Working Lives Research Institute
The Mayor of Haringey, Gina Adamou, opened a photographic exhibition documenting the lives and histories of people coming from across the world to live in North Tottenham. Working Lives Research Institute carried out the project with funding from Haringey Council. Using photos and interviews, it explores how economic change and immigration has shaped the identity and communities in the area. The exhibition can be viewed at the Neighbourhood Resource Centre, 177 Park Lane, London N17 0HJ, Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. It will then be shown at other venues and used by local schools and community organisations to encourage greater understanding about the cultural diversity and social history of the area.
This new journal aims to create a single authoritative source of information on the new global division of labour, combining theoretical analysis with the results of empirical research in a way that's accessible to both the research community and policy makers. This journal will be published twice a year, with each strongly themed issue appearing separately as a book.
To view the brochure, please click the link below:
Europe Old and New: Restructuring of Work between Enlargement, Mobility and Demographic Change
The Summer University brings together practitioners and researchers who are professionally engaged in the development and shaping of ‘work’ - human resource managers, employee representatives, social partner organisations, entrepreneurs, employees and representatives of public agencies, from EU member states, candidate countries and the local region.
For more information please click the link.
The renegotiation of the gender division of labour was central to the process of industrialisation and to the formation of a working class. Gender remains central to the continual restructuring of capitalist relations. This conference examined the ‘making’ of the other half of the British working class - women - as workers and as trade unionists. This was set within a framework of understanding that the antagonism between the private nature of reproduction and the social nature of production had - and continues to have - a major impact on women’s working lives and struggles.
Presented the research findings and showcased good practice and policy examples together with successful training and support initiatives, enabling the economic integration of BME and refugee communities.
For more information on call for papers and the conference program, please click the links below:
Comparative conference program
A conference to launch the HE ESF funded report took place in the Graduate Centre, London Metropolitan University on 9-6-06. It provided a major opportunity for employers, trade unions, LGBT organisations, government and other stakeholders to discuss lessons from the research, share experiences and consider how to develop best practice. Speakers included: Brenda Roper, ACAS; Alayne Berisford, Barnardo’s; Khi Rafe, Black Lesbian UK; Jo Randell, BT; Fiona Colgan and Chris Creegan, COERC, London Metropolitan University; Liz Grant, IBM; Khizar Hayat, Leeds City Council; Pat Oakley, London Fire Brigade; Julie Newman, Regard; Katherine Cowan, Stonewall; Peter Purton, TUC; Mark Bell, University of Leicester. A full copy of the research report can be found at :
The inaugural lecture of Professor Ursula Huws of the Working Lives Research Institute on the subject of:
'Begging and bragging: the self and the commodification of intellectual activity'.
Please click the link below for the transcript of the lecture:
The Working Lives Research Institute was mentioned in The Observer, 16th April 2006. The article examined a CRE research report commissioned in 2005 by Ashika Thanki and Sonia McKay of the WLRI. The report uncovered more alarming evidence of low-level racism. It examined why ethnic minorities left print journalism, drawing also on conversations with those who still work in the profession.
Download the full Report on CRE as a pdf here:
Why ethnic minorities leave London''s print industries.pdf
The conference discussed the philosophical and legal foundations of the Social Welfare State; the strategies and developments which endanger it; its potential and its chances in the contemporary situation, and its future under conditions of globalised economic power; and possible strategies to defend the Social Welfare State.
Included Prof. Mary Davis speaking on Attacks on the Social Welfare State (by Companies, the State, international Treaties, Institutions, Organizations, the role of Trade Unions, Works Councils in this context)
For full details, click link below:
Preliminary findings from the Working Lives Research Institute research into the audio-visual industries in London. The seminar reported on recent findings from a European Social Fund research project on recruitment and employment in the audio-visual sector in London. The aim of the research is to improve understanding of recruitment and employment practices that act as institutional filters to black and minority ethnic workers' access to London's Audio Visual sector and to make recommendations to overcome them.
Representatives from academia, government agencies, employers, and the trade unions met on 31st March 2006, to discuss employment and people management issues under the rubric of 'voice and value'. The focus for this year's well-attended conference was to explore the extent to which implementation of the Information Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004, that came into force on April 6th 2005, had met intended objectives. This annual gathering is organised jointly between the CIPD, LSE and London Met (MPD). A full report of the day’s exchanges may be downloaded here:
Based on current debates of equality, ethnicity and integration, the book analyses the motivation for individuals to migrate, their own experiences of integration into an existing work team and the contribution they are making. In Britain the NHS and independent health care sector depend heavily on the contributions of the migrant workforce to make up for serious shortfalls in staff numbers and therefore provide an interesting contextual background for this topical book.
A major study of racism at work involving researchers and trade unionists in 5 European countries has completed it's investigation. Its aim was to examine the role that trade unions could and should be playing in combating racism. This pamphlet draws on the research undertaken in Britain and is presented as a contribution to the continuing fight for justice for black workers.A copy of the pamphlet costs £5. If you wish to order one please contact:
Wilf Sullivan, TUC Race Equality Officer, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS. Telephone: 020 7467 1259; Fax: 020 7467 1333; e-mail: wsullivan@tuc.org.uk
The WLRI and the DWP held a seminar on refugee training for work, as part of an ongoing research project comparing the labour market experiences of refugees and ethnic minority workers. The aim was to bring together researchers, policymakers and practitioners to discuss the current standards of training and to work on improving learning and training to assist refugees into work. Also to report on progress and present recent findings.
The Conference was jointly organised by the TUC and the WLRI to launch a booklet containing a number of recommendations for trade unions that have emerged from the results of a 3-year comparative research project looking at racial and ethnic minorities, immigration and the role of trade unions in combating racism. For further information press on the following:
The first is from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in Dublin. It will start in a few months and will be an on-going commitment to provide information and reporting services at EU-level. This is to work with two German research groups and the Institute for Labour Foundation in Bologna, Italy to provide the news service on IR and work and employment standards and industrial change that is on the Dublin Foundation web-pages.
The second is the Lisbon Agenda project which starts now and lasts until September. This project is to undertake 15 four-page (two interview) UK company case studies highlighting themes from the Lisbon Agenda (of highlighting better practice to create an 'attractive workplace for all') - the aspects are 1) Fostering employability; 2) Increasing labour market participation of underemployed groups; 3) Integrating people at risk from exclusion into the labour market; 4) Making work pay; 5) Towards a balanced flexibility; 6) Business creation and entrepreneurship.
