Employment Research Unit

Events

Seminars, conferences and other events

ERU holds regular seminars, conferences, discussion forums and other events, including presentations from ERU members and visiting scholars.

ERU 2023 report

Throughout 2023, Dr Luciana Zorzoli served as the ERU interim Director, while Dr Jonathan Preminger was on research leave.

In 2023 we congratulate our colleague Prof Ed Heery for being awarded the BUIRA Fellowship. This esteemed recognition is a testament to Ed's exceptional contributions to IR and his remarkable dedication to publishing high-impact and quality publications.

In June, we had the honour of hosting Dr Jonathan Preminger, who presented his thought-provoking research on "Nationalist Industrial Relations and the Ethnic 'Other': A Critical Border Studies Perspective."

Also in June, ERU members presented work in progress and recent research at the Management, Employment and Organisation Section Research Conference. Have a look at the conference program online (permission required).

May brought two distinguished colleagues, Dr David Nash and Dr Deborah Hann, who presented their collaborative work entitled "Strategic, Disconnected, or Reactive? Towards a Typology of Conflict Management Approaches in the UK."

In April, I presented and discussed the book titled "70 Years of the ILO Committee of Freedom of Association: A Reliable Compass in Any Weather" with Karen Curtis, Chief of the ILO Freedom of Association Branch, International Labour Standards Department and Dr Kamala Sankaran from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. This book provided valuable insights into the work of the ILO Committee of Freedom of Association over the past seven decades.

Our activities in March were cancelled as part of UCU's industrial action.

In February, we had the privilege of hosting Dr Maayan Niezna from the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford. Dr. Niezna presented her research on the exploitation of Palestinian workers in Israel, specifically focusing on recruitment fees.

In January, we had the pleasure of hosting a joint book presentation organized by ERU and CORGies. The event celebrated and discussed two new books written by our CARBS colleagues. The first book, titled "Contemporary Employers' Organizations: Adaptation and Resilience," was edited by Leon Gooberman and Marco Hauptmeier. The second book, "Developing Public Service Leaders: Elite Orchestration, Change Agency, Leaderism, and Neoliberalization," was authored by Mike Wallace, Michael Reed, Dermot O'Reilly, Michael Tomlinson, Jonathan Morris, and Rosemary Deem.

You can learn more about these books from the following news stories.

• New book on developing public service leaders
• Contemporary Employers’ Organisations

We also continued our tradition of collaborating with CORGies to organize our PhD mini-conference at the beginning of the year. The event featured presentations from PhD students from our Management, Employment and Organisation Section (MEO) and other Cardiff University schools, covering a wide range of research topics. You can find the full report online.

Past events

2022

In February, ERU collaborated with CORGies and the Centre for Researching Education and Labour at the University of the Witwatersrand, for an online symposium titled, Critical Perspectives on the 4^th Industrial Revolution. Speakers included Ian Moll (University of the Witwatersrand), Paul Thompson (Stirling University) and Ivor Baatjes (Nelson Mandela University), with Irena Grugulis (Leeds University) and Rick Delbridge (Cardiff Business School) commentating on the speakers’ presentations.

In January, ERU hosted the Cardiff Business School MEO section PhD conference, organized jointly with CORGies, in which the section’s PhD students presented their research.

2021

In October, Arianna Marcolin (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa) discussed how digitalisation affects industrial relations in the retail sector, using evidence from Italy and Spain.

In June, Luciana Zorzoli (Cardiff Business School) presented her research on employment relations and gig workers’ expectations, interests and experiences, focusing on Buenos Aires (Argentina), São Paulo (Brazil) and Santiago de Chile (Chile).

In March, Bradon Ellem (University of Sydney Business School) presented his research into productivity and industrial relations policy in Australian ‘megaprojects’.

In February, Sarah Pickard (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle) discussed the reasons for low rates of trade union membership and activism among the young precariat in Britain.

In January, ERU hosted the Cardiff Business School MEO section PhD conference, organised jointly with CORGies, in which the section’s PhD students presented their research.

In January, Dr Søren Kaj Andersen (University of Copenhagen), Professor Russell Lansbury (University of Sydney) and Dr Chris F. Wright (University of Sydney) presented their work on actors’ perspectives of low growth in Australia and Denmark (event held online due to Covid-19)

In January, Dr Johannes Kiess (University of Siegen and University of Leipzig) talked about participation, solidarity and recognition in the workplace, and the possibility of strengthening democratic attitudes through industrial citizenship (event held online due to Covid-19)

2020

In November, Cardiff University’s Professor Alan Felstead talked about his research into homeworking during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Cardiff Business School’s Professor Emmanuel Ogbonna talked about the impact of the pandemic on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities (event held online due to Covid-19)

In November, Dr Paolo Tomassetti (University of Bergamo) talked about the main findings of the EU project ‘Agreenment: A Green Mentality for Collective Bargaining’, which investigates the role of social dialogue and collective bargaining in promoting sustainable development and a just transition (event held online due to Covid-19)

In July, Professor Guy Mundlak (Tel Aviv University) talked about his new book, Organizing Matters: Two Logics of Trade Union Representation (ILO and Edward Elgar, 2020) (event held online due to Covid-19)

In June, Dr Stefano Gasparri (University of the West of England) presented his paper, “Workers of the world, unite and then divide! Ideological variation in trade union strategies towards zero-hours contracts in Italy” (event held online due to Covid-19)

In May, Dr Mona Aranea (Cardiff University) spoke about employers and the European social pillar, part of the Interest Representation by European Employer Organisations research project (event held online due to Covid-19)

In March, Daniel Nicholson (Cardiff University) presented his paper, “Which side are you on? Technological change, worker involvement and shopfloor patterns of class compromise in the aerospace sector” (event held online due to Covid-19)

2019

In November, Huw Thomas (Bristol University) presented his paper “From a ‘moral commentator’ to a ‘determined actor’? How the International Labour Organization is orchestrating a reframing of the international industrial relations field,” and Dr Fernando Ramalho Martins (Universidade Estadual Paulista) presented his paper, “The reconfiguration of automotive industry: The Iracemápolis’ (Brazil) Mercedes-Benz case”

October: Günter Hinken (VHS Essen) and Tracy Corley (Northeastern University)

In June, Professor Edward Webster (Wits University) presented “The South African inequality paradox”

May: Professor John Budd and Prof. Sarosh Kuruvilla

In May, ERU hosted a book launch for Thomas Prosser’s European Labour Movements in Crisis: from Indecision to Indifference (Manchester University Press, 2019), with Professor Guglielmo Meardi (Warwick University)

In March, ERU hosted a half-day’s workshop in partnership with the CRIMT network.

February: Dr Wil Chivers and Katy Huxley (WISERD, Cardiff University), and Dr David Nash and Dr Deborah Hann (Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University)

In January, Dr Jonathan Preminger (Cardiff University) presented his paper, “Union revitalization through social partnership: potential and limitations,” and Dr Jean Jenkins (Cardiff University) presented her work on unionizing in the Indian garment industry.

2018

January: Cyntia Vilasboas Calixto Casnici (Fundação Getulio Vargas, EAESP) and Carolyn Graham (Seafarers International Research Centre, Cardiff University)

February: Mark Bergfeld (Queen Mary University of London)

May: Professor Lidia Greco (Università di Bari)

In November, Helen Blakely and Rhys Davies (WISERD, Cardiff University) presented their paper, “Family, community and the inter-generational transmission of union membership”

In May, ERU held the Global Value Chains and their Employment Relations Consequences conference and special issue

In May, ERU hosted a book launch for Jonathan Preminger’s Labor in Israel: Beyond Nationalism and Neoliberalism (Cornell University Press, 2018), with Professor Marco Hauptmeier (Cardiff Business School)

2017

In February, ERU hosted a book launch for Leon Gooberman’s From Depression to Devolution, Economy and Government in Wales, 1934-2006 (University of Wales Press, 2017).

In April, ERU hosted a special forum for discussion of the French Presidential election

2016

On 15-16 September, ERU held the Employers’ Organisations and Employers’ Collective Action Conference