Catene del lavoro e delle migrazioni tra Veneto e Romania

Il paradigma della catena globale del valore o delle merci (Global Value Chain o GVC e Global Commodity Chain o GCC) sviluppata da Gary Gereffi et al. (1994) mira a spiegare le trasformazioni nella gestione delle nuove strutture produttive che si sono sviluppate nel corso degli ultimi trent’anni incorporando molti elementi dei processi economici. In particolare questa letteratura si è concentrata sui rapporti di potere tra le imprese e sul dispiegamento dei processi di ascesa lungo la catena del valore (Humphrey, Schmitz 2002). Alcuni autori hanno criticato questo approccio poiché tralascia il ruolo svolto da soggetti diversi dalle imprese, quali le istituzioni statali e internazionali (ad esempio l’Organizzazione mondiale del commercio), così come le influenze delle dinamiche sociali e lavorative nei processi economici (Smith et al., 2014). In questo articolo manteniamo un approccio che si basa sul concetto di produzione a rete globale, poiché riteniamo essenziale l’analisi sociale, politica e storica delle località in cui i nodi della rete si articolano (Bair, Werner 2011). Ci soffermiamo in particolare su due elementi cruciali nella produzione a rete globale: il contesto socio-istituzionale e le mutevoli caratteristiche della forza lavoro.Il focus sui soggetti che sono gli artefici delle istituzioni permette di comprendere in maniera dinamica l’uso e l’evoluzione degli apparati normativi e istituzionali

Labour mobility in construction: migrant workers’ strategies between integration and turnover

The construction industry historically is characterised by high levels of labour mobility favouring the recruitment of migrant labour. In the EU migrant workers make up around 25% of overall employment in the sector and similar if not higher figures exist for the sector in Russia. The geo-political changes of the 1990s have had a substantial impact on migration flows, expanding the pool of labour recruitment within and from the post-socialist East but also changing the nature of migration. The rise of temporary employment has raised concerns about the weakness and isolation of migrant workers and the concomitant risk of abuse. Migrant workers though cannot be reduced to helpless victims of state policies and employers’ recruitment strategies. Findings of the research presented here unveil how they meet the challenges of the international labour market, the harshness of debilitating working conditions and the difficult implications for their family life choices

International Migration and Labour Turnover: Workers' Agency in the Construction Sector of Russia and Italy

This article focuses on migrant workers’ agency through exploring the relationship between working and employment conditions, on one side, and labour mobility, on the other. The study is based on qualitative research involving workers from Moldova and Ukraine working in the Russian and Italian construction sector. Fieldwork has been carried out in Russia, Italy and Moldova to investigate informal networks, recruitment mechanisms and employment conditions to establish their impact on migration processes. Overcoming methodological nationalism, this study recognises transnational spaces as the new terrain where antagonistic industrial relations are rearticulated. Labour turnover is posited as a key explanatory factor and understood not simply as the outcome of capital recruitment strategies but also as workers’ agency

The transformation of work and industrial relations in the post-Soviet bloc: 25 years on from 1989

The uprisings of 1989 in the Soviet sphere were momentous in their political impact. Examination of this prolonged transformation is timely. We progress from case study analysis of the workplace – important in the early stages of transformation – to reflective overviews which consider the accumulated experience of a quarter of a century of post communism. Our overview studies highlight, for example, aspects of gender difference within the frame of ‘winners and losers’. The commonalities of ‘state capture’ are revealed across the states and geographical differences emerge in post-communist ‘recovery’ which highlight processes of uneven and combined development. Finally we identify relationships between state, labour and capital which stand outside the economic prescribed orthodoxy and the expected convergence of East with West. Instead of convergence to liberal economic values and practices we find crony capitalism associated with clientelism and mafia crime forming the backdrop to institutional failure

Epidemiology of influenza-like illness in the Amazon Basin of Peru, 2008-2009.

BackgroundData addressing the incidence and epidemiology of influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI) in tropical regions of the world is scarce, particularly for the neotropics of South America.MethodsWe conducted active, population-based surveillance for ILI across 45 city blocks within the Amazon Basin city of Iquitos, Peru. Demographic data and household characteristics were collected for all participants, and participating households were visited three times weekly to inquire about ILI (fever plus cough or sore throat) among household residents. Nasal and oropharyngeal swabs were collected from participants with ILI and tested for influenza virus infection.ResultsBetween May 1, 2008 and July 8, 2009, we monitored 10,341 participants for ILI for a total of 11,569.5 person-years. We detected 459 ILI episodes, with 252 (54.9%) of the participants providing specimens. Age-adjusted incidence of ILI was estimated to be 46.7 episodes/1000 person-years. Influenza A and B viruses were detected in 25 (9.9%) and 62 (24.6%) specimens of ILI patients, respectively, for an estimated age-adjusted incidence rate of 16.5 symptomatic influenza virus infections/1000 person-years. Risk factors for ILI included age, household crowding, and use of wood as cooking fuel. For influenza virus infection specifically, age and use of wood as a cooking fuel were also identified as risk factors, but no effect of household crowding was observed.ConclusionsOur results represent the initial population-based description of the epidemiology of ILI in the Amazon region of Peru, which will be useful for developing region-specific strategies for reducing the burden of respiratory disease