Suchergebnisse

The article analyzes the phenomenon of the emergence and development of a new pan-European political Party of the European left in the political arena. Its forerunner was a Forum of the new European left, formed in 1991, close to the Communist and workers' parties and the group «European United Left – Nordic Green Left» in the European Parliament, which emerged in 1995 through the merger of «Confederal Group of the European United Left» faction of environmentalists «Left-wing Green of the North». Many experts viewed these parties as a vestige of a bipolar world, and believed that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, they should finally disappear from the political arena of Europe, giving up the left flank to the socialists and social Democrats. However, European Communists and left-wing radicals demonstrated incredible political vitality and in the tenth years of the twentieth century in a number of EU countries (Greece, France, the Czech Republic) managed to bypass their opponents on the left flank. In 2004 a pan-European party of the European left was created, which is characterized by a commitment to unorthodox Communist and environmental values and a moderately eurosceptic view of the EU's development prospects. In the last European elections in 2019, this party lost some ground, but nevertheless managed to maintain its small faction in the European Parliament. So today it is difficult to speak about prospects of the European left, although the strength of parties in Germany, Greece, Spain, France and other countries, as well as the weakening of the party of European socialists, gives us reasonable confidence in the fact that the radical left will be able to maintain its presence on the political stage of Europe in the next 10-15 years. The author of the article tried to identify the causes of this political force and its future prospects.

The Seasonal Workers Program (SWP) is an Australian Government labour mobility initiative started in 2008 to meet seasonal labour shortages by recruiting workers from Timor-Leste, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu for the horticulture sector and four trial sectors: accommodation, aquaculture, cotton, and sugar cane industries. This In Brief explores Timor-Leste's participation in the SWP and the experiences of East Timorese workers in the accommodation and horticulture sectors. ; AusAID

This report was conducted to give a holistic insight into the impact of Timorese seasonal workers in the Australian Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) on development in Timor-Leste. The report will also be used to compliment a brief produced by the Timorese Embassy on seasonal workers in Australia. The paper has been split into three primary sections along a migration systems approach. Firstly it aims to give the reader an insight into key migration theoretical debates, secondly to explore the SWP workers micro level impacts, and thirdly the impacts for Timor-Leste of the SWP at the macro level. The results of this report were attained through a mixed-method approach combining primary interviews with key stakeholders including four Timorese seasonal workers, Timorese governmental officials, the Head of the Seasonal Worker Program at the Australian Department of Employment, and employer testimonials. These primary data sources were combined with statistical data and labour migration theoretical research. This report argues that the benefits of the SWP are substantial and positively impact all key stakeholders including the seasonal workers themselves and their local communities, program employers, Australian-Timorese governmental relations, and Timor-Leste more broadly as the sending country. Migrating workers benefit from higher wages, receiving countries from more employment and a larger GDP, and sending countries from remittances (both economic and socio-political) as well as returning migrant contributions to society. The report did however identify several areas where improvements could be made to expand program benefits. These included: streamlining Timorese governmental financial processes (particularly in the early stages of the placement process), the creation of a "pool" worker recruitment system in Timor-Leste, increased marketing of Timorese seasonal workers directly to prospective Australian employers, bulk data collection of SWP worker statistics, and financial management training for workers in the SWP.

Seasonal labor shortages hinder the expansion of Australia's multi-billion dollar horticultural industry because primary producers find it difficult to secure sufficient workers at peak times such as harvests. In the labor surplus economies of Pacific Island nations un(der)employment and a lack of income inhibit social and economic development, restrict educational opportunities and contribute to social unrest. This article investigates the potential to address both these issues through the development of temporary labor programs to allow Pacific Islanders to fill seasonal gaps in Australian horticulture. The authors outline key policy considerations for the design and regulation of seasonal work schemes in order to maximize social and economic development outcomes, protect workers' rights, dignity and entitlements and minimize the social costs of temporary migration on the home society.

The COVID-19 pandemic publicly exposed the urgent need for seasonal workers in agriculture. In Germany, an entry ban and entry quotas for seasonal workers at the beginning of the pandemic caused major attention. Taking this moment as magnifying glass, the article asks how the German seasonal labour migration regime is constructed (legally) and legitimated (discursively), and in how far the pandemic has caused shifts within this regime. Based on an analysis of the legal framework and the political discourse around seasonal work from 2018 to 2020 in Germany, the seasonal labour migration regime is characterised as just-in-time migration tailored to the needs of agricultural business, where migrants' work force is not absorbed homogenously by precarious labour sectors, but rather specific groups of migrant workers are integrated differently through mechanisms of differential inclusion. Within this regime, seasonal workers function as outsourced labour, whose reproduction costs remain abroad. On the discursive level, the article shows how seasonal workers are produced as 'wanted migrants' by linking seasonal migration to the interests of the 'homeland'. While the pandemic momentarily caused some shifts on the discoursively level, the article shows that the seasonal labour regime as a whole remains rather stable in time.

For almost 150 years, Luxembourg depends on two kinds of migration, qualified and non-qualified, in order to deal with the workforce needs of its economy. Compared to other EU Member States, Luxembourg is a country with the largest proportion of foreigners; however, this foreign population is mainly composed of EU citizens. In Luxembourg, 296.500 residents (47,4%) of a total population of 626.100 are foreigners. 247.900 are EU citizens representing 39.6% of the total population of the country and 83,6% of the foreign population of the country. The 48.600 third-country nationals represent only 7,8% of the total population and 16.4% of the foreign population. Due to its size and geographic location, Luxembourg has an access to a very particular form of economic migration: cross-border workers. Globalisation has also played a decisive role in the development of economic migration for the Luxembourgish labour market. The financial center was obliged to become highly specialised in order to remain competitive in regards to other financial centers and to maintain its volume of business. In order to maintain its competitive advantage, Luxembourg needs highly skilled personnel, which, up until now, the country has found within the Greater Region. With regards to the labour market: the number of salaried workers on 31 December 2019 shows that Luxembourgish residents represented only 26,5%, EU citizens (other than Luxembourgish) 23,4% and third-country national residents only 4,2%. Cross-border workers from Belgium, France and Germany represented 46% of the workforce. The Luxembourgish labour market is not a national labour market but rather a labour market of the Greater Region with a trend to become an international labour market. This situation can be explained in the context of the free movement of services and the posted workers coming from other Member States to Luxembourg. The need of workforce must be placed in this particular context, taking into account the "internal reserves", the free movement of persons from which EU citizens, who reside in the country, benefit and the large majority of cross-border workers. To this framework one must add a range of measures that were introduced by the Luxembourgish authorities in order to regulate the labour market. Some of these measures did not have labour market needs as their only objective, but were also foreseen to manage integration processes. The attitude of the successive governments was to adapt immigration to the economic needs of the country. The government policy intends to implement an economic diversification policy, focused on attracting high added value activities such as ICT, health technologies, space, logistics, industry and FinTech. In consequence and taking into consideration the specificities of Luxembourg's labour market, third-country national seasonal workers are not a priority of the Luxembourgish government.

This article discusses the EU Seasonal Workers Directive alongside case study data of seasonal agricultural work in Spain. The conceptual contribution is to critically consider 'seasonality' and the related assumptions around temporary labour migration for agricultural work. This consideration informs an analysis of the directive's policy approach alongside its three global objectives. It is argued that this directive is likely to fail to meet all three of these objectives; the assumed time-frame for labour demands does not correspond with unmet seasonal challenges; the lack of options for undocumented workers already in the EU may compound their marginalisation; the policy approach of circular migration and limited worker protections does not do enough to prevent new seasonal workers from falling into situations of vulnerability and undocumented status.

Over the last three decades there has been a rapid expansion of intensive production of fresh fruit and vegetables in the Mediterranean regions of south and west Europe. Much of this depends on migrating workers for seasonal labour, including from Eastern Europe, North Africa and Latin America. This book is the first to address global agro-migration complexes across the region. It is argued that both intensive agricultural production and related working conditions are highly dynamic. Regional patterns have developed from small-scale family farming to become an industrialized part of the global agri-food system, which increasingly depends on seasonal labour. Simultaneously, consumer demand for year-round supply has caused relocations of the industry within Europe; areas of intensive greenhouse production have moved further south and even into North Africa. The authors investigate this Mediterranean agri-food system that transcends borders and is largely constituted by invisible seasonal work. By revealing the story of food commodities loaded with implications of private profit seeking, exploitation, exclusion and multiple insecurities, the book unmasks the hidden costs of fresh food provisioning. Three case study areas are considered in detail: the French region of Provence, a traditional centre of fresh fruit and vegetable cultivation; the Spanish Almeria region where intensive production has, accelerated dramatically since the 1970s; and Morocco where counter-seasonal production has recently been expanding. The book also includes commentaries that refer to complemetary insights on US-Mexico, Philippines-Canada and South Pacific mobilities.

Over the last three decades there has been a rapid expansion of intensive production of fresh fruit and vegetables in the Mediterranean regions of south and west Europe. Much of this depends on migrating workers for seasonal labour, including from Eastern Europe, North Africa and Latin America. This book is the first to address global agro-migration complexes across the region. It is argued that both intensive agricultural production and related working conditions are highly dynamic. Regional patterns have developed from small-scale family farming to become an industrialized part of ...

PurposeThe paper aims at assessing the role of the different stages of the employment process in gauging workers' willingness to upskill themselves at the end of a seasonal employment contract by investing in further training.Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyses data from a dedicated survey administered to a sample of seasonal employees. Through a regression analysis it explores the different stages of the employment process (job search, selection on the job activities), making a distinction between monetary and nonmonetary components of the investment in training.FindingsResults show that all stages matter, but they do not have the same importance. Ex-ante motivations and work experience, notably the level of perceived workload and organizational commitment, are the main factors affecting workers' willingness to acquire industry-specific skills through training.Originality/valueSo far, the literature has extensively dealt with the poor levels of training in seasonal employers, but it did not analyse worker's willingness to invest in training over the different stages of the worker experience. This paper fills this gap by separately testing the relative importance of such stages and identifying the most important phases of the employment process.