Negotiating a new Swedish model: Employment transition agreements and the struggle over redundancies

This article is aimed to contribute to our knowledge regarding employer and employee preferences about employment security and unemployment income protection as well as the degree of neoliberal change during the last decades through the lens of collective bargaining. It charts the institutional–historical development of an Employment Transition Agreement (ETA) between the bargaining cartel for white-collar unions, PTK, and the organisation for private employers, SAF/SN. ETAs are a form of institution through which Swedish trade unions and employer organisations give employees added protection in the event of redundancies, mostly in the form of added income protection but also matching services and shorter training programmes. Drawing from archival material and published statements in newspapers, the article engages with what the organisations wanted from such agreements during negotiations and how this shifted during the decades. The results show that the agreements have given employees added unemployment income protection while at the same time giving employees greater flexibility during collective lay-offs. It also shows how the agreement initially was more focused on employment security and proactive investments in skills. But when the balance of power shifted in favour of employers, PTK had to give up any such ambitions.

Social Responses and Narrative Experiences of the Filipino Middle Class to the COVID-19 Crisis

The incessant spreading of COVID-19 disease has recently been the major concern to the Filipino since January 2020. The crisis becomes uncontrollable and impacts on all walks of life in terms of their routine living, working conditions, mental health, and social interaction. As observed in the past few months, the Philippine government has attempted to deal with the transmission of infection and economic predicament. However, there has been tremendous criticism towards the government’s methods of solving the problems, and one of the controversial discussions is the inequity of offering assistance packages to socio-economic groups. This article seeks to grasp the perceptions of the Filipino middle class who are mainly excluded by the aid of the government from the COVID-19 crisis since they are misrepresented as capable of self-help and self-responsibility in the neoliberal economy. The results evidently show their responses and narratives to the crisis through dealing with behavioural and social adaptation and psychological coping strategies. In times of the pandemic with low awareness of the government, most middle-class people are still precarious because of the entire dependency on the financial system and employment security to maintain subsistence in the present and future.

COVID-19 and Precarious Employment: Consequences of the Evolving Crisis

The world of work is facing an ongoing pandemic and an economic downturn with severe effects worldwide. Workers trapped in precarious employment (PE), both formal and informal, are among those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we call attention to at least 5 critical ways that the consequences of the crisis among workers in PE will be felt globally: ( a) PE will increase, ( b) workers in PE will become more precarious, ( c) workers in PE will face unemployment without being officially laid off, ( d) workers in PE will be exposed to serious stressors and dramatic life changes that may lead to a rise in diseases of despair, and ( e) PE might be a factor in deterring the control of or in generating new COVID-19 outbreaks. We conclude that what we really need is a new social contract, where the work of all workers is recognized and protected with adequate job contracts, employment security, and social protection in a new economy, both during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

The Beginning of the End for the Chinese Proletariat

This article examines how China’s Communist Party (CCP) sought to justify its policies fostering inequality at the urban factory floor in the early years after Mao’s death through publications in the People’s Daily. The article focuses on three issues that emerged frequently in the newspaper: the increased prevalence of incentive wages, the abolishment of life-time employment for workers and the evolving discourse related to worker influence at their workplace. The article shows that the People’s Daily did not simply seek to persuade the public that the reforms were compatible with socialism, the newspaper also took great care to showcase which kinds of behaviours and emotions would be appropriate for the new working subject. The CCP’s dedication to reforming the population through the press makes the People’s Daily an excellent source for tracking norm intransigence on the part of the population. Based on the observation that the CCP sought to legitimate policies ending employment security many years before such policies were adopted, the article also suggests that public opinion had a direct influence on the timing of the early reforms.

Stable Jobs or iPhones? The Dilemma of Innovation in Socialism

Perhaps the greatest strength of capitalism has been its ability to promote sustained technological progress. A viable socialism must also promote sustained technological progress while avoiding the problems associated with technological change under capitalism. Socialism faces a fundamental dilemma regarding technological change and job security in that technological progress is inherently disruptive. As old technologies are superseded, product lines become obsolete, production processes are changed, and certain kinds of jobs are no longer needed. Thus, technological progress creates insecurity for jobholders. Even with an employment guarantee, the loss of one’s job may require retraining, changing careers, or moving to a new location. In this paper, we propose means for promoting technological advance under planned socialism while also providing meaningful employment security.