Dr Bob Jeffery (Sheffield Hallam University), Prof David Etherington (Staffordshire University), Dr Olivia Stevenson (University College London)
With Prof Cecilia Vindrola, Laura Maio, Grainne Brady and Sigrun Clark (UCL)
This policy challenge was set by Islington Council as part of their strategic priorities around promoting fair work. To respond to this challenge our team at Sheffield Hallam University, Staffordshire University and University College London is undertaking a scoping review of work-based harms in the borough, and the challenges and opportunities around union revitalisation.
Debates on Good Work
There have been increasing concerns around job quality and labour market inequalities in the UK over the last decade, encapsulated in the 2017 Taylor Review of modern working practices[1] and the increasing interest of local and regional authorities in promoting ‘good’, ‘decent’ or ‘fair’ work. This current policy challenge builds upon our earlier research linked to the Sheffield Needs A Pay Rise campaign[2] through a more systematic review of local evidence and a closer examination of trade union activities and available local government policy levers around good work.
Evidence needs
Islington Council has identified several evidence needs that our project aims to deliver, through:
Mapping Work-Based Harms
Our project employs the prism of ‘work-based harms’ as a way of exploring these issues in the Borough of Islington. Harms range from low-pay and the illegal non-payment of the national minimum wage to contractual insecurity, the denial of statutory entitlements (such as holiday and sick pay) to workplace health and safety, and bullying discrimination and harassment. We are also interested in the interactions between welfare conditionality and low paid and/or poor-quality work.
Union Renewal
While there are policy levers (see below) available to local authorities in challenging work-based harms, bodies such as the Royal Society of Arts have pointed to the vital role of trade unions in driving up standards of work[3]. Yet union membership in the UK is declining, especially in London[4], and so there is a pressing need to explore the perspectives of trade unions in terms of the barriers they face, their organising successes, and the ways in which local authorities and other stakeholders can contribute to union revitalisation. This is the second strand of our exploratory study.
Policy Levers
The third strand of the research looks to explore the ways in which local government can promote good work. Partially these relate to commissioning for services (Unison’s Ethical Care Charter) and licensing (Unite’s Get Me Home Safety campaign). However, a relatively unexplored mechanism relates to the ways in which local authorities can promote good work through developing policy around education on employment rights for young people, and through signposting to trade unions.
Timeline
June – October 2023: Preliminary labour market analyses
November 2023 – February 2024: Literature review on work-based harms
November 2023 – May 2024: Stakeholder interviews
February – May 2024: Literature review on community unionism
June – August 2024: Consultation on findings
September 2024: Final report
Funded
This project is funded by collaborative support from Research England CAPE Policy Challenge grant, the universities of Staffordshire and Sheffield Hallam and Islington Council.
Contact
Bob Jeffery – https://www.shu.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-profiles/bob-jeffery
David Etherington – https://www.staffs.ac.uk/people/david-etherington
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-work-the-taylor-review-of-modern-working-practices
[2] https://shura.shu.ac.uk/26856/
[3] https://www.thersa.org/reports/blueprint-good-work
[4] https://wiserd.ac.uk/blog/mapping-the-uneven-decline-of-union-membership-in-great-britain/