Project type: Target Research Programme

Code: V5-1741

Beginning: 01.04.2018

End: 31.03.2020

Funding: Slovenian Research Agency

Co-funding:

Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

Coordinator: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Law

Leader: prof.dr. Grega Strban UL PF / Nosilka FSD: izr.prof.dr. Barbara Kresal

Associates:

Sodelavke FSD:

Prof.dr. Vesna Leskošek

Doc.dr. Liljana Rihter

Mag. Mirjam ten Veen (Teh)

Summary:

The examination of precarious work is closely related to the issues of the atypical (non-standard) forms of work and their negative consequences for the functioning of the labour market, the individual and society. Atypical (non-standard) work consists of numerous diverse forms of work which differ in one or more features (regarding duration, working time, place, contracting parties, etc.) from the traditional model of the standard employment relationship (SER), which is entered into based on a contract of employment, stipulated between the employee and the employer with open-ended (permanent) and full-time arrangements. Though a significant majority of workers in Slovenia and EU still work under an SER, non-standard work is growing fast. Since the 1990s the EU has followed a dual approach of liberalisation/protection in its policy of encouraging diversity in employment contracting (for instance for part-time or fixed term employment or agency work); the policy presupposes, first, that alternatives to the SER are valid and legitimate, and second, that the SER is itself a valid form and merits some protection, even more, the SER is set up as the norm, or benchmark, against which other forms are to be compared when implementing the principle of equal treatment (Deakin Simon, 2016. New Forms of Employment: Implications for EU Law – The law as It Stands, Blanpain Roger & Hendrickx (ed.): New Forms of Employment in Europe. Kluwer Law International, p. 43-53). The precarious work has a negative connotation. Numerous Slovenian and foreign studies have warned against the negative consequences since the beginning of the implementation of the atypical forms of work. Kresal emphasis that so called flexible forms of employment put employees in a more precarious situation, with less favourable labour and social conditions and that it is the problem of a segmentation of the labour market, which creates the distinction between the so-called insider-workers and outsider-workers (Kresal B., 2011a). Kanjuo Mrčela stresses that ten year ago the analyses of the situation on the labour market notified the increasing flexibility of labour and employment and the need of flexicurity, but recent analyses suggest that changes in the last decade went in the opposite direction – fewer workers have perspective of flexicurity, while for most, and especially the youth working lives are characterized by an increasing precariousness (Kanjuo Mrčela, Ignjatovič, 2015.). Another important issue is to assess the atypical forms of work from the aspect of the effects they have on different categories of workers, especially the more vulnerable ones. Kresal stresses that solutions should encourage equal opportunities and equal treatment of employees, regardless of their personal circumstances, however, the data suggest that the ‘flexibly employed workers’ are predominantly those who belong to the vulnerable groups of population, which connects this issue to discrimination on the labour market. The project challenges the discussion that not all non-standard work is inherently precarious and that simply extending one or two features from standard work to precarious work is not a sufficient remedy for precarious, because precariousness is much more complex problem.

The project MAPA is therefore focused on reducing the negative consequences of the precariousness and also the segmentation of the labour market, and on providing decent work for all workers. General objectives of the MAPA:

- gaining comprehensive insight of the precariousness in Slovenia, through the exact findings of the extent, characteristics and the comparison with other EU member states,

- developing measures against precariousness on the basis of the comprehensive multidisciplinary study.

Specific objectives:

- incentive for research and multidisciplinary approach in this area - greater awareness on decent work and the negative consequences of the precarious work among decisions-makers, social partners, etc.

- promotion of good practice examples from other EU member states as regards the inclusion of the measures for combating precariousness into the Slovenian regulation.

The work content and method are based on a multidisciplinary approach of research in all phases of the project, with which the synthesis and the exceedance of various approaches regarding the definition of the concept of precarious work are to be achieved. The research group consists of researchers from the fields of legal, economic, sociological and medical sciences from all three Slovenian universities, which enables multidisciplinary research in all phases of the project. The content of the project is divided into four phases. The first phase addresses the question of what counts as precarious work. The manifestations of atypical forms of work under the applicable law and in praxis will be identified in terms of the risk level for precariousness of each form. The methodology will be based on the assumption that the more a worker is deprived of one or more of his rights or is excluded from one or more existing minimum labour standards or social security schemes due to an atypical form of work, the bigger the risk of precariousness is. A transparent and exact definition is a prerequisite for further research of the extent of precarious work and its causes and consequences for an individual and society. In the second phase, an economic analysis of the Labour force survey will be conducted, and empirical analyses based on a survey and interviews with precarious and potentially precarious workers will be based on the conceptional considerations from the first phase. In this phase, a possibility of cooperation with civil society organisation focused on working with precarious workers is expected. The purpose of the second phase of the project is to determine the actual situation regarding precariousness in Slovenia as precisely as possible, so that it can later be compared to the situation in other EU countries (phase three), and that based on it, measures for eliminating precariousness can be formed (the last phase). The third phase will deal with an international and a comparative law-based analysis. Tabular statistical and descriptive representations of the manifestations of atypical forms of work in Slovenia and EU will be made, and the trends will be compared; with a comparative law-based analysis, examples of good practice in other EU countries in the field will be sought. The emphasis will be on the five identified most-frequent forms of atypical work including work under a civil contract, false self-employment and disguising an employment relationship, agency work, work based on platforms and IT technology, temporary student work, and other atypical forms of work. When selecting the countries for comparison, the considered criterion will be that one country should be smaller, and two should be European continental countries with comparable welfare systems. It the fourth phase, the conclusions will be given, and the suggestions will be made to alleviate the negative effects of precarious work.

The project is relevant due to the broad applicability of the project results and its importance for science, politics, economy, and society. The project results will be beneficial for a further development of social sciences on these area; a multidisciplinary approach and the continuation of the activities even after the project completion are considered to be its special value. To encourage research and knowledge transfer among the academic society, the members of the research group and all included RO from all three Slovenian universities, the project expects a formation of an Academic Network MAPA for studying precarious work as an informal professional group of researchers included in the project, which would continue with its work even after the project completion, and would, if necessary, include other interested researchers as well. This unique network will be an innovative contribution to the multidisciplinary approach to scientific research in this field. It is believed that the project is also relevant for the legislator and the proposer of legal change in the field of labour market, social security and equal opportunities, who will be able to use the project results for the improvement of legislation in this area. Particularly, due to the fact that the project results will already be evaluated in the MAPA project from the legal, economic, social and health security aspects. The project results will also be relevant for social partners, who can upgrade the legal regulation and significantly contribute to the improvement of the operation of the labour market through the processes of social dialogue. The relevance of the project and its potential influence is also expected in the field of economy because the improvement of the operation of the labour market in the direction of eliminating its segmentation means a more stable and safe business environment for companies, and hence increased possibilities for an increased competitiveness of the Slovenian economy. But the contribution of the project to strengthening the values of the rule of law and the welfare state, to the respect of human rights, and to the guarantee of decent work and life in society is evaluated as the most relevant. Various forms of dissemination of the project results will be formed in such way that all participants will be successfully addressed in the academic, political, economic and civil society sphere.

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