Theme 1 ‘The Value(s) of Work & Employment’
Introductory Paper
Tony Addy, Prague, Czech Republic
The Century of Labour
The last century began with many calls for the rights of working people. This was a signal for the need for reforms to secure better working conditions and insurance against all the risks associated with labour. Risks such as unemployment, ill-health, injury at work, invalidity and old age poverty. Minimum wage laws were introduced and the regulation of working time and health and safety at work began to be taken seriously. There was a more radical stream of thinking which recognised the fact that labour was ambiguous and so there were also calls for the freedom from labour or the abolition of the labour contract altogether. But labour, especially male wage labour was on the agenda as a priority. It was also on the agenda of the nation state. The rise of free-market capitalism was a big challenge to the legitimacy of governments, if they could not ensure the security of their citizens.
1) There were two principle answers to this dilemma. The first was expressed in a classic way by the English theologian William Temple when, in a pamphlet issued after the Great War of 1914 – 18, he contrasted the previous history of the power state with the unfolding history of the welfare state. The welfare state was to be built on the idea of guaranteeing full (male) employment but this was difficult because of the imperfect understanding of business cycles which was only remedied by the work of Keynes and others in the 1930's. Tragically, however, there were also powerful underlying forces that led to chronic instability and mass unemployment.
2) The second answer to the dilemma of guaranteeing security was indeed the tragic rise of totalitarianism in Europe, first in its Marxist inspired form, which led to the state seizing power over the economy and second in its fascistic form, inspired by myths of racial purity and hegemony. The history of the last century is scarred by the legacy of these systems, which, in the name of the resolving of the problem of labour led to genocide. This history should warn us about the difficulties of resolving economic problems and the danger of imposed solutions. The propaganda of these systems is equally a warning to see the ambiguous nature of work and its abuse as a tool of social control or engineering.
Nevertheless, these two answers to the instability and injustices of the market economy, central planning, fascism and the welfare state were meant to operate in the interests of labour. By the second half of the twentieth century it seemed as though the welfare state model had managed to combine elements of freedom and control which would gradually lead, in Western Europe, to the creation of welfare societies. But still, work as paid employment was the key to the main social welfare entitlements. the main emphasis was on the 'decommodification of labour' which means that work, because it is personal, should not be treated simply as a factor of production or as an inanimate commodity like steel or lemons. Even so, it is clear that the model always hasd more relevance to male employment than to female employment and that huge amounts of work always remained outside the employment relationship. In this period of relatively full male employment in Western Europe, work was the key to social rights and participation.
The Radical Break
By the mid 1970’s in Britain and some other European countries it was clear that this consensus faced a radical challenge. The old industrial order was changing, partly because of market saturation, partly because of declining profitability, partly because of the shift to a consumer society. The motif of the person as consumer began to replace the person as producer. In the countries of Central and eastern Europe, the legitimacy of the regimes came under increasingly critical pressure and it was also clear that the systems of production in these countries could not adapt to the changes needed to increase productivity and satisfy consumer tastes.
By the mid 1980’s in Europe, two further radical shifts could clearly be perceived which would dramatically change the European context:
Therefore, in Europe, we are experiencing a double transition process, in the region of central and eastern Europe and in western Europe. The two processes are inextricably linked and are bound up with globalisation. The so-called transition processes of central and eastern European countries are different because they have taken place under the impact of globalisation, but the policies of the European Union on welfare and labour have also changed. There always was a tension between the European Commission directorate dealing with competition policy and that dealing with social affairs. Clearly, at the moment the competition directorate is taking the lead and in the field of social affairs, there is less direct regulation and more emphasis on co-ordinating member states policies.
These two processes of transition have had a profound impact on working life, on people and communities, on the role of civil society and the church and most of all on cultures and values.
New Economic Realities
Our thinking about work and employment has to recognise the significance of the opening up of national markets in goods, services and finance to intense international competition. Globalisation represents the re-ordering of all systems in a way that challenges and reconstructs the lives and livelihoods of many communities, sometimes destroying whole economies and ways of life. The integration of more and more economic activities on a higher level goes hand in hand with disintegration on the local level.
The pressure of economic competition leads to heavy demands for quality and innovation in the production of all goods and services. This in turn leads to demands for a more highly skilled workforce and lower labour and production costs. These changes are beneficial for some workers and some regions, but the majority suffers worsening working conditions and the accepted forms of national welfare and solidarity are severely challenged. The dominance of trade and competition law in the international arena weakens the capacity for national leel social protection. Furthermore, there are immense obstacles to the development of social protection systems in countries with weak economies that are exposed to competitive pressures. In some cases, international advisors have exacerbated the problems by encouraging the dismantling of systems of social protection and the bankrupting of enterprises that may have needed reform, without allowing time for alternatives to be built up.
People who lose their economic identity and security, (usually reflected in a job or by some form of state income support), tend to refocus on another assumed identity. Thus in areas facing economic crisis or instability and high unemployment questions of ethnic, religious, regional, tribal or sectarian become a focus of identity and political action. In some cases this has resulted in tragic wars, and it usually results in a further weakening of the legitimacy of the state and political institutions. There is certainly a correlation between unemployment and economic insecurity and violence, including domestic violence against women and children.
The changes experienced in working life have, in part a structural origin related to the changes in markets, products and technology. In part they are also a result of the decision to complete the single market in western Europe and to the sudden economic and political changes in central and eastern Europe. But it is also important to look at the day to day operation of firms and labour markets and the impact of changes in business organisation on daily life.
The time was when most industries were structured as giant pyramids, vertically integrating thousands of workers in many plants, often geographically separated. Labour was entirely employed by the firm and was also organised in trade unions, which reflected the same pyramidal structure. This provided a stable system of regulating negotiation and bargaining but it also gave the workers considerable power, especially when allied with social democratic states and relatively closed national markets. It was this settlement which was unravelled with the onset of liberal deregulation and the reorganisation of firms, which was made possible by the revolution in communication technology and logistics.
The previous integrated production system is being replaced by a network structure with a slimmed down core of workers who are usually highly qualified and well remunerated. As many tasks as possible are contracted out to supply companies or to individuals who carry out tasks as and when needed. This form of organisation has been termed cascade subcontracting. It has affected many different sectors such as the car industry, clothing and textiles, transport, the construction industry and agriculture. At the base of the chain we find all kinds of very precarious and unprotected work such as some self-employment, family work, home based work, undisclosed work, work of non-legal migrants. Most dangerous is the development of work-gangs which are organised by gang-masters who sub-contract labour at a price and it is then often undertaken by non-legal migrants. This system is very often used in England and Italy and increasingly in Central and Eastern Europe.
We should also be aware of the parallel developments of labour relations inside firms. These developments lead to hugely increased levels of sickness, absenteeism and phenomena such as mobbing. For instance:
The impacts of these changes is to create more unemployment than would otherwise be the case as well as permanent underemployment (since we know from research that many who work low hours would prefer full-time work). The risks of the companies are increasingly privatised as the new forms of employment minimise the social contributions of lower grade workers especially. The emergence in many countries of new categories of working poor, who earn their poverty and have to have their wages topped up to subsistence levels. (For example the system of working family tax credits in the United Kingdom).
For other employees, often in new technology and service sectors, workers are expected to have an almost absolute commitment to the firm, working many hours of unpaid overtime if needed. On the other hand the firm has no long-term commitment to the employee who may be laid off at short notice. The result of this has been what one commentator called the corrosion of character. The worker learns that there is no long-term trustworthy situation and that she or he has to give to the maximum, without reciprocal obligation from the employer. Ultimately the result of unemployment and stress at work is an increase in violence against women and chihldren and in the worst cases, regional economic collapse can lead to civil conflict and open warfare.
<The Responsibility of Government
Under the pressure of the European Union, which aims to produce ‘the most dynamic knowledge based economy in the world’ and which aims to eradicate unemployment, the key labour market policy has become activation. The basis of unemployment benefit has been shifted from the insurance principle to that of payment dependent on participation in training, work experience or other activating measures such as voluntary work. The situation is somewhat paradoxical, since we know that when there is a demand in the economy for jobs there is no need for activating measures. When there is no effective demand activation can only make a marginal difference. Ther parallel measures to increase entrepreneurship may help but again this depends on effective demand for goods and services. The assumption is that a job, any job is good for the person but we know from research that bad working conditions and stress at work cause immense health problems especially for lower qualified workers.
The second strategy has been to restructure the welfare state, reclassifying unemployed people either as early retired or as in someway unfit for work. Again we also know that such 'reclassified' people would work if the demand were there. In some cases such as Holland which have experienced a growth of employment, the cuts in wage levels have been largely masked and compensated for by the fact that there are many more dual-earner households. Typically, more jobs are being created for women and full-time male manual work is being replaced by part-time female work in the service sector. However as a result of benefit changes taken at the time fo rising or stable family income, when unemployment rises, there will be many that are plunged into poverty.
The main focus of policy is on increasing the employability of the workforce, which puts much more responsibility on unemployed people for their own situation. The implication being that if you are unemployed its because you did not make yourself employable. It is assumed that the only way to be active is through paid work, or unpaid work as an option of last resort. Yet we know that so much important unpaid work is done, for example within families and communities. This is not recognised in the policies or statistics. for example, we know that many women want to ender the workforce, yet even with the present high job-creation rate, there is a shortage of jobs. They would tkae jobs if they existed and if the child-care was affordable. Yet most governments now expect single parents to work rather than live from social benefits. (Of course I do not want to argue that 'women should stay at home' but itis imortant to have the choice where child care is concerned.) Finally current policy of the European Union focuses on equality of opporutnity and treatment for women and men and this is important in pressing onwards with the equality agenda. Paper guarantees are not adequate without an effective system for enforcement.
Challenges to the Present Situation
From the starting point grounded in Christian social thought, we should firmly reject the notion that work as employment, under any conditions is good for people. The last century in Europe is a powerful warning against the use of work as a tool for social control and oppression. We should take care not to repeat this historical mistake, even if it is disguised in benign language. There should be a right to resist forms of onerous labour which are demeaning and we should resist policies which categorise people as deserving or undeserving in relation to their ability to perform paid work. Instead we should create structures and conditions at least for 'decent work' as the ILO currently puts it - and preferably for 'good work' as the industrial mission in Europe is aiming for. When thtere is structural unemployment and a lack of demand for labour other strategies for social inclusion than paid work should be aimed for. The current use of voluntary work as a kind of last resort activation policy raises many questions for the churches and diaconia.
There should be a firm commitment to the redefinition of the relationship between income, time and paid employment. Some form of basic income allied with effective social rights such as to health care and education would be an important platform from which to build. If we are in Europe aiming for a performance society, based on new knowledge based industries there is a need to guarantee social and economic rights for all who live here. These are as much human rights as are civil rights and they make civil rights effective. The classical contract between employer and employee, on an individual basis is incresingly inadequate to cover the life experience of people who may change job and experience periods of retraining, family leave sabbatical or other types of transition. There is a need for more imaginataive ways to provide for security with flexibility.
The churches in Europe have issued many reports on work and social policy but it is important also to develop the instruments to act with and on behalf of those negatively affected by current developments. Diaconia and urban industrial mission should be working with people, communities and civil society to secure good working conditions especially for those on the margins and working to create alternative economic initiatives which can form the basis of sustainable cities and communities.
It is important in this context to work to link local work with strategies to influence political structures such as national governments and the European Union, which still has an enormous influence on national policies. But we should not neglect the OECD, which provides so much of the background thinking for all the so-called advanced economies and which was for many years a main instrument in advocating deregulation of labour markets. In the global context, the churches should also develop stronger inputs to the work of the International Labour organisation and to the ensuring that its conventions are strengthened and implemented to create good work for all.
Tony Addy, September 2001, Finland
European Contact Group on Urban Industrial Mission