Dynamics and Quality of Platform Employment in the Era of Coronavirus: Challenges for Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 80-95
Author(s):  
Natalya Loktyukhina ◽  
Ekaterina Chernykh

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the Russian economy very hard, influenced the forms of labour use and work modes, and required the adoption of fundamentally new managerial decisions in the world of work. We believe that we can talk about social and labour relations in the era of the coronavirus, as well as the lessons to be learned for the future. The relevance of the study of the dynamics and quality of platform employment during the COVID-19 pandemic is due to the poor knowledge, relative novelty, and massiveness of the noted form of employment relations, implemented using digital platforms. The article analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic and social consequences on platform employment in Russia as a whole and on its individual segments. Digital labour platforms are digital networks that algorithmically coordinate labour service transactions. Working on the platform is a new form of work, and it is constantly evolving. The coronavirus pandemic has affected different areas of platform employment in different ways, and this impact is due to the specifics of these areas, the amount of government support, the degree, and speed of adjustment (flexibility) of platform employment in an evolving situation. The article examines the general dynamics of this type of employment, analyzes new trends in industry dynamics, volumes, types, forms, and specifics of platform employment, including the provision of services by self-employed, taxi and car-sharing services on digital labour platforms, as well as activities on electronic digital trading platforms. Recommendations are offered, including government agencies, trade unions, and employers. The problem areas requiring further research have been identified

Author(s):  
Patrícia Rossini ◽  
Jennifer Stromer-Galley

Political conversation is at the heart of democratic societies, and it is an important precursor of political engagement. As society has become intertwined with the communication infrastructure of the Internet, we need to understand its uses and the implications of those uses for democracy. This chapter provides an overview of the core topics of scholarly concern around online citizen deliberation, focusing on three key areas of research: the standards of quality of communication and the normative stance on citizen deliberation online; the impact and importance of digital platforms in structuring political talk; and the differences between formal and informal political talk spaces. After providing a critical review of these three major areas of research, we outline directions for future research on online citizen deliberation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Schömann ◽  
André Sobzack ◽  
Eckhard Voss ◽  
Peter Wilke

This article describes the results of a major study on the impact of codes of conduct and international framework agreements (IFAs) on social regulation at company level. The limits of labour legislation at the national, as well as the international, level provide a strong motivation for both multinationals and trade unions to negotiate and sign IFAs. IFAs offer a way to regulate the social consequences of globalisation and to secure adherence to labour and social standards. They thus form part of the growing political debate on the international working and production standards of private actors. Examination of the negotiation process, the motivations of the parties, and the content of the agreements and implementation measures provides valuable insights into the impact of IFAs on multinationals' behaviour in respect of social dialogue and core labour standards. Finally, the article highlights the influence of such agreements on public policy-making and the limits of private self-regulation at European and international level, addressing the growing and controversial debate on the need for supranational structures to regulate labour standards and industrial relations.


Author(s):  
Lea Mayer ◽  
Patrick W. Corrigan ◽  
Daniela Eisheuer ◽  
Nathalie Oexle ◽  
Nicolas Rüsch

Abstract Purpose The decision whether to disclose a mental illness has individual and social consequences. Secrecy may protect from stigma and discrimination while disclosure can increase social support and facilitate help-seeking. Therefore, disclosure decisions are a key reaction to stigma. The first aim of this study was to test a newly developed scale to measure disclosure attitudes, the Attitudes to Disclosure Questionnaire (AtDQ). The second aim was to examine the impact of attitudes towards disclosing a mental illness on quality of life and recovery. Methods Among 100 participants with mental illness, disclosure attitudes, quality of life, recovery, benefits of disclosure, secrecy, social withdrawal, self-stigma, and depressive symptoms were assessed at weeks 0, 3 and 6. Psychometric properties of the AtDQ were analysed. Longitudinal associations between disclosure attitudes at baseline and quality of life and recovery after 6 weeks were examined in linear regressions. Results The analyses of the AtDQ indicated one-factor solutions, high acceptability, high internal consistency, and good retest reliability for the total scale and the subscales as well as high construct validity of the total scale. Results provided initial support for sensitivity to change. More positive disclosure attitudes in general and in particular regarding to family at baseline predicted better quality of life and recovery after 6 weeks. Conclusion The current study provides initial support for the AtDQ as a useful measure of disclosure attitudes. Disclosing a mental illness, especially with respect to family, may improve quality of life and recovery of people with mental illness.


1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hughes

The new jurisdiction conferred on the Labour Court by Part IX of the Labour Relations Act 1987 has a number of facets. First, there has been a widening of the categories of worker who may use the procedure, not only under the 1987 Act but also by virtue of the State Sector Act 1988. Secondly, there have been substantial changes to the way in which the personal grievance procedure operates. Thirdly, the grounds upon which a personal grievance claim may now be brought have been expanded. Fourthly, the available remedies, whilst not substantially changed, have been "tidied up". The treatment of these changes in this paper will be selective. The procedural changes have been excellently covered in Mike Dawson's indispensable guide Handling Personal Grievances Under the Labour Relations Act 1987 (Canterbury Trade Unions Research and Training Group/UEA, 1988). I would like to take the opportunity to highlight what seem to me to be some of the more far-reaching changes and, in the course of the paper, touch only lightly on the distinctly "procedural" aspects of the changes since the Labour Relations Act 1987 carne into force. Surprisingly few decisions so far have turned on the new provisions. Most retread the familiar ground of unjustifiable dismissal.


Author(s):  
Anthony R. Henderson ◽  
Sarah Palmer

This essay addresses the impact of industrialisation on the experience of work during the early 1800s. It presents the idea that industrial relations focused less on trade unions and more on broad labour/management contact and gave a new emphasis to the significance of the labour process. Also featured is a map of The Port of London in the 1830s, which is used as an example for evidence of change within the pre-industrial pattern of management/labour relations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermes Augusto Costa

Twenty five years after Portuguese EU accession, the labour market in general and the trade unions in particular are faced with severely regressive social measures that undermine past expectations of progress towards the achievement of the Social Europe project in Portugal. Thus, on the one hand, this article identifies some of the ambitions and possibilities earlier opened up for the Portuguese labour market, as well as trade union attitudes to European integration. It is argued, on the other hand, that, in the context of the economic crisis and the austerity measures to which Portugal is subjected, the sense of Portugal’s backwardness in relation to the ‘European project’ has become more acute. The article accordingly focuses on and examines some of the austerity measures and certain controversial issues associated with them. In a final section, the impact of austerity on labour relations and the reactions of social partners, in particular the trade unions, are analysed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ujkan Bajra

Abstract Privatisation together with the related social consequences and impact on the economy represent key challenges facing the former communist countries. This paper aims to assess how the privatisation of socially owned enterprises (SOEs) affects economic growth, entailing an empirical test using a panel effects regression analysis on a sample of 571 SOEs (or 1,600 assets) over a 16-year period (2003–2018). We find that privatisation at the aggregate level does not boost economic growth; in particular, the methods used to privatise SOEs or parts of them are not a determining factor. We also show that the quality of institutions is fragile, confirming a negative associations with economic growth. We also show that the effects of privatisation vary according to the method used, although we note that the sale of SOEs or parts thereof in the first decade of privatisation has been quite selective, devoid of development effects and faced with serious impediments to privatisation funds being directly invested in the economy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 28-40
Author(s):  
I.B. Omel’chenko ◽  
◽  
V.K. Koshkina ◽  
K.Yu. Chudinov ◽  
◽  
...  

Digital technologies are being actively introduced into our life and economy that it is often impossible to track all innovations and the resulting effect of their appearance; the population quickly adapts and gets used to them. Similar trends are observed in the public sector. Visitors to clinics, museums, Multifunctional Public Services Centers, and other institutions easily use an electronic system that puts a queue to a specialist, use various services and gadgets. Due to digitalization, remote work is gaining more popularity, especially among young people, pensioners and women. The remote work market plays a very important role in the modern economy. As an extremely complex distribution mechanism, it ensures the connection of workers to remote workplaces. Thus, it affects both productivity and growth rates, as well as many other parameters of the economy as a whole. Digitalization is becoming such an important factor in increasing labor productivity and improving the quality of life that the changes taking place in the market are considered as the onset of a new stage of economic development. Currently, the development of digitalization is primarily associated with the introduction of digital communication technologies, the platform for which is the Internet and mobile devices. Information technologies are being integrated into all spheres of economic activity. In this regard, the nature of labor, as well as labor functions are undergoing dramatic changes, the proportion of work performed remotely or using specialized software is increasing. In this regard, the work intensity (provision of services) requires attention, which directly depends on the updating of the methodology of labor rationing. Within the framework of this article, the methodological foundations of labor rationing in the public sector are analyzed, considering the impact of digitalization and automation processes on labor rationing.


Author(s):  
V. I. Grishin ◽  
D. V. Domashchenko ◽  
L. V. Konstantinova ◽  
A. P. Koshkin ◽  
E. V. Ustyuzhanina ◽  
...  

The article was written at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when unprecedented restrictive measures were taken regarding the activities of a large proportion of economic actors to ensure a regime of self-isolation and social distance. The article attempts, on the basis of a synthesis of expert and analytical materials published during the pandemic in various information sources and the results of sociological studies assessing its real socio-economic consequences, to provide forecasts for the near and distant prospects, taking into account various parameters of an economic and social nature. The impact of the pandemic on macroeconomic indicators, the situation on the labor market, the dynamics of income of the population was considered. The social consequences of the pandemic are analysed separately, in particular in the field of health care, education, social support, social and labour relations, as well as the peculiarities of the relationship between power and society. The Russian economy is facing a recession corresponding to the long-term recession of the world economy. According to the authors, the scale and social consequences of this recession can be reduced for Russia. The formation of an anti-crisis fund to support economic sectors and citizens against the background of the coronavirus situation should lead at all levels of government to the adoption of constructive management decisions and the effective use of each ruble.


Author(s):  
Johan Kruger ◽  
Clarence Itumeleng Tshoose

The advent of the new political dispensation in 1994 heralded the coming of a new labour dispensation. Labour relations and labour policies changed significantly from that which prevailed under the previous government. The review of the labour legislation framework was at that stage a priority for the new government, with specific focus on the review of the collective bargaining dispensation. The abuse of trade unions under the previous government gave rise to a unique entrenchment of labour rights in the Constitution. The drafters thereof were determined to avoid a repetition of this abuse after 1994. Section 23 of the Constitution goes to great lengths to protect, amongst others, the right to form and join a trade union, the right of every trade union to organise and the right of every trade union to engage in collective bargaining. In furtherance of section 23(5) of the Constitution, the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 was promulgated. One of the most significant changes of the LRA was that it now provided for legislated organisational rights. Commentators have often viewed the LRA as favouring larger unions and as conferring clear advantages on unions with majority support at the establishment or industry level.  It is within this context that this article examines the impact of section 18 of the LRA on the constitutionally entrenched right of every person to freedom of association, the right of every trade union to engage in collective bargaining, and the right of every trade union to organise. Furthermore, this article explores the justifiability of the impact of section 18 on minority trade unions in terms of international labour standards and the Constitution. In part one the article examines the concept of majoritarianism, pluralism and industrial unionism in the context of South African Labour market. Part two deals with the impact of section 18 of the LRA on minority Trade Unions. Whilst part three explores the concept of workplace democracy. Part five investigates the applicability of international labour standards in the context of the right to freedom of association. Part four ends up with conclusion and recommendations on the impact of section 18 of the LRA.


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