GLOBAL WORKSHOP SERIES 2023-2024

After our successful first #DW Global Workshop Series 2022-2023, available below, we will kick off our new #DW-WI Global Workshop Series for the academic year 2023-2024, starting on Friday, September 29.

Over the coming year, #DemocratizingWork and the WageIndicator Foundation, will jointly host five workshops to discuss the reinvention of work - not for the sake of making it more efficient, but to make it greener, more social, and more democratic!

We can work it out!

Work conditions are changing fast, and many of these changes are globally interconnected. Digitization drives new work patterns and business practices, while the need to decarbonize changes the nature of many jobs. This series brings together progressive academics and practitioners from around the world to discuss these issues with each other but also with all the participants.

Together, we can work it out!

#5 - June 7, 2024

“Circular Economy, Circular Work?”

Location: online

Organizers: #DemocratizingWork and WageIndicator Foundation

Speakers : Martin Kuhlmann (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen), Frithjof Laubinger (OECD), Wairimu Mwangi (Loopworks Ventures and Circular Economy Catalyst program Kenya).

Chair: Lisa Herzog (Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Groningen)

The idea of a “circular economy” aims at reducing the use of natural resources by considering products from “cradle to cradle”, making the recycling and reuse of materials a basic principle of economic life. It is connected to the turn away from economic growth, traditionally understood, as aim of the economy, as discussed in the “degrowth” or “postgrowth” literature. What do these new models mean for work? Can work also be “circular”? What can one learn from non-traditional economic models, such as alternative forms of agriculture, about work that has left the growth mindset? Can work in a degrowth world still allow for personal growth and development, and how could a transition to such forms of work take place in different economic, cultural, and political contexts?

Lisa Herzog teaches political philosophy, with a focus on the philosophy of work. She has been on the core team of #DemocratizingWork since 2020.

Martin Kuhlmann is the Director of the Sociological Research Institute / Soziologisches Forschungsinstitut (SOFI) e.V. at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. His research covers the broad fields of sociology of work and labour relations. Martin has published on issues like work and new technologies, innovative work policies, sustainable work systems, and on current trends in labour relations. His most recent research project is on work and labour related to the idea of a circular economy.

Frithjof Laubinger is an environmental economist at the Environment Directorate of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He focuses primarily on waste, resource efficiency and circular economy policy issues. He was involved in OECD’s work stream on the labour implications of the circular economy. Frithjof holds a Master's degree (MSc) in Environmental Economics and Policy from the Institute of Sustainable Resources at University College London and a Bachelor degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Amsterdam University College.

Wairimu Mwangi is a director at Loopworks Ventures; an Enterprise Support Organization (ESO) and currently the Adelphi’s implementing partner in Kenya supporting the Circular Economy Catalyst program. She is a qualified Business Development specialist in sustainable business assessments and development, environmental policy research, resource efficiency and conducting capacity building programs. As a circular economy and sustainability advocate, Wairimu has been developing and implementing programs that anchor and promote circular economy and inclusive economic growth for enterprises, public organizations and development organizations.

The recording is available in English on this page and below:

#4 - April 12, 2024

“Union Politics and Unions’ Mission”

Location: online

Organizers: #DemocratizingWork and WageIndicator Foundation

Speakers: Joanna Bronowicka (Centre for Interdisciplinary Labour Law Studies, European University Viadrina), Eyüp Özer (Turkey’s United Metalworkers Union, Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions), Mikyung Ryu (KCTU)

Chair: Flora Pereira (Chief of Education and Engagement at the Pulitzer Centre)

In the US, unionization happens (if it happens at all) mainly at the company level; whereas in South Africa and many European countries it happens at the sectoral level. But how should one understand union’s mission - is it only about the interests of workers, or does it include broader societal issues, for example gender justice and environmental justice? How can union activists position themselves in different political contexts, and how can they win majorities?

Flora Pereira works as the Chief of Education and Engagement at the Pulitzer Centre, leading engagement and education programs and teams in the US, Latin America, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia, combining investigative journalism, social movement expertise, and academic perspectives to raise public awareness of social inequalities and environmental degradation. Before joining the Center, she worked at Dialogo Brasil/Climate Land Use Alliance, where she was responsible for coordinating multi-disciplinary teams. Flora is also a Ph.D. Candidate at the Faculty of Economics of Coimbra University in the Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenship Doctoral Programme.

Joanna Bronowicka is a sociologist and activist at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Labour Law Studies at the European University Viadrina, and has previously been the Director of the Centre for Internet and Human Rights. Her interests cross disciplinary and national borders - she combines sociology, law and political science to examine the effects of digitization and migration on industrial relations and politics. She is currently researching mobilisations of platform workers in Berlin.

Eyüp Özer is the International Secretary for Turkey’s United Metalworkers Union, which is part of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DISK). He has been with the organisation for more than 10 years, and is currently focussing his efforts on the just transition and its impact on work.

Mikyung Ryu is the international director of the KCTU with 1.2 million members from all around the country. KCTU is the representative body of independent and democratic trade union movement in Korea. KCTU has taken the leading role in a broader social movement for democracy and unity of working people beyond the border of workplace. KCTU’s strategical priorities to address the inequality in the societies are organising precarious workers including migrant workers, strengthening gender equality at workplace as well as in the society and building industrial level labour relations.

#3 - January 26, 2024

“Enabling Workers to Govern their Work”

Location: online

Organizers: #DemocratizingWork and WageIndicator Foundation

Speakers: Antoine Bonnemain (Lecturer - Maître de Conférences at the University of Clermont Auvergne, France), Denise Kasparian (Assistant Professor and Researcher at University of Buenos Aires and National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina), Michelle Miller (Director of Innovation, Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School)

Chair: Isabelle Ferreras (FNRS, University of Louvain, #DW Core group member)

While some proposals for democratizing work focus on representative forms of democracy, e.g., board members elected by employees, others focus on the direct involvement of workers on the ground. Skeptics often hold, however, that this is only feasible - if at all - for highly skilled employees. But is this really so, or is it a prejudice based on misguided ideas about meritocracy? What does it take to enable workers to truly participate in the governance of their own work? What frictions must be expected, and how can they be overcome? And what role can other actors (activists, unionists, researchers, etc.) play in enabling work governance by workers?

Antoine Bonnemain is a lecturer at the University of Clermont Auvergne, France. His work in occupational psychology and ergonomics focuses on the relationship between work, health, and empowerment. For the past 12 years, he has worked on these issues in cooperation with the Psychologie du Travail et Clinique de l'Activité team at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris. In his research, he is experimenting with the generalization of "conflictual cooperation" between professional groups and their entire hierarchical line, based on company requests, to develop the quality of work. Recent publications of his show how conflictual cooperation could help redefine professional relations around the quality of work in organizations to develop deliberation.

Denise Kasparian is a researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. She is a sociologist with a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires. Her latest book, Co-operative Struggles (Brill, 2022) expands the theoretical horizons regarding labor unrest by proposing new categories to make visible and conceptualize conflicts in the new worker cooperativism of the twenty-first century.

Michelle Miller is the Director of Innovation for the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School. She joined the Center after a decade as the co-founder and co-director of Coworker, an organization that nurtures early-stage worker-led organizing across multiple industries. Coworker’s support for workers at companies like Starbucks, Google, Uber, and REI, among many others, secured wins for wage increases, scheduling reform and hazard pay. During this time, Michelle also pioneered the labor movement’s research and response to the proliferation of software and technology tools being used to manage and surveil workers and working class people. In 2015, Michelle was honored to co-host the first ever White House Town Hall on Worker Voice with President Barack Obama. Michelle is also a Visiting Social Innovator with the Social Innovation + Change Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is on the boards of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research and Arts and Democracy and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

The recording is available in English on this page and below:

Additional readings:

Antoine Bonnemain:
-Articles: Travail bien fait, pouvoir d’agir et « écologie du travail » (2022)
To institute conflictive cooperation on the quality of work (2016)
- Book: Le prix du travail bien fait. La coopération conflictuelle dans les organisations (2021)
- LinkedIn: Antoine Bonnemain
Denise Kasparian:
- Paper: Socio-Labour Inclusion of Low-Income Women in the Digital Economy: A Comparison between Corporate and Cooperative Domestic Work Platforms (2023)
- Book: Co-operative Struggles: Work Conflicts in Argentina’s New Worker Co-operatives (2022)
- Reports: The Local Implementation of Platform Co-ops in Argentina (2022)
How Do Platform Co-ops Work? Lessons from Argentina (2023)

#2 - December 15, 2023

“Working less, living more?”

Location: online

Organizers: #DemocratizingWork and WageIndicator Foundation

Speakers: Janna Besamusca (Leading researcher at WageIndicator - Assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science at Utrecht University ), Jennifer Nedelsky (Professor at the Osgoode Law School in York University)

Chair: Fiona Dragstra (General Director, WageIndicator Foundation)

Work time reduction has become a new policy issue and matter of negotiation between employees and employers. Recent experiments with shorter work weeks have garnered a lot of media attention. One motivation is the need to honor people’s care work and other forms of unpaid work, with some scholars calling for everyone to get engaged in care work. How should one think about such ideas from the perspective not only of employees’ autonomy, but also of society as a whole? Are they feasible for all societies, or are they a luxury that only richer societies can allow themselves? And how do they hang together with suggestions for making both our work and our societies more democratic?

Janna Besamusca is a leading researcher at WageIndicator, where she is in charge of multiple projects related to Collective Agreements, such as BARWAGE. She is also a member of the Supervisory Board of WageIndicator Foundation.

Janna is an assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science at Utrecht University. She obtained her PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 2019 for her research into the position of mothers in the labour market in middle- and high-income countries. As a labor sociologist, she has conducted research into decent work in low wage sectors, wages in collective bargaining, self-employment and motherhood, and the effects of work-family policies on mothers’ labour market position.

Jeniffer Nedelsky is a Professor at the Osgoode Law School in York University. Her teaching and scholarship have been concentrated on Feminist Theory, Legal Theory, American Constitutional History and Interpretation, and Comparative Constitutionalism.

Prof. Nedelsky's research focusses on three areas - the organisation of care and work; the role of property law in the climate emergency and its link to inequality; and theories of judgement.

Her most recent book, Law’s Relations: A Relational Theory of Self, Autonomy, and Law (2011) won the C.B. Macpherson Prize, awarded by the Canadian Political Science Association. She is currently completing a jointly authored manuscript (with Tom Malleson), A Care Manifesto: (Part) Time for All (forthcoming, Oxford University Press).

The recording is available in English on this page and below:

# 1 – September 29, 2023

“Decolonializing work and value creation”

Location: online

Organizers: #DemocratizingWork and WageIndicator Foundation

Speakers: Flavia Maximo (University of Ouro Preto, Brazil- #DW Core Group member), Janet Wandia (Gender and Jobtech Lead at Jobtech Alliance)

Chair: Lisa Herzog (University of Groningen, Netherlands - #DW Core Group member)

Western notions of work and value creation are based on theories and imaginaries that have been deeply influenced by colonial practices that exploited natural resources and human labor - many of which continue to this day. How can work and value creation be reconceptualized in ways that avoid these implicit assumptions and allow for the flourishing of workers and the environment alike? How can colonial work practices be made visible and overcome? And what does this mean for imagining the future of work in former colonies but also beyond?

Flavia Maximo is professor of labour law at the Federal University of Ouro Preto in Brazil. She researches decolonial feminism and other dissident epistemologies in labour law, in addition to analyzing hybrid forms of workers' political struggle. She integrates the #DemocratizinWork Core Group member.

Janet Wandia is a strategy and business transformation enthusiast with experience in operations, finance, business strategy, project management and gender inclusion. She has previous experience in Glovo where she participated in finance and expansion in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria and as a consultant at KPMG. Currently, Janet is part of the Jobtech Alliance where she is the Gender and Jobtech Lead. Here she works with jobtech platforms to ensure that their platforms create jobs and improve livelihoods for young women.

The recording is available in English on this page and below:

Last Global Workshop in the 2023-2024 series:

# 5 - June 7, 2024: “Circular economy, circular work?”