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We consider inequalities within households to be an important step for increasing our understanding of digital inequalities perpetuated by smart homes. We argue that the key to understanding the use of the Internet of Things is household choreographies rather than individual practices. We specifically address different power relations between household members in regard to their use of IoT devices. Using interview data collected through five visits to 30 households in 15 months, we use abductive analysis to develop our framework that has three dimensions: materiality, accessibility, and harmony. We find that acceptance of the IoT’s materiality by all household members is key, but household rules are also crucial to how well the IoT can operate. Parents can more precisely moderate their children, and data and privacy also require more moderation. In addition, the IoT can help complex household choreographies, but household choreographies that are too complex can hinder IoT use. Finally, we note that traditional gender roles remain prevalent in smart homes.

Contains fulltext : 249582.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) This article aims to establish the connection between people’s voice at work and their political voice. We theorize and model a spillover mechanism from supervisors’ responses to workplace voice to political participation. Applying structural equation modeling on a unique dataset (N = 3129), we find that while support and suppression of workplace voice both affect political participation, they do so through different mechanisms. In addition, we find that supervisors’ suppressive responses to employees’ voice can trigger both positive and negative effects on different forms of political participation. Thereby, we contribute to the understanding of the link between participation at work and participation in politics. 30 september 2020 21 p.

De Wet gelijke behandeling van mannen en vrouwen bij de arbeid staat als uitzondering toe dat vrouwen een voorkeursbehandeling krijgen. De voorwaarden waaraan voldaan moet worden zijn door het Hof van Justitie EU in een aantal arresten uitgewerkt. In Nederland heeft het College voor de Rechten van de Mens enige oordelen gegeven over de toelaatbaarheid van een voorkeursbehandeling. In deze bijdrage wordt onderzocht in hoeverre de in die oordelen gevolgde lijn in overeenstemming is met de arresten van het Hof van Justitie, en of, waar zij daarvan afwijken, die afwijking verdedigbaar is.

Background:Automobile car repair requires intensive activities. Several studies have described different work characteristics of automobile artisans’ work. However, the effects of physical work conditions (PWC) on worker health outcomes are largely unknown.Objective:This study aimed to explore which of the PWC have high negative impact on worker’s health outcomes, and whether the same conditions affected both illnesses and injuries.Methods:A cross-sectional design and a multistage method were used to randomly select 632 workers. A structured self-reported questionnaire was used to obtain information on dependent variables (illness/injuries) and independent variables (PWC). The results were analysed using the chi-square test and logistic regression analysis, while controlling for occupation.Results:Workers who manually lifted heavy items or orally sucked petrol regularly reported illnesses and injuries. Long work experience and long working hours were significantly associated with illness, whereas prolonged standing was significantly related to injuries. Contrary to our initial expectation, workers who regularly worked at 2 m or higher above the ground level tended to report less illness and injury.Conclusions:PWCs were more significantly related to work-related illnesses than injuries. Therefore, interventional programs for automobile artisans should focus on the PWC that increase worker vulnerability to work-related illnesses.

The aim of this article is to discuss the ‘inclusive growth’ proposals made by the IMF, the OECD and the EU, and to examine to what extent these proposals are consistent with the objective to be achieved. To do this, we examine the importance of two ‘missing links’ commonly overlooked by these institutions when promoting ‘inclusive growth’: functional income distribution and labor market institutions. Using a panel of 42 advanced countries for the period 1990–2018, we estimate an econometric model and we obtain two relevant results. First, functional income distribution has an important influence on income inequality. Second, collective bargaining coverage plays a significant role in explaining increases in the wage share and reductions in income inequality. Consequently, these two ‘missing links’ must be fully integrated into the policy debate of international organizations if ‘inclusive growth’ is to be successfully promoted.

Contains fulltext : 226192pub.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) We study atypical workers’ experiences with voice of in the Netherlands. We take a relational approach to worker voice and hypothesize that atypical workers are particularly vulnerable to refrain from voice and to experience suppression. We test our hypotheses using unique data on workers’ actual experiences with voicing discontent and supervisors’ responses (N = 4708; collected in 2017 and 2018). We find that temporary and freelance work, job insecurity, replaceability and precarious values are barriers to worker voice. Job insecurity and precarious values are associated with less support and more suppression from supervisors. These insights offer a valuable contribution to scholarly and public debates on atypical work by demonstrating how it not only affects workers’ job security, income stability and entitlements but also reduces workers’ ability to speak up and solve problems at work. 01 mei 2020

Werkenden en werkverschaffers zijn er in allerlei soorten. Niet iedere werkende is zwak, afhankelijk en lijdzaam. En niet elke werkverschaffer is sterk, vermogend en strategisch. Titel 7.10 BW bepaalt dwingendrechtelijk wanneer een overeenkomst een arbeidsovereenkomst is. Betekent dit dat de initiële afspraken, waaronder de contractstekst, ondergeschikt zijn aan de wijze waarop partijen aan de overeenkomst uitvoering hebben gegeven? Bij de uitleg van de rechtsverhouding gaat het om het achterhalen van de daadwerkelijke gemeenschappelijke partijbedoeling en het wederzijds gerechtvaardigd vertrouwen. Een overeenkomst van opdracht waar partijen uitvoerig over hebben onderhandeld, zal in de regel anders moeten worden gewaardeerd dan een niet-onderhandelbare modelovereenkomst. In deze bijdrage laten wij zien dat bij het uitleggen van de rechtsverhouding in het kader van een kwalificatiegeschil, het gewicht van de contractstekst – net als de feitelijke uitvoering – relatief is.

An increasing share of Dutch workers is combining several jobs. It is estimated that 1 in 10 Dutch workers currently combines two or more jobs, more than the average in Europe. Some workers combine a full-time job with one or more part-time jobs, while others combine several part-time jobs. Some of these multi-jobbers combine good quality jobs. For others, however, combining multiple jobs is a dire necessity because their first job offers insufficient income and security. To date, little research has been conducted into the growing group of multi-jobbers. In this article we shed more light on this phenomenon by comparing the composition and quality of multi-jobbing in the Netherlands with that in other countries and by offering for the first time more insight into the quality of both jobs of multi-jobbers.Het combineren van banen (ook wel multi-jobben genoemd) komt onder Nederlandse werkenden steeds meer voor. Naar schatting combineert momenteel 1 op de 10 Nederlandse werkenden twee of meerdere banen. Dit is meer dan gemiddeld in Europa. Sommige werkenden combineren een voltijdbaan met een of meerdere deeltijdbanen, terwijl anderen verschillende deeltijdbanen ‘stapelen’. Een deel van deze multi-jobbers combineert meerdere banen van goede kwaliteit; anderen hebben in hun eerste baan onvoldoende inkomen of zekerheid en beginnen vanuit dat startpunt als multi-jobber. Tot op heden is nog weinig onderzoek verricht naar de groeiende groep multi-jobbers. In dit artikel vergelijken we de samenstelling en kwaliteit van combinatiebanen in Nederland met die in andere landen en bieden we meer inzicht in de kwaliteit van de eerste en tweede baan.

Dans un certain nombre de pays européens, les situations de cumul d’emplois ont clairement tendance à se multiplier. Mais à l’heure actuelle, on sait peu de choses sur la structure et les conséquences potentielles de ce phénomène, notamment en termes de qualité du travail et de protection sociale. Ce numéro spécial est consacré aux formes contemporaines du cumul d’emplois en Europe. La structure, la nature et la dynamique de ces cumuls d’emplois ont-elles évolué au fil du temps? Quels rôles la flexibilité du marché du travail, les changements technologiques et la fragmentation du travail jouent-ils dans la multiplication des cumuls d’emplois? Et les travailleurs cumulant plusieurs emplois bénéficient-ils de conditions d’emploi et de protections adéquates et similaires à celles des autres travailleurs, ou sont-ils moins bien lotis du fait de leur situation d’emploi (fragmentée)? Quelles sont les implications de ces constats pour les syndicats, les décideurs politiques et au niveau de la réglementation du travail? Les différents articles de ce numéro spécial viennent enrichir la littérature sur les formes d’emploi émergentes à l’ère numérique et les défis à relever en matière de protection sociale, notamment à la lumière de la pandémie de COVID-19. La présente introduction propose de lancer les principaux débats sur la question du cumul d’emplois et elle présente un aperçu des articles réunis dans ce numéro.

In the context of rising inequality between capital and labour and among wage-earners in Europe, this state-of-the-art article reviews the literature concerning the relationship between collective bargaining and inequality. It focuses on two main questions: (i) what is the relationship between collective bargaining, union bargaining power and inequality between capital and labour? and (ii) what is the relationship between collective bargaining, union bargaining power and wage inequality among wage-earners? Both questions are discussed in general terms and for single- and multi-employer bargaining systems. It is argued that collective bargaining coverage and union density are negatively related to both types of inequality. These relationships are however qualified by four additional factors: who unions represent, the weight of union objectives other than wages, the statutory minimum wage, and extensions of collective agreements by governments.

In recent scientific and policy discourses, the centre of attention is increasingly geared towards the value and quality of work – as opposed to a prior occupation with the quantity of work. Whereas the dominant focus seems to be on (aspects of) the individual job, this contribution aims to embed the worker into the organisational context and highlight the (potential) role of organisations. We examine whether the value of work – beyond individual and job characteristics – is affected by (a) characteristics of the organisation, (b) mutual investments or the relation between employees and employers and (c) the extent to which employees can realise their values within an organisation. To that end, we analyse survey data from the Value of Work Monitor 2019. Our findings show that not only the characteristics of the employment relationship, but also the organisational context and realisation of workers’ values have a significant effect on the evaluation of one’s job. Amongst others, the composition of the workforce, autonomy and intensity, facilities for lifelong learning and workers’ embeddedness in the organisation all have a significant effect on outcomes. We conclude that the discussion on value and quality of work deserves a more active role from the side of employers.

Werkgevers in de glastuinbouw ervaren een groeiende krapte op de arbeidsmarkt doordat er minder Poolse arbeidsmigranten beschikbaar zijn. In dit artikel wordt onderzocht of werkgevers hun personeelsstrategie aanpassen en meer aandacht krijgen voor de belangen van arbeidsmigranten als het lastiger wordt aan personeel te komen. Door middel van interviews onder werkgevers en stakeholders in de groenteglastuinbouw is onderzocht hoe zij de krapte ervaren en hoe zij hierop reageren. Uit de gesprekken blijkt dat een productieproces waarin algemene vaardigheden nodig zijn, samengaat met een personeelsstrategie waarin de nadruk ligt op kostenreductie en inzet van flexibele arbeidskrachten. Dit geldt ook bij een krapper wordende arbeidsmarkt. Er is sprake van een directe relatie tussen het productieproces en de personeelsstrategie. Werkgevers blijven voor de toekomst op dezelfde personeelsstrategie inzetten op het moment dat zij veel arbeidsmigranten in dienst hebben, zij een langdurige relatie hebben opgebouwd met uitzendbureaus, de kosten van de overgang naar een ander productieproces hoog zijn en Nederlandse werknemers een geringe bereidheid hebben om in de sector te werken. Hierdoor is er sprake van padafhankelijkheid. Doordat werkgevers de functie-eisen verlagen is een groter aanbod van Europese arbeidsmigranten beschikbaar gekomen. Dit vermindert de ernst van de krapte op de arbeidsmarkt.

The Dutch labour market and labour relations have experienced profound changes in recent years. This article discusses in particular the growing diversity, fragmentation and inequality in the labour market, as well as the mounting pressure on the representativeness of most of all trade unions, but also of employers’ organisations. The authors argue that these developments cannot be considered independently, especially where the shifting balance of power between unions and employers, the continuous wage moderation and the flexibilization of the labour market are concerned. The polder institutions are in a stalemate, the relationships between employers and unions at sectoral and national level are becoming more conflictive and the social partners are less and less able to reach consensus on the core social and economic subjects. These findings matter to the world of HRM in two ways. On the one hand, (the debate about) future HR-policies will be influenced strongly by the mentioned structural changes in the labour market and labour relations. On the other hand, these changes are the result of the choices made in HR strategies and HR practices in organisations. Keywords: labour relations, inequality, diversity, fragmentation, power balance

Op 23 november 2021 stuurde SP-Kamerlid Van Nispen een initiatiefnota naar de Tweede Kamer met het voorstel door het hele land heen Huizen van het Recht in te richten. Die Huizen moeten onderdak bieden aan (rechts)hulp in allerlei soorten en maten, en tevens een plek zijn waar recht kan worden gesproken. Hoewel het uitspreken van een oordeel over een initiatiefnota misschien wat voorbarig is, plaatst de auteur hier toch vast enige kanttekeningen bij.

In this chapter we develop an integrated approach to studying meaningful interethnic contact, combining a focus on objective characteristics of the contact situation with a focus on the subjective interpretation thereof taking into account people's pre-existing values. We study this in the context of workplace interethnic ties using a unique, tailor-made three-wave panel survey containing information on 3,191 workers in the Netherlands. We find that experiences with ethnic diversity at work, most prominently workplace interethnic social resources, contribute to more ethnic tolerance. This is mostly true for those low on prejudice who already had outside work ties and for those high on prejudice without previous interethnic ties outside work. Our study underlines the importance of workplace interethnic contact in the context of interethnic relations. Furthermore, it shows the importance of considering both characteristics of the contact situation and personal characteristics when studying the relationship between interethnic contact and ethnic tolerance.

This chapter examines how the social network at work influences worker voice, the responses that worker voice trigger and worker voice outcomes. We theorise that having friendly ties at work provokes co-worker support, whereas having counselling ties improves the articulation of voice. In turn, we expect that having both types of network ties induce the likelihood that people engage worker voice and receive positive voice responses and increases satisfactory voice outcomes, while reducing negative responses to voice. Using a large-N three-wave panel study of workers in the Netherlands, we find that when workers experience issues at work, workers with friendly and counselling ties with their co-workers are more likely to voice their dissent to their supervisor. Moreover, workers with these ties also experience more supportive and less suppressive responses from co-workers and supervisors. In turn, these more beneficial responses from co-workers and the supervisor also lead to a more satisfactory outcome of worker voice. All in all, our findings show how people's social network at work shapes experiences with worker voice.

This chapter demonstrates how social network analyses can be used to analyse social relations at the work floor. In particular, we analyse how the private and work-related communication between middle and lower management and workers changed after a strike. We focus on the network position of the manager and four supervisor's vis à vis the strikers. We find that supervisors become less central in the network which split into two cohesive subgroups of strikers and non-strikers after the strike. The supervisors and the manager became detached from the group of strikers, and specifically suffered severe loss of personal ties to these colleagues. Remarkably, many of the ties the manager reported before the strike, were not reciprocated by his (striking) subordinates and thus only existed in the perception of the manager. A similar pattern arises for the supervisor who supervised the majority of the strikers. This suggests that a strike confronted workplace leadership with a reality check on their network. We propose some preliminary explanations for management's network misperceptions, and how crises, such as strikes, clear the view on managers' network.

In this article the question is discussed whether it is according to the law and whether is socially desirable that judges are dismissed when they reach the age of 70.

Thuiswerken wordt vooral door oudere werkenden gewaardeerd. Zij lijken daarbij beduidend minder negatieve effecten van thuiswerken te verwachten dan jongere werkenden, bijvoorbeeld op het gebied van sociale contacten, ontwikkeling, promotiekansen en productiviteit. Daarbij willen vooral niet-alleenstaande werkenden zonder thuiswonende kinderen relatief vaak (blijven) thuiswerken.

Across Europe, the labour market participation of persons with disabilities remains lower than that of persons without a disability. Our research examines this disability employment gap, looking specifically at its variation by country and gender. Additionally, we test the influence of labour market policies – testing both the social investment perspective and the welfare scepticism perspective – on the size of the gap, in an effort to determine whether a more generous welfare state raises or lowers the employment rate of people with disabilities. Using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), we show that Southern European countries have the smallest disability employment gap. Whereas stricter employment protection legislation is found to be beneficial for people with disabilities on the labour market, other labour market policies specifically intended to benefit this group do not strongly affect their chances on the labour market. These findings support the social investment perspective and show that social policies can have a positive effect on the employment of people with disabilities.

De kwalificatie van arbeidsrelaties is al geruime tijd een belangrijk thema in de rechtsliteratuur, de rechtspraktijk en de ontwikkeling van beleid. In essentie gaat het erom of de definitie-elementen van art. 7:610 BW nog wel passend zijn, nu arbeidsrelaties in toenemende mate op andere wijzen worden vormgegeven en de maatschappelijke opvattingen daarover aan verandering onderhevig lijken. Opvallend is dat geschillen over de kwalificatie van arbeidsrelaties in de rechtsliteratuur en de feitenrechtspraak doorgaans worden benaderd aan de hand van een toetsingskader dat een eigen arbeidsovereenkomstenrechtelijke inkleuring heeft. Deze praktijk heeft mogelijk tot gevolg dat het algemeen verbintenissenrechtelijke uitlegleerstuk bij de kwalificatie te veel een eigen arbeidsrechtelijk leven is gaan leiden. Hierdoor worden arbeidsovereenkomstrechtelijke correcties toegepast op plekken waar dit mogelijk niet past. Het doel van deze bijdrage is een aanzet te geven tot een debat over het karakter van de kwalificatieroute en de verschillende fasen van die route.

In de arbeidsrechtelijke literatuur, hoofdzakelijk de internationale literatuur, is in toenemende mate aandacht voor de zogenoemde grondslagendiscussie. Onderwerp van deze discussie is de vraag welke grondslagen, ook wel aangeduid als fundamenten of waarden, ten grondslag liggen of kunnen worden gelegd aan het arbeidsrecht. Grondslagen die in de literatuur worden genoemd zijn onder meer: democratie, menselijke waardigheid, ongelijkheidscompensatie en (pre-)distributie. In mijn dissertatie introduceer ik procedurele rechtvaardigheid als grondslag van het arbeidsrecht, in het bijzonder voor de regels die het collectief arbeidsvoorwaardenoverleg ordenen. Voor zover ik weet is procedurele rechtvaardigheid tot dusver in de rechtsleer niet genoemd als grondslag voor het arbeidsrecht. In deze bijdrage zet ik kort uiteen waarom het van betekenis is procedurele rechtvaardigheid aan te merken als grondslag voor het (collectief) arbeidsrecht.

Planbureaus en adviesraden zijn nooit volledig waardevrij en wetenschappers verschillen onderling van inzicht. De overheid moet het systeem van beleidsadvisering daarom zo inrichten dat belangrijke rapporten en adviezen structureel worden voorzien van kritisch commentaar door onorthodoxe wetenschappers en deskundigen.

De toename van atypische vormen van werk en van het aantal mensen dat daarin werkzaam is, is een bron van zorg voor nationale en internationale beleidsmakers. Afwijkingen van de 'standaard', voltijdse arbeidsrelatie voor onbepaalde tijd, blijken ernstige risico's met zich mee te brengen voor de kwaliteit van banen, bijvoorbeeld omdat zij baan- en inkomensonzekerheid vergroten, en het investeren in training en opleiding in de weg staan. Daarnaast belemmeren veel atypische werkvormen de toegang tot arbeidsmarktregulering die juist is bedoeld om werkenden te beschermen, zoals ontslagbescherming, het minimumloon, cao's en sociale zekerheid.

In this article we compare solo self-employment in Germany and the Netherlands. We identify parallels and differences in the structure of solo self-employment and examine to what extent self-employment is related to a precarious situation in terms of earnings and social security. The results show that solo self-employed workers are relatively vulnerable in terms of income and disability insurance in both countries. As compared to the Netherlands, German solo self-employed workers seem to have a higher risk of precariousness, particularly in terms of income and poverty in old age. The article concludes with recommendations for action that follow from the findings.

We present comparative research on precarious work and trade union strategies in three sectors (construction, industrial cleaning, temporary agency work) across seven European countries. Specific sectors have a profile of precarious work that is remarkably similar across countries, originating from similar employer strategies and work organizations. This results in unions facing comparable challenges concerning precarious work at sectoral level and developing comparable sectoral strategies to combat precarious work. The success of these strategies depends to a large extent on the available power resources. Between sectors within single countries, we observe some similarities but also very substantial differences in their institutional configuration and in actors’ constellations, power resources and repertoires of action. National institutional contexts seem much less significant than often assumed.

Vanwege maatschappelijke onrust is de positie van de OR ten aanzien van beloning, benoeming en ontslag van bestuurders sinds 2000 aanzienlijk uitgebreid. De OR heeft informatierechten, standpuntbepalingsrechten en een adviesrecht zonder beroep. Recent is daar een overlegrecht over de beloningsverhoudingen bij gekomen. In deze bijdrage bespreekt de auteur deze bevoegdheden en vergelijkt ze deze met elkaar. Leiden al die bevoegdheden daadwerkelijk tot meer invloed van de OR op de beloning, benoeming en het ontslag van bestuurders?

In a number of European countries there is a clear trend towards increased multiple jobholding. As things stand, however, little is known about the structure and the potential consequences of this increase, notably in terms of quality of work and social protection. This special issue focuses on contemporary forms of multiple jobholding in Europe. Have the structure, nature and dynamics of multiple jobholding changed over time? What are the roles of labour market flexibility, technological change and work fragmentation in the development of multiple jobholding? And do multiple jobholders benefit from similar and adequate employment terms, conditions and protections compared with single jobholders, or are they worse off as a consequence of their (fragmented) employment situation? What implications do these findings have for unions, policy-makers and the regulation of work? The collection of articles in this special issue adds to the literature on emerging forms of employment in the digital age and challenges for social protection, also in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This introduction initiates a discussion of central debates on multiple jobholding and presents a synopsis of the articles in this issue.

This article contributes to research on the embeddedness of multiple work arrangements in the employment biography. We investigate transition and duration effects of multiple jobholding on financial and non-financial job outcomes, and the role of flexible work arrangements and household contexts. To that end, we examine panel data from Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands for the period between 2002 and 2017. The findings underscore the importance of economic factors in the decision to work multiple jobs and reveal that labour market contexts play a significant role in outcomes. Findings furthermore indicate negative well-being effects for those who have both multiple jobs and children. For a substantial share of workers, holding multiple jobs occurs in relatively short-term episodes, posing the question of whether episodes of multiple jobholding necessarily come with either clear enrichment or depletion effects, or are merely a phase in the overall employment biography.

The scope and structure of multiple jobholding and its consequences for multiple jobholders are changing in many Western economies. Only limited quantitative empirical knowledge is currently available on the changing features of multiple jobholding and whether the economic vulnerability of multiple jobholders has been changing over time. In this article we focus on the position and trends of multiple jobholders compared with single jobholders in Europe. We study this in terms of working hours, workers’ desire to work more hours, and in-work poverty. To that end, we analyse data since the early 2000s from the EU Labour Force Survey and from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. Our findings show that multiple jobholding is a significant and increasing labour market phenomenon in many advanced economies, with changing characteristics, for example in terms of gender distribution and combinations of contracts. In-work poverty is relatively high among non-standard workers, but the findings do not indicate a deteriorating trend effect. In-work poverty seems to be on the rise among people who are single, for both single jobholders and multiple jobholders.

De Nederlandse Staat heeft een steunpakket in de vorm van garanties en leningen toegekend aan KLM. Aan het steunpakket zijn een aantal voorwaarden verbonden, waaronder een loonmatiging. KLM-medewerkers die meer dan driemaal modaal verdienen, zoals de piloten, dienen ten minste twintig procent van hun loon in te leveren. In dit artikel wordt besproken of het stellen van een dergelijke voorwaarde door de Staat verenigbaar is met het door de ILO-Verdragen gewaarborgde recht op collectief onderhandelen.

Door D66 en GroenLinks is in november 2020 een wetsvoorstel opgesteld dat voorziet in een wettelijk recht van de werknemer op thuiswerken of op een andere locatie, tenzij zwaarwegende belangen van de werkgever hieraan in de weg staan. In dit artikel worden nut en noodzaak van dit wetsvoorstel besproken en wordt ingegaan op de arbeidsrechtelijke gevolgen ervan.

Het verbod op seksuele intimidatie is in de praktijk niet altijd goed te handhaven. Een wettelijke verplichting om te beschikken over een vertrouwenspersoon, een klachtenregeling en een onafhankelijke klachtencommissie kan hierin verbetering brengen. In het ontslagrecht is meer aandacht nodig voor de positie van het slachtoffer. Indien met name wordt gekeken naar eventuele tekortkomingen van de werkgever in plaats van naar het gedrag van de pleger, kan dat werkgevers ervan weerhouden om maatregelen te nemen tegen plegers van seksuele intimidatie, waardoor de bescherming van slachtoffers afneemt.

Over the last few years, the European Commission has repeatedly emphasized that, in the face of global uncertainty, the EU has to strengthen its social dimension and foster better working and living conditions for its citizens. To achieve this, the EU wants to strengthen social citizenship by advancing social rights, implementing the principles in the European Pillar of Social Rights at both the European and national level. The overarching objective of the EuSocialCit project, of which this paper is part, is to examine the state of EU social citizenship as well as possible policy scenarios that may strengthen it. This prompts initial foundational questions for the project: what is the nature of EU social citizenship and the social rights associated with it? And, what is the rationale for the EU to be involved in providing social rights? In order to understand the state and nature of EU social citizenship and the role that the EU plays in this now and in the future, we believe that it is necessary to ‘dissect’ the constitutive elements of social rights at the various levels (local, national and EU) at which they are provided. To this end, this paper develops a resource-based and multi-level conception of social rights. With regard to the rationale, we offer an overview of the main approaches that prevail in the long-standing debate on the justification and feasibility of a stronger EU social citizenship and present a synthesis of these approaches that may help further the debate.

Informal workers in developing countries are exposed to various occupational hazards that may cause accidents, injuries, or diseases. Personal protective equipment (PPE) can be an essential tool for preventing workers from exposure to these hazards. Despite the widely acknowledged benefits of PPE usage, many informal automobile artisans in Nigeria do not use PPE. This study examines factors that predict PPE usage among these artisans, particularly their occupational risk perception. This cross-sectional study adopted a multistage method to select 632 automobile artisans (mechanics, panel beaters, painters, and vulcanizers) in Osun State, Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on the dependent variable (the use of PPE) and the independent variables (occupational risk perception and risk tolerance). STATA 14 was used for the multivariate logistic regression analysis. Workers who perceive themselves at high risk of occupational health problems are more likely to use PPE (odds ratio [OR] = 2.1, p = .03), as are those who are very worried about getting accidents/illnesses (OR = 2.6, p = .03) or believe that these health problems are preventable (OR = 2.3, p = .01). Contrary to expectation, workers who experienced accidents/illnesses in the past are less likely to use PPE (OR = 0.3, p = .00) than those who did not. The established positive relationship between occupational risk perception and PPEs’ usage provides information to various stakeholders for designing safety programs that can reduce exposure to the occupational risks for informal automobile artisans in Nigeria.

In het Pensioenakkoord komen beleggingsrisico’s louter voor rekening van de koopkracht in de pensioenfase van de levensloop, omdat alleen de pensioenen worden aangepast en niet de premies. Met een bredere risicotoedeling over de gehele levensloop, inclusief variabele premies, zijn alle generaties beter af.

Ongelijkheid staat sinds een aantal jaar weer hoog op de politieke en academische agenda. In dit hoofdstuk bekijk ik op welke manier ongelijkheid in de sociale zekerheid voortkomt uit ongelijkheden op de arbeidsmarkt en de verhoudingen tussen werkgevers en vakbonden. Ik laat zien dat dat de verschuivende machtsverhoudingen tussen werkgevers en vakbonden leiden tot grotere ongelijkheid op de arbeidsmarkt en daarmee in de sociale zekerheid. Het debat over hoe ongelijkheid verminderd kan worden moet meer aandacht geven aan deze bron van ongelijkheid.

In-work poverty is considered a pressing social issue in Europe. Despite the growing concern with in-work poverty, however, it remains a relatively under-examined topic – particularly in relation to developments in atypical work and multiple jobholding. This paper presents an analysis of in-work poverty among various types of workers in Europe, based on data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. The study finds that in-work poverty rates are higher for employees with temporary contracts and self-employed workers than for employees with permanent contracts. However, self-employed have a higher poverty risk than employees with temporary contracts using the relative income method, but a lower in-work poverty risk using the subjective poverty method. This finding may be related to the non-trivial problems that come with objective income statistics for the self-employed. Furthermore, in-work poverty rates were in 2016 higher than in 2006 for various types of workers, though the increase seems particularly marked among self-employed workers. Multiple jobholding lowers the risk of in-work poverty for all types of workers, though particularly for self-employed workers the odds of being poor seem to be lower for those who combine multiple jobs. The findings demonstrate the merits and drawbacks of different in-work poverty methods and measures, and points to the importance of a better understanding of poverty profiles of self-employed workers in particular.

After some promise in the 1990s, European unions have grown increasingly disillusioned with regard to the results of EU social policy and EU social dialogue. The paper analyses the extent and reasons of this disillusion by looking at the impact on social dialogue of the Active Inclusion Recommendation launched by the European Commission at the outset of the economic crisis in 2008. The Recommendation led to a tripartite framework agreement at the EU level in 2010 (the only such agreement in a decade), which was then to be implemented at national and regional levels. With a multilevel governance approach, the paper looks at the extent to which social dialogue on Active Inclusion at the EU level, in six EU countries (France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK) and six regions (Rhône-Alpes, Lombardy, Lower Silesia, Catalonia, West Sweden and Greater Manchester) within those countries was somehow revitalised. The analysis, looking at both top-down and bottom-up processes and based on documentary analysis and interviews, shows that the initiative displays ambiguities similar to those of typical composite EU principles, such as famously the case of ‘flexicurity’. The multilevel governance of the EU, including the interaction between ‘soft’ employment policies and evolving ‘hard’ Eurogovernance tools, and with poor horizontal and vertical coordination, resulted in multiple distortions of the principle and, over time, to frustration. Unions’ engagement varies by level, country and region, reflecting both traditional national approaches and the local perception of ‘active inclusion’ as an opportunity. Although trade unions were more welcoming of ‘active inclusion’ than they had been for flexicurity, similar related threats and opportunities led to modest achievements and a gradual fading of the idea at the European and national levels, with some more opportunities however at the regional level. The paper concludes that, if trade unions want to engage with the idea of a European Social Model and with Eurogovernance, they could develop stronger networks among regional organisations.

Complexe wetten leiden tot fouten die burgers in grote problemen kunnen brengen. De roep om meer maatwerk klinkt dan ook steeds luider: nooit meer een toeslagenaffaire! Maar ook maatwerk kan leiden tot groot individueel onrecht.

The status of platform labour according to contract law and labour law