars and other events hosted by the WLRI, and leads to the WLRI Films page. This contains three short films produced on projects led by WLRI researchers or where we were partners.

● WLRI Working Papers: this section includes the WLRI working paper series, where colleagues submit papers arising from our research for discussion and debate

● WLRI News: this section archives the special E-Newsletter we produce three times a year, plus more regular new items, keeping our 1,400-strong contact list (a 40% increase in 2011) up to date with what we are up to.

● Facebook page: in 2011 we entered the world of Facebook too, so please ‘Like’ our page, add us to your ‘Friends’ list and feel free to comment on all our content.

www.workinglives.org

Working Lives Research Institute Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

London Metropolitan University [email protected]

31 Jewry Street London EC3N 2EY UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7320 3042

Fax: +44 (0)20 7320 3032

Documents

Working Lives Research Institute • Annual Report 2011