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I SKILL (Industrial Relations to Kick-Start Inclusive Adult Learning) is a project that investigates how industrial relations and social dialogue may contribute to the advancement of adult learning in the EU. The project's first deliverable (D1.1) is a working paper with multiple objectives. The inquiry begins by establishing a conceptual framework, including concepts of the adult learning system, the twin transition, and their interrelationships. The twin transition is progressively changing the labour market, with Covid-19 acting as a catalyst. In this context, enhancing adult learning systems is without any doubt the correct course of action. Nevertheless, the interrelationship between adult learning and the twin transition presents numerous challenges, among which this deliverable describes which are the groups that participate less in adult learning, the reasons behind the limited participation and the development of inclusive strategies to prevent the escalation of inequalities in adult learning participation. Furthermore, it considers the academic and grey literature, as well as the policy documents, to identify different types of measures that support adult learning. The paper outlines governance structures and actors active in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of such policy measures. For this aspect, a practical approach has been preferred to see how the selected Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Italy, and Slovakia) design measures that address country-specific requirements (both old and new) in their adult learning systems. Furthermore, a critical review of the learning schemes and accounts is provided. Finally, the paper focuses on the role of social dialogue and industrial relations, which have to adapt to a forced, quick reorganisation of work, driven by the green and digital transitions and lockdown experiences. The circumstances that enable adult learning to flourish in a fast changing economy are investigated by going beyond social partners' contributions to establishing the right to adult learning, and by examining their activities for equitable access to quality adult learning opportunities. ispartof: ISKILL (Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue to Kick-in Inclusive Adult Learning) project deliverable 1.1 pages:1-104 status: published

Work being conducted via online platforms has developed extremely rapidly in recent years and is one of the most important factors in the digital transformation of employment. While platform work in Western Europe has been a subject of increasing research interest during the last five years, contributions about Central and Eastern Europe are relatively scarce, especially concerning food delivery. The article demonstrates that while globally online food delivery platform work is most often associated with low quality, in the case of Bulgaria and Serbia delivery riders benefit from at least some dimensions of decent work.

The article explores the role of virtual work in improving work-life balance (WLB) within the ICT sector in Bulgaria. In the context of inadequate public policies, the attitudes of those working in the ICT sector (employees and freelancers) are analysed along with the human resources management policies of companies. The research objectives were achieved through quantitative survey (webbased survey) and qualitative methods (interviews with managers, employees, freelancers). Three specific hypotheses were tested to investigate the relationships linking gender, duration of virtual work, and age of children (defined as factor variables) to parents’ satisfaction with their WLB (resultant variable). The research findings reveal that: virtual work is practised mainly by individual choice, company policies are based on individual arrangements with employees rather than formalised policies, and those employees engaged in virtual work experiences report better satisfaction regarding their WLB. Recommendations for company policies have been formulated on the basis of the research findings.

This guidance paper provides a common intellectual understanding for the BEYOND4.0 research project. It explains what is to be analysed, why and how. As part of this task, it explains the key developments, issues and concepts that drive the project. It provides a common starting point for the aim of BEYOND4.0 to support the delivery of an inclusive European future by examining the impact of new technologies on the future of jobs, business models and welfare in the European Union (EU).

Bulgaria is the poorest member of the European Union (EU). It had a difficult economic and political transition and faces substantial demographic challenges. During the postcommunist transition industrial relations and collective bargaining practices developed in the context of a dynamic political, economic and social environment. The Bulgarian state could be characterised as weak, in Bohle and Greskovits’ typology (2012), postponing or imposing reforms without domestic consent and locking the fragile economy into ‘low-road’ competitiveness policies.

Ce rapport présente les principaux résultats d'une recherche conduite sur cinq pays européens - Belgique, Bulgarie, France, Espagne et Royaume-Uni -, focalisée sur les modalités de la conflictualité sociale et de la négociation collective au sein des activités courrier-colis mises en œuvre par opérateurs postaux historiques.L'étude a été réalisée en partenariat avec les principales organisations syndicales du secteur postal. Le rapport questionne les convergences et les spécificités sociétales entre ces pays, et explore les stratégies et pratiques syndicales qui répondent aux effets de la libéralisation et du déclin du courrier traditionnel. Chacune des cinq situations nationales est approfondie au regard d'un thème privilégié : l'organisation du travail, la qualité de l'emploi, la qualité du travail, le temps de travail et la santé au travail.

status: published

In this chapter we present case studies of Chinese investment in Romania and Bulgaria. The cases under consideration can be classified by distinguishing between market and resource-seeking investment strategies. A conclusion about the potential impact and challenges for the cases of high-road and low-road investment is formulated.

This article aims to analyze the influence and the practices of “Europe” applied to the system of industrial relations in Bulgaria and Romania. An analytical grid is used to understand the different levers and obstacles in the process of Europeanization. This grid is developed and applied to the specific trajectories of Bulgaria and Romania, with particular attention paid to the period beginning with the crisis of 2007. In this respect, the article questions the dynamics of Europeanization and the pressures on the industrial relations systems in Bulgaria and Romania. The article includes: 1- an analytical section summarizing the different levers and dimensions of European Union influence and their use along with a note on the methodology (the analytical work on Bulgaria and Romania is based on 30 recent interviews conducted in both countries); 2- a section discussing the dynamics and limits of the Europeanization of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEEC) found in the literature; 3- an analysis of the trajectories specific to Bulgaria and Romania since the first decade of transition, with particular attention paid to the period after the 2007 crisis; and finally, 4- a conclusion which confirms a certain continuity, if not complementarity, between the dynamism of social Europeanization brought about by the “neo-liberal” conversion of the EU (Hermann, 2007) and the signs of an increasingly apparent de-Europeanization.

The liberalisation and privatisation of public services implies a gradual transformation of the state from an ‘employer’ to a ‘customer’ buying products and services from private providers. This in turn changes its regulatory role in the realm of employment conditions. By transferring the operation of public tasks to private contractors, public authorities also lay on them the responsibility of determining wages and other working conditions for employees who carry out the (formerly) public tasks. But even though in these cases public authorities no longer act as social partners in bipartite collective negotiations (or as employers unilaterally defining working conditions for their own employees, as in the case of civil servants), they can still exert considerable influence on the employment conditions offered by their private contractors through a different set of policies: firstly, through general policies covering the entire workforce (such as labour market regulation and social policies), and, secondly, through policies and practices based on public authorities’ power of demand — for instance by making certain social standards a selection criteria in public procurement procedures. Job quality in the contracted-out segments of the public sector is therefore not out of reach of the public authorities; yet, to achieve job quality they have to redefine their role, becoming a third party in the definition of employment conditions, in addition to the two other parties involved, namely (the representatives of) the private contractors and their employees.

This article discusses how restructuring during the crisis has affected employment relations in the banking sector in Luxembourg. The crisis has reinforced the impact of a series of exogenous factors influencing Luxembourg's banking sector and its continental employment relations system. These include the automatic exchange of information, rapidly-evolving European and international regulation and the resulting stronger compliance of banks, the mobilisation of external expertise by social partners, as well as stronger skills and professional requirements. It is argued that although these factors challenge the consensus-based and neo-corporatist employment relations framework, coordinated decentralization with strong government involvement in tripartite bargaining arenas has meant that the functioning of the employment relations system has been maintained. Collective bargaining has contributed to a socially-responsible restructuring in the banking sector through the anticipation and management by consenting to legally-based labour agreements and certified training for dismissed employees, as well as impact management through implementing transition support instruments.