WORKS - Work Organisation and Restructuring in the Knowledge Society - is a pan-European research project which aims at improving our understanding of the major changes in work. Taking account of the global forces and of the regional diversity within Europe, the project will investigate the evolving division of labour within and between organisations and the related changes at the workplace.

Updated: 12 September 2006

Programme

Day 1 – Thursday, 21 September 2006

08:45	R e g i s t r a t i o n
Plenary opening - Setting the scene
09:15	Georgia Petraki, associate professor, Panteion University - Greece Opening remarks
09:25	Monique Ramioul, project manager, HIVA-K.U.Leuven & WORKS project co-ordinator - Belgium Introduction to the WORKS project and the themes of the conference
Plenary session Conceptualising globalisation and the role of the state
Chair: Willem Trommel, associate professor, University of Twente - The Netherlands
09:40	Elmar Altvater, professor, Free University of Berlin - Germany Conceptualising globalisation - Abstract -
10:00	David Coates, professor, Wake Forest University - USA Globalisation and national institutions: a shifting relationship - Abstract -
10:20	Steffen Lehndorff, research director, IAT – Germany Dynamics of national employment models in the era of globalisation: policy still matters - Abstract -
10:40	General discussion Discussant: Ursula Huws, professor, WLRI London Metropolitan University – United Kingdom
11:00	C o f f e e b r e a k
Plenary session Global corporate restructuring
Chair: Stavros P. Gavroglou, Head of labour market studies department, Employment Observatory Research-Informatics
11:30	Timothy J. Sturgeon, research affiliate, IPC-MIT - USA The governance of global value chains: implications for industrial upgrading - Abstract -
11:50	Chris Benner, assistant professor, Pennsylvania State University - USA Labour market intermediaries in the new economy

12:10	General discussion Discussant: Jörg Flecker, scientific director, FORBA - Austria
12:30	L u n c h b r e a k
Plenary session Organisational restructuring, flexibilisation strategies and national institutional responses
Chair: Bettina-Johanna Krings, research fellow, ITAS - Germany
14:20	Markus Promberger, research fellow, IAB - Germany The recoil of globalisation: flexibility and social inequality within metropolitan societies - Abstract -
14:40	Peter Ester, director, OSA – The Netherlands The need for European company surveys - Abstract -

15:00	General discussion Discussant: Gérard Valenduc, co-director, FTU - Belgium
15:20	T e a / c o f f e e b r e a k
Plenary session Social dialogue, worker organisation and representation
Chair: Per Tengblad, consultant/researcher, ATK - Sweden

15:50

Vincent Mosco, research chair, Queen’s University - Canada

Trade unions and worker movements in the North American communication industries - Abstract -

16:10

Béla Galgóczi, senior researcher, ETUI-REHS Research - Belgium
Relocation: challenges for European trade unions - Abstract -

16:30

Carla Kiburg, FNV Bondgenoten - The Netherlands

16:50

General discussion
Discussant: Pamela Meil, senior research fellow, ISF - Germany

17:15

E n d d a y 1

19:30

C o n f e r e n c e d i n n e r (advance registration required)

Day 2 – Friday, 22 September 2006

Plenary session Impacts on the quality of working life
Chair: Hans Torvatn, senior researcher, SINTEF - Norway
09:30	Greet Vermeylen, research manager, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions - Ireland Changes in work organisation and the impact on quality of working life – a European overview
09:50	Domenico Carrieri. Professor, University of Teramo, Italy

10:10	General discussion Discussant: Giovanna Altieri, director, IRES - Italy
10:30	C o f f e e b r e a k
Plenary session The gender dimension
Chair: Ulrike Papouschek, researcher, FORBA - Austria

11:00	Patricia Vendramin, co-director, FTU - Belgium Work organisation restructuring and gender - Abstract -
11:20	Ewa Gunnarsson, associate professor, NIWL - Sweden Operationalising gender theory in research design - Abstract -
11:40	General discussion Discussant: Maria Stratigaki, assistant professor, Panteion University - Greece
12:00	L u n c h b r e a k
Parallel sessions Impact on workers, organisations and regions: empirical results
Session a
Chair: Malcolm Brynin, principal research officer, ISER – United Kingdom
13:30	Norene Pupo, director, CRWS - Canada Customer service outsourcing from the public sector
13:50	Ursula Holtgrewe, senior researcher, FORBA - Germany Call centres: a global or embedded production model? The 'Global call centre industry' project - Abstract -
14:10	Ole H. Sørensen, Arbejdsmiljøinstituttet - Denmark Call centres: a global or embedded production model? The 'Global call centre industry' project - Abstract -
14:30	General discussion Discussant: Geert Van Hootegem, professor, CESO-K.U.Leuven
14:50	T e a / c o f f e e b r e a k
Session b
Chair: Csaba Makó, director of research, ISB - Hungary
13:30	Penny Gurstein, professor, University of British Columbia - Canada Contextualising workers' lives in the global supply chain: case studies to and from Canada - Abstract -
13:50	Anita Weiss, professor, University of Colombia Similarities and differences of call centres in particular contexts - Abstract -
14:10	Inger-Marie Wiegman, consultant, Team Working Lives Consultancy - Denmark Improving working conditions in call centres - experiences from Denmark - Abstract -
14:30	General discussion Discussant: Vassil Kirov, research fellow, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Bulgaria
14:50	T e a / c o f f e e b r e a k
Plenary ending The view from the South
Chair: António Brandão Moniz, president, IET – Portugal
15:20	Sujata Gothoskar, programme officer, committee for Asian Women and researcher with the Forum, a women organisation in Mumbai - India Content of and access to knowledge in the knowledge-based society: a view from the South - Abstract -
15:40	Saâd Belghazi, professor of economics at INSEA, University of Rabat - Morocco Overview on recent Morocco outsourcing experience: taylorism or innovative activities? - Abstract -
16:00	Marcia de Paula Leite, professor, State University of Campinas - Brazil Productive restructuring and labour in Brazil - Abstract -
16:20	General discussion Discussant: Carla Dahl-Jørgensen, senior researcher, SINTEF – Norway
Rapporteur's summary
16:40	Ursula Huws, professor, WLRI-London Metropolitan University – United Kingdom
Concluding remarks
17:00	Monique Ramioul, project manager HIVA-K.U.Leuven & WORKS project co-ordinator
17:45	C o n f e r e n c e c l o s e s