Decent Work in European Care Sectors: The Role of Labour Institutions
Chair(s): Eva Kocher (Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder))
Discussant(s): Isabelle Daugareilh (COMPTRASEC, Université de Bordeaux, France)
Care systems all over the European Union are in crisis. There are multiple reasons for these crises; overall, they go back to the history of care work as women’s work to be provided in the family, the undervaluation of care work on labour markets, and the fact that, due to demographic factors, the demand for care work is rather rising than diminishing – labour shortage is now at the heart of care crises in most EU member states.
The working conditions of care workers are one of the determining factors in the crisis; labour force shortages, workloads, and working conditions are closely interrelated. High-quality jobs with secure and safe working conditions are a necessary requirement if affordable and accessible high-quality care services for everyone who needs them are to be provided effectively. In general, care sectors in most European countries are facing similar structural problems, such as low wages, and informal work, resulting in high stress levels and job insecurity. Understaffing due to labour force shortages is, in view of the growing demand for care work, one of the most important drivers of the crises.
In this session, we look at the role of labour market institutions in developing solutions for the crises. In this endeavour we consider that labour market institutions in so-called productive industries differ considerably from labour market institutions in the care economy, where funding systems, the state and social security systems heavily influence not only the labour market, but also working conditions.
The session will present findings from the CARE4CARE research project, funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe, which focuses on improving working conditions and combatting discrimination faced by care workers, especially women and migrants. We look at working conditions for professional (paid) care workers who have at most a Bachelor’s degree and provide personal assistance and/or health assistance to elderly persons, sick persons, and persons with disabilities, in hospitals and residential care as well as in home care. The project’s approach is comparative and focusses on the care systems in six EU countries: France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. These countries represent a broad institutional diversity and variety in terms of labour law and industrial relations systems as well as welfare state and social security systems.
Our comparative research has shown that, in view of the institutional diversity of care sectors in the different EU Member States and between the EU Member States, the task of achieving decent employment in European care sectors is complex. Care sectors have been structured by diverse institutions and systems that have developed quite differently in each country. However, we do observe that care sectors tend to display similar structural problems that contribute to labour law shortages: long-standing histories of low wages, minimal social recognition, inadequate collective organisation, dependence on public funding and on the development of social security systems, lack of recognition of competences and professionalisation, high workloads and high health and safety risks.
In this session, we discuss finding from the Care4Care project, by presenting case studies from different countries on important institutional issues:
Firstly, we discuss the influence different systems of social protection have on the labour markets, building on the Spanish experience with different social protection for domestic workers, residential care workers, and nurses. Secondly, we look at the role of working time regulations, health and safety institutions, and collective bargaining, in shaping the working conditions and employment relationships of live-in workers in different EU countries, as many families resort to hiring live-in migrant workers under often informal conditions. Thirdly, we are interested in questions of collective organisation of care workers and collective bargaining. Workers’ voice, the recognition of social partners from both sides as well as social dialogue are of utmost importance for facilitating effective solutions for the care economy. With the Polish example, we discuss some of the reasons for the weakness of trade union representation in the care sector. Lastly, we explore the issue of recognition of competences. This is a major factor for professional development, which will be important for making professional care work more attractive. It is also when it comes to recruiting migrant workers to effectively participate on an equal level in European care sectors.
Presentations of the Special Session
Social Protection of Different Groups of Workers in the Care Sector. Achieving Progress under the Influence of the EU
Andrea Cano Redondo
Universitat de Girona, Spain
Spain's Social Security system covers care sector groups (domestic workers, residential care staff, and nurses) differently. However, it also attempts to mitigate disparities to prevent lack of protection and align with the EU framework. The paper will discuss the Spanish social security institutions with a specific attention to unemployment benefits (cf. CJEU ruling “TGSS” on Spain's domestic workers' unemployment benefits), social protection for workers who have abandoned their profession to devote themselves to the care of a dependent family member (cf. the ALS Law 3/2024), as well as initiatives that are being implemented to classify illnesses suffered by caregivers and cleaners as “occupational diseases”. The paper in particular analyses the gender perspective in social protection.
Decent Jobs for Live-in Carers through Labour Market Institutions
Giulia Frosecchi
Università di Firenze, Italy
The protection and the valorisation of domestic and live-in care workers are key challenges for modern States, considering the main features of the sector: the gendered character, the prevalence of migrant workers, and the often-neglected role that emotional and caring abilities play in the correct performance of the job. The paper, based upon the results of the CARE4CARE research project and in dialogue with the relevant literature, addresses the live-in care work, by providing a comparative framework on the labour law institutions that regulate live-in care work in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Sweden, with a focus on institutions such as working time regulation, health and safety and collective bargaining, which represents a key factor to overcome the challenges posed by the legislative regulation. The ILO Convention 189 is the main reference point to test the aptitude of these norms to guarantee decent jobs in the care sector.
History v Presence: The Role of Trade Unions in the Care System – the Case of Poland
Agata Ludera-Ruszel1, Hubert Kotarski2
1Faculty of Law and Administration, Uniwersytet Rzeszowski Poland, 2Faculty of Social Sciences, Uniwersytet Rzeszowski, Poland
Since the 1980s, trade union movement in Poland combines the fight for the nation’s independence with the implementation of socio-economic demands. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland guarantees both freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively; it considers the dialogue between social partners as one of the pillars of the Polish model of social market economy.
The role of the trade union movement in the process of democratization in Poland has not been reflected in the role they play in ensuring decent work, achieving workplace democracy and advancing distributive justice between labour and capital. In the care system today, trade unions play a marginal role in the promotion of decent work, in particular if compared to the role they play in other EU countries. The paper discusses the reasons for this, such as fragmentation of the care sector, high level of undeclared work and atypical forms of employment, high level of migrants, perception of trade unions not as a partners but as opponents by employers.
Recognition of Competences in the Care Sector: An Intersectional Puzzle
Eva Kocher
Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)
Care work is complex; care workers need both technical and interpersonal competences. Often, they are also burdened with administrative tasks. In order to make work in the care economy more attractive, both remuneration and job evaluation systems as well as the assignment of tasks should value all competences fairly. The fair and adequate recognition of competences is also an important factor for enabling international, intersectoral and intrasectional mobility paths. As training and tasks of care work are standardised very differently, the recognition of competences acquired in another system, in particular if acquired outside of Europe, often presents problems for migrants; jobs will also often not align with the professional qualifications migrant care workers bring to the job.
The paper comparatively discusses the conditions and institutional frameworks for standardising qualifications and their recognition in a more adequate way, in particular in relation to interactive and emotional work.
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