Working conditions and protective measures in multinational companies during the pandemic: The case of Inditex

SEER ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Emirali Karadoğan
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Multinational Companies ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Shopping Mall ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Fast Fashion ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Engine Room ◽  
Do So

The Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected working life. Workers who have to earn money to proceed with their lives have had to work during this time, even if they did not want to do so. Consequently, the question of whether adequate protective measures have been taken in the workplace for workers who have had to work during the pandemic is a critical one. In this article, the measures taken especially in respect of employees of multinational companies are examined in view of a survey of employees of Inditex, the Spanish ‘fast fashion’ company. Following a review of the literature on the place of multinational companies, along with their supply chains, in the engine room of global capitalism and on research into the working conditions of shopping mall employees, setting an appropriate context for the survey findings, the article explores what the findings reveal. Malls might well be new venues of insecurity in terms of the threat posed to the need for workplaces to be safe and secure for employees, but Covid-19 has ruthlessly exposed both the lack of protection and the risks which workers in such environments face on a day-to-day basis.

The Future of Work Environment Reforms: Does the Concept of Work Environment Apply within the New Economy?

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Allvin ◽  
Gunnar Aronsson
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
New Economy ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Industrial Context ◽  
Conditions Of Work

“Work environment,” as a conceptual framework for reforming working life, may not be readily transferable from the tangible conditions of the industrial context in which it was conceived to the more flexible conditions of modern labor. Since the flexible conditions of work generally presuppose an increased responsibility and some sort of personal commitment on the part of the worker, isolating the environmental conditions from the personal abilities of the worker is becoming more difficult. As a consequence, only to a limited extent can the problems of modern labor be interpreted as work environment issues and subjected to work environment measures. With the propagation of flexible working conditions, work environment institutions and their reform ambitions will be passed by. And work environment reforms, rather than being a practical task of coordinating different protective measures at workplaces, will be reduced to an argument within the ideologically motivated rejection of an increasingly polarized labor market.

scholarly journals Civil Disobedience in Times of Pandemic: Clarifying Rights and Duties

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoann Della Croce ◽  
Ophelia Nicole-Berva
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Civil Disobedience ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Normative Evaluation ◽  
The Law ◽  
Descriptive Sense ◽  
Public Demonstration ◽  
Do So

AbstractThis paper seeks to investigate and assess a particular form of relationship between the State and its citizens in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, namely that of obedience to the law and its related right of protest through civil disobedience. We do so by conducting an analysis and normative evaluation of two cases of disobedience to the law: (1) healthcare professionals refusing to attend work as a protest against unsafe working conditions, and (2) citizens who use public demonstration and deliberately ignore measures of social distancing as a way of protesting against lockdown. While different in many aspects, both are substantially similar with respect to one element: their respective protesters both rely on unlawful actions in order to bring change to a policy they consider unjust. We question the extent to which healthcare professionals may participate in civil disobedience with respect to the duty of care intrinsic to the medical profession, and the extent to which opponents of lockdown and confinement measures may reasonably engage in protests without endangering the lives and basic rights of non-dissenting citizens. Drawing on a contractualist normative framework, our analysis leads us to conclude that while both cases qualify as civil disobedience in the descriptive sense, only the case of healthcare professionals qualifies as morally justified civil disobedience.

scholarly journals Physical occupational exposures during working life and quality of life after labour market exit: results from the GAZEL study

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loretta G. Platts ◽  
Gopalakrishnan Netuveli ◽  
Elizabeth Webb ◽  
Marie Zins ◽  
Marcel Goldberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Occupational Exposures ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Physical Danger

Objective: To investigate variations in quality of life at older ages, we take a life course perspective to analyse long-term effects of physical working conditions upon quality of life after retirement. In doing so, we study to what extent these associations are explained by individuals’ health at older ages. Method: We use administrative data and self-administered questionnaire responses from the French GAZEL cohort. Quality of life was assessed with CASP-19 in 2009 and related to three types of physical working conditions during previous working life: (1) ergonomic strain, (2) physical danger and (3) exposures to chemicals. Health was assessed in 2007 with the SF-36 Health Survey. Multiple regressions were calculated in retired men only, controlling for important confounders including social position. Results: In contrast to men, few women were exposed to strenuous and dangerous working conditions in this cohort and were not included in subsequent analyses. Negative effects on retired men's quality of life were found for the physical occupational exposures of ergonomic strain and physical danger, but not for chemical exposures. Effects were attenuated after the introduction of physical and mental health to the models, indicating an indirect effect of physical working conditions upon quality of life via health. Conclusion: Adverse physical working conditions have long-term consequences for health and quality of life at older ages. Improvements to physical working conditions may improve individuals’ quality of life over the long term.

scholarly journals Taking the Relationship Between Populism and Healthcare Seriously: A Call for Empirical Analysis Rather Than Moral Condemnation Comment on "A Scoping Review of Populist Radical Right Parties’ Influence on Welfare Policy and its Implications for Population Health in Europe"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn Felder ◽  
Iris Wallenburg ◽  
Syb Kuijper ◽  
Roland Bal
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Populist Radical Right ◽  
Radical Right Parties ◽  
Firm Basis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

In this commentary, we reflect on Rinaldi and Bekker’s scoping review of the literature on populist radical right (PRR) parties and welfare policies. We argue that their review provides political scientists and healthcare scholars with a firm basis to further explore the relationships between populism and welfare policies in different political systems. In line with the authors, we furthermore (re)emphasize the need for additional empirical inquiries into the relationship between populism and healthcare. But instead of expanding the research agenda suggested – for instance by adding categories or niches in which this relationship can be observed – we would like to challenge some of the premises of the studies conducted and reviewed thus far. We do so by identifying two concerns and by illustrating these concerns with two examples from the Netherlands.

Observations on Chironomidae at Khartoum

1957 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Early Morning ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Vertical Movements ◽  
Air Cleaning ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Conditioning Equipment ◽  
Do So

This paper deals mainly with species of Tanytarsus (CHIRONOMIDAE) at Khartoum, particularly the very common T. lewisi Freeman. These midges are a serious pest there, usually between November and April, causing great annoyance by swarming in vast numbers around lights during the first few hours after sunset and thus interfering with work and pleasure in the riverain area. They are probably responsible for a considerable amount of asthma and other conditions due to allergy. Little information is available about the biology of CHIEONOMIDAE in Africa, so reference is made to the Palaearctic T. mancus Walker, to which T. lewisi is closely related. Studies of Chironomids from the health point of view elsewhere have little relation to the Khartoum problem, but work on Chaoborus (CULICIDAE) is of interest.The conditions under which these midges occur at Khartoum and the methods of study are described.At least 26 species of CHIRONOMIDAE, including four of Tanytarsus, occur at Khartoum. The respiratory organs of some pupae are figured, and a key, based on the characters of these organs, is given for some of the species.Observations on the biology of all stages are recorded, particularly on the vertical movements and drifting of larvae and pupae and the time of emergence. Many larvae and pupae drift downstream at night, and T. lewisi emerges mainly in the early morning.Some exploratory field trials of larvicides were carried out. The results were inconclusive, and the difficulty of assessing them is pointed out. Thorough control by anti-larval measures would be extremely difficult owing to the large size of the river and the drift of pupae from upstream. It is believed that it might be possible but prohibitively expensive, and would have to be repeated annually, perhaps throughout the midge season. Various protective measures are discussed. It is considered that riverside dwellers who can do so should move inland, and that a barrier of trees parallel to the river would protect houses away from the river front. People who must be near the river in the evening can achieve considerable protection by clearing some vegetation, fogging with insecticide, or using air-cleaning or air-conditioning equipment.

“Little Freedoms”

2019 ◽  
pp. 209-241
Author(s):  
Jessamyn Hatcher
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Leisure Activity ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Undocumented Immigrant ◽  
Fast Fashion ◽  
Service Jobs ◽  
Nail Salon ◽  
Affective Meanings

This chapterexamines a group of undocumented immigrant women from Nepal who wear fast fashion to labor at their body service jobs in a New York City nail salon. Contrary to the idea that consuming fast fashion is a leisure activity, this chapter suggests that fast-fashion consumption is a mandated form of uncompensated labor. In the case of these workers, they are explicitly required to dress fashionably for a job that is underpaid, toxic, and rough on clothes. Despite this, workers insist that wearing these clothes holds important affective meanings that exceed their boss’s imperative, described by one as “little freedoms.” An investigation of little freedoms points toward the larger structural ways all fast-fashion workers are shaped by this quintessential form of labor under global capitalism; exemplifies the delimited forms of freedom possible within it; points toward important forms of difference between workers; and offers clues to fast-fashion makers’ other, longed for, and potentially more enabling futures.

The Evaluation of IT Investments through Real Options

2009 ◽  
pp. 277-297
Author(s):  
Maria Alice Frontini
Keyword(s):  
Real Options ◽  
Corporate Strategy ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
It Investments ◽  
Strategic Issues ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
New Business ◽  
Do So ◽  
Current Business

The decisions about IT investments are increasingly more complex, due to technical uncertainties and to the dynamics of organizational and strategic issues. One promising alternative for solving this problem would be the use of real options. Thus, this chapter intends to apply a relatively new methodology, called real options, used in corporate strategy for evaluating and deciding about new investments in IT. In order to do so, an analytic review of the literature is presented. The real options methodology is particularly recommended in two situations: in the case of the existence of a significant level of uncertainty about the benefits to be achieved by IT investments, or when IT benefits do not impact directly the current business but create a platform for future investments, capable of producing future new business impacts.

scholarly journals Employees’ Longer Working Lives in Europe: Drivers and Barriers in Companies

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1658
Author(s):  
Andrea Principi ◽  
Jürgen Bauknecht ◽  
Mirko Di Rosa ◽  
Marco Socci
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Early Retirement ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
European Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Market Factors ◽  
Legal Retirement Age

This paper identifies, within companies’ sectors of activity, predictors of Human Resource (HR) policies to extend working life (EWL) in light of increasing policy efforts at the European level to extend working life. Three types of EWL practices are investigated: the prevention of early retirement (i.e., encouraging employees to continue working until the legal retirement age); delay of retirement (i.e., encouraging employees to continue working beyond the legal retirement age); and, recruitment of employees who are already retired (i.e., unretirement). A sample of 4624 European organizations that was stratified by size and sector is analyzed in six countries. The main drivers for companies’ EWL practices are the implementation of measures for older workers to improve their performance, their working conditions, and to reduce costs. In industry, the qualities and skills of older workers could be more valued than in other sectors, while the adoption of EWL practices might be less affected by external economic and labor market factors in the public sector. Dutch and Italian employers may be less prone than others to extend working lives. These results underline the importance of raising employers’ awareness and increase their actions to extend employees’ working lives by adopting age management initiatives, especially in SMEs, and in the services and public sectors.

scholarly journals The spatial politics of chick lit in Africa and Asia: sidestepping tradition and fem-washing global capitalism?

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-129
Author(s):  
Melissa Tandiwe Myambo
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Shopping Mall ◽  
Black Widow ◽  
Spatial Politics ◽  
Female Protagonists ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Chick Lit ◽  
Traditional Structures ◽  
First World

This article provides a spatial analysis of the types of microspaces, or Cultural Time Zones (CTZs), that constitute the narrative universes of chick lit from South Africa, China and India. I argue that although these books take place in ‘developing’ countries, their ‘First World’ spatial politics, and thus their political impact and cultural commentary, are both enabled and constrained by the settings of their narrative thrust. In the CTZ of the five-star hotel, or the elite spa, the books’ protagonists exemplify a popular notion of choice/neoliberal feminism. What, then, do they say about the possibility of feminism for confronting patriarchal traditions in CTZs like the ‘local’ neighbourhood? The three books analysed – Angela Makholwa’s Black Widow Society, Wei Hui’s Shanghai Baby and Anita Jain’s Marrying Anita: A Quest for Love in the New India – are set in the globalising cities of Johannesburg, Shanghai and Delhi in putatively ‘developing’ countries; however, the books’ female protagonists tend to inhabit a series of ‘global’, ‘First World’ CTZs, like the high-end shopping mall, the Western music-playing nightclub or the cappuccino-serving cafe. These CTZs are geographically distant from those of their Western chick lit counterparts, yet nonetheless not very far away if measured in cultural kilometres. The neoliberal, so-called feminist ‘choices’ available to these protagonists would not be possible in geographically proximate but culturally distant, ‘traditional’ CTZs. The key question this article asks is whether these narratives’ spatial settings, confined as they are to upper middle-class, ‘global’, ‘modern’ CTZs, produce a form of spatial politics that fem-washes global capitalism while failing to confront patriarchal and traditional structures which dominate in more ‘local’, ‘traditional’ CTZs.

scholarly journals Are Multinational Companies Responsible for Working Conditions in Their Supply Chains? From Intuition to Argument

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Dänzer
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Global Value Chains ◽  
Multinational Companies ◽  
Support Programs ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Promising Strategy ◽  
Supply Chain Governance ◽  
Prospective Responsibility

AbstractAlthough many people seem to share the intuition that multinational companies (MNEs) carry a responsibility for the working conditions in their supply chains, the justification offered for this assumption is usually rather unclear. This article explores a promising strategy for grounding the relevant intuition and for rendering its content more precise. It applies the criteria of David Miller's connection theory of remedial responsibility to different forms of supply chain governance as characterized by the Global Value Chains (GVC) framework. The analysis suggests that the criteria for identifying MNEs as remedially responsible for bad working conditions in their direct suppliers are fulfilled in many cases, even though differentiations are required with regard to the different supply chain governance structures. MNEs thus have a duty to make sure currently bad working conditions in their suppliers are changed for the better. Moreover, since production in supply chains for structural reasons continuously generates remedial responsibility of MNEs for bad working conditions in their suppliers, it puts the prospective responsibility on them to make sure that their suppliers offer acceptable working conditions. Further, it is suggested that the remedial responsibility of MNEs might require them to make financial compensation to victims of bad working conditions and in grave cases initiate or support programs to mitigate disastrous effects suffered by them.

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